VANADIUM EXTRACTION FROM DISPARATE SHALE ORES

摘要

A method for recovering vanadium values from a feed material comprising oxidised and carbonaceous materials obtained from a shale deposit or vanadium ore is disclosed. In the method, a vanadium concentrate enriched in vanadium and deleted in carbonates is formed from the oxidized and carbonaceous materials. The oxidized material is subjected to attrition to produce a vanadium fines stream. The carbonaceous material is subjected to de- sliming to obtain a fine vanadium and carbonate-containing fraction and a coarse vanadium and carbonate- containing fraction. The coarse vanadium and carbonate fraction is then subjected to flotation to obtain a vanadium froth concentrate. The fine vanadium and carbonate-containing fraction, the vanadium fines stream and the vanadium froth concentrate are combined to generate the vanadium concentrate. The vanadium concentrate is subjected to subsequent hydrometallurgical processes including atmospheric leaching, ion exchange, oxidation, solvent extraction, stripping, precipitation and calcination to obtain vanadium pentoxide.