Continuous beneficiation testing of low-grade Uranium ore from Jadugoda

Abstract

The Uranium Beneficiation Committee constituted by the Atomic Energy Commission had decide at its meeting at Delhi on April 20/21, “54’that a lot of 20 tons of ore from Jadugoda may be treated in the continuous plant of the Ore-Dressing Division at N.M.L. according to the recommendations made by the Chemistry Division, A.E.C. in its progress report for the quarter ending December 1953. It was also decided by the Committee that concentrates so obtained may be further treated chemically to produce pure uranium salt. Even though the physical beneficiation process was already worked out by batch testing methods, it was considered desirable to conduct further experiments in the chemical extraction of the concentrates before undertaking large scale continuous testing. It was recommended therefore that half-a-ton of Jadugoda ore may first be treated at the N.M.L. and the concentrates so obtained used for further extraction tests before taking up the continuous testing with 20 tons. This view was supported by Mr.Narayanan, Asst. Director (Ore-Dressing),N.M.L. who pointed out that it would be very inconvenient to put through 20 tons of the material through the continuous plant at N.M.L., because of its low capacity. Besides/getting some concentrates for chemical extraction, the half-a-ton run should also provide information regarding the capacity of the plant for treating this ore, the crushing necessary for feeding the ball mill, and other useful data before understanding the full project. Accordingly the test run was made at the N.M.L. with half-a-ton of the ore during the week 5th to 12th July”54.