Extraction of lanthanides from the Brazilian phosphate ores

Fernando Pereira (1, 2, 3) , Essaïd Bilal (1, 2, 3) , Mohamed Nasraoui (4)

1 GENERIC-ENSMSE - Département Géochimie, environnement, écoulement, réacteurs industriels et cristallisation
2 LMV-ENSMSE - Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans
3 SPIN-ENSMSE - Centre Sciences des Processus Industriels et Naturels
4 Geosciences

The phosphate ore of Angico dos Dias (Caracol, Brazil) is composed of quartz, fluorapatite and mixed aggregates of kaolinite, Al-phosphates of the crandallite-group (with Ba, Sr and Ca), iron oxides/hydroxides, potassic feldspaths, titanite and magnetite with or without associated ilmenite. The principal rare earth elements (REE) bearing-mineral is monazite (64%) and to a lesser extent apatite (up to 1%). The monazite is characterized by a fine granulometry and occurs as inclusions either in apatite grains or in the mixed aggregates. Monazite is always bright contrasting with the light-grey Fe or Fe/Ti minerals. Agglomerates of several minerals are presents in high quantities.

Mots clés: phosphate ore; Angico dos Dias; Caracol; Brazil; Extraction; lanthanides; monazite; apatite

Domaines: Génie des procédés; Géochimie; Milieux et Changements globaux

Fernando Pereira, Essaïd Bilal, Mohamed Nasraoui. Extraction of lanthanides from the Brazilian phosphate ores. SYMPHOS (1er Symposium International sur la Technologie et l'Innovation dans l'Industrie des Phosphates),, May 2011, Marrakech, Morocco. ⟨hal-00657053⟩