Procedure for obtaining a renewable resource of metals from acid minewater, and the respective systems

Description of the technology

The procedure of the invention allows obtaining a solid renewable resource of metals, particularly rare earth elements and yttrium, from acid mine waters. To implement the procedure, the invention contemplates the use of an installation that recovers selectively the dissolved metals to generate solid metal resources.

Specifications

The procedure allows obtaining metals selectively, particularly rare earth and yttrium, from acid mine waters by adding controlled doses of alkaline reagent to obtain specific hydrochemical characteristics under which certain metals pass from acid solution to a solid precipitate.

Main advantages of its use

• Unlike conventional mining (extractive mining) which mine non-renewable resources, the procedure of this invention can be considered renewable at medium and long term because it is guaranteed the generation of acid waters for the following reasons:
• 1) society needs metal resources to maintain and improve their level of development,
• 2) to obtain these resources is inevitable the mining activity which generate acid mine water,
• 3) the generation of these acidic waters will be active during the activity of the mine and for hundreds to thousands of years after it closure.
• The procedure of this invention no promotes an environmental impact, all the opposite, to obtain a solid renewable resource of metals, particularly rare earth and yttrium, the procedure gets indirectly an environmental improvement by the neutralization of acid mine waters.

Applications

• Industrial sector derived from mining and mineral processing.
• The main customer profile is the mining sector.