Short Tie Acid Leaching of Utex and Vitro Ores

It is observed that extraction of uranium from Utex ore suffers when acid leaching for longer than 10 minutes was seemingly based on insufficient data. Short leaching periods of 5-30 minutes under strongly oxidizing conditions did give surprisingly good extraction of uranium, but more was dissolved upon prolonged leaching. The question raised has been useful in directing attention to a review of possible economic advantages stemming from acid savings, easier uranium recovery from solution, and better product handling associated with moderate leaching time on selected ores.