THE PRODUCTION OF HIGH-GRADE SYNTHETIC RUTILE FROM LOW-GRADE TITANIUM-BEARING ORES

摘要

The present invention relates to a two-stage leaching process using concentrated hydrochloric acid that upgrades a variety of inferior quality titanium-iron ores into premium titanium concentrate and iron oxide products. The ground ore is leached with two separate quantities of hydrochloric acid after which the dissolved titanium is precipitated from the filtered liquor by hydrolysis. The still soluble iron chlorides are then optionally subjected to oxyhydrolysis to recover iron oxide and HCl. The process was developed for low-grade ores (under 12% TiO2), and can be naturally applied advantageously to higher grade titanium-bearing ores.