Processing of Abu Dob mineralized pegmatites, Central Eastern Desert, Egypt: a study on the kinetics of dissolution process and extraction of some valuable metals

The present work is concerned with preparing pure oxides of U, Zr, Th and REE from Abu Dob mineralized pegmatitic rock. The dissolution kinetic profiles were assigned to chemical reaction model for all interesting elements. The calculated apparent activation energy was 33.8, 23.67, 22.5, and 24.40 kJ mol −1 for U, Zr, Th, and REE respectively. Almost complete U extraction (99%) and 90.2% of Zr were first achieved using Alamine 336 at pH 0.8. Furthermore, Th was selectivily separated from REE in the raffinate solution through its precipitation using MgO followed by REE precipitation as oxalates at pH 1.1.