CESIUM CHLORIDE FROM ALUMINOSILICATE

The invention relates to a process for recovering purified cesium chloride from a cesium aluminum silicate ore in which the ore is digested with aqueous hydrochloric acid and the silica solids removed to obtain an aqueous acidic digest solution of metal chlorides consisting principally of cesium chloride and aluminum chloride together with other metal chlorides, wherein the improvement comprises: (a) evaporating the water from said digest solution to obtain a solid phase mixture of metal chlorides, including cesium chloride and hydrated aluminum chloride; (b) heating said solid phase mixture at a temperature effective for converting the hydrated aluminum chloride to aluminum oxide without decomposing the cesium chloride; (c) extracting the resulting solids with water to obtain an aqueous extract of cesium chloride; and (d) separating the residual solids containing the aluminum oxide to produce a purified extract of cesium chloride.