SOLVENT EXTRACTION RECOVERY OF THORIUM AND YTTRIUM

FROM SILICEOUS COLORADO ORES

by

1
S. R. Borrowman and D. W. Bridges2

ABSTRACT

Thorium and yttrium oxides were recovered from siliceous ores of the
Powderhorn, Colo., area. Processing comprised (1) acid curing and subsequent
(2) acid baking, (3) leaching, and (4) solvent extraction of thorium, using a
primary alkylamine, and yttrium, using di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid. About
95 pct of the contained thorium and yttrium was recovered from ore containing
1.2 pct Th02 and 0.5 pct Y^. The thoria product was 99 pct Th03 ; the
yttria product was 77 pct Y203. A 150-to-l concentration ratio was effected
on the latter, but some contaminating lanthanon-group oxides remained.

INTR0DUCTI0N

In previous Bureau of Mines research on a siliceous thorite ore from the

Powderhorn district, Gunnison County, Colo., thoria was recovered by an acid
leach-solvent extraction process ^3).3

Recovery of yttrium and the lanthanons as coproducts of thorium would

enhance the potentiality of the deposit (.9). Hence, Bureau research was
extended to devise a modification of the original acid leach- solvent extrac
tion process that would enable recovery of thorium, yttrium, and the associ
ated lanthanons from Powderhorn thorite ore. The results of the study are
presented in this report.
The pertinent literature on solvent extraction of thorium, yttrium, and
the heavy lanthonons comprises the following references. Crouse and coworkers
Simard Audsley (JL) and Borrowman (_3, 4) have studied different
(_7

15)
(

,
,

,
)

aspects of the problem of recovering thorium from acid solutions by solvent

Research chemist, Salt Lake City Metallurgy Research Center, Bureau of Mines,
1

Salt Lake City, Utah.

Supervisor, Chemical Metallurgy, Philco Research Laboratories, Newport Beach,
2

California; formerly supervisory research metallurgist, Salt Lake City

Metallurgy Research Center, Bureau of Mines, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Underlined numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references at
3

the end of this report.

Work on manuscript completed 0ctober 1963.