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Uranium In Situ Leaching Sulfur Chemistry

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Abstract

In situ leaching of uranium by aqueous ammonium carbonate containing oxygen or hydrogen peroxide as oxidant results in the partial dissolution of sulfides. While some of the sulfide sulfur is oxidized to sulfate, a considerable portion is oxidized only to thiosulfate and polythionates. Polythionates poison the ion exchange resin used to extract uranium. At the Palangana operation in south Texas, the trithionate ion (S3O62−) was found by infrared spectrometry to be the major resin poison. Treatment of ion exchange feed solutions with hydrogen peroxide only resulted in partial conversion of reduced sulfur species to sulfate. Trithionate conversion was particularly slow. Poisoning of the resin also occurred from the ammonium chloride eluant, which built up trithionate because of recycling. This was essentially eliminated by chlorinating the eluant before yellow cake precipitation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Umetco Minerals Corp., Niagara Falls, NY, USA

    J. B. Goddard

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  1. J. B. Goddard
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SME preprint 84-10, SME-AIME Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, March 1984. MMP paper 84-605. Manuscript December 1983. Discussion of this paper must be submitted, in duplicate, prior to July 31, 1985.

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Goddard, J.B. Uranium In Situ Leaching Sulfur Chemistry. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 2, 120–127 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402607

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