Tungsten recovery from tungsten ore concentrates by caustic baking

摘要

Tungsten is recovered from scheelite ore concentrates, or other tungsten concentrates which may, or may not contain scheelite in the form of sodium tungstate and in yields up to 99.5 percent or more by a process in which ground ore substantially below 200 mesh in particle size is first added to a 50 percent sodium hydroxide solution while being agitated to such an extent that the resulting mixture becomes a semi-solid as the temperature is raised above 80 DEG C. The semi-solid is then baked at 135 to 145 DEG C for about 1 to 2 hours, followed by adding sufficient water to the semi-solid to form a slurry having a sodium hydroxide concentration below 6 molar, separating the causticinsoluble sludge from the slurry and washing the sludge with a dilute sodium hydroxide solution to remove residual sodium tungstate.