Uranium and molybdenum recovery from copper leaching solutions using ion exchange

This work shows the technical feasibility to recover uranium and molybdenum from industrial copper leaching solutions (PLS). Both were obtained as by-products from hydrometallurgical operations of the Chilean copper mining industry, using the ion exchange technique. This process recovered uranium and molybdenum, without disturbing or changing the normal operation of the overall copper production process. Uranium concentration was 17 mg/L, while molybdenum concentration was 50 mg/L. Four different anionic resins were tested, along with the influence of impurities over the breakthrough and saturation points achieved. In a first instance, two resins were chosen based on their Langmuir parameters, namely, maximum load capacity (Qmax) and separation factor (RL): L-MP62 and M43. The overall dynamic process consisted in a pre-conditioning step for the resin, using a weak hydrochloric acid solution. Next, the copper PLS solution feeds the fixed bed of the ion exchange column. Once the PLS solution saturates the anionic resin, a hydrochloric solution extracts uranium, and a sodium hydroxide solution extracts molybdenum. The final products were purified elution solutions with 500 mg/L uranium and 800 mg/L molybdenum, respectively.