PROCESS FOR RECOVERING THE URANIUM CONTAINED IN PULPS RESULTED FROM CARBONATE LEACHING OF RICH URANIUM ORES

The invention relates to a process for recovering the uranium contained in the pulps resulted from carbonate leaching of rich uranium ores, applicable to uranium hydro-metallurgy According to the invention, the process comprises, in the first step, filtering the uranium-containing pulp resulted from carbonate leaching of a rich uranium ore containing more than 05 % U, in a classical filtering installation, there being obtained a fertile solution having more than 2 g U/l and a solid which is repulped with an equal volume of industrial water and is sujected to a process of recovering the contained uranium, by means of an ion exchange resin The uranium eluate, thus prepared, is mixed with the fertile solution and then subjected to the precipitation, by adding sodium hydroxide, the resulting mother water being recirculated upon the ore leaching, after a preliminary carbonatation, in order to remove the sodium hydroxide in excess The fertile solution and the eluate are treated separately in order to precipitate the sodium diuranate, after filtration being combined and treated for preparing the technical uranium concentrate, and both mother-waters are recirculated in the flow sheet