Economic analysis of thorium extraction from monazite

Thorium (232Th) is four times more abundant than uranium in nature and has become a new important source of energy in the future. This is due to the ability of thorium to undergo the bombardment of neutron to produce uranium-233 (233U). The aim of this study is to investigate the production cost of thorium oxide (ThO2) resulted from the thorium extraction process. Four main parameters were studied which include raw material and chemical cost, total capital investment, direct cost and indirect cost. These parameters were justified to obtain the final production cost for the thorium extraction process. The result showed that the raw material costs were $63,126.00 –$104,120.77 (0.5 ton), $126,252.00 – $178,241.53 (1.0 ton), and $1,262,520.00 –$1,782,415.33 (10.0 tons). The total installed equipment and total cost investment were estimated to be approximately $11,542,984.10 and $13,274,431.715 respectively. Hence, the total costs for producing 1 kg ThO2were $6829.79– $6911.78, $3540.95 – $3592.94, and $501.18 – $553.17 for 0.5, 1.0, and 10.0 tons respectively. The result concluded that with higher mass production, the cost of 1 kg ThO2 would be reduced which in this scenario, the lowest production cost was $501.18 kg−1– $553.17 kg−1 for 10.0 tons of ThO2 production. Keywords: ThO2, Extraction plant, Monazite, Cost analysis, Direct cost, Indirect cost, Capital investment