Extraction of uranium and copper from acid leached solid waste of Alluoga sedimentary rocks, Southwestern Sinai, Egypt

A solid waste sample from acidic leaching of Alluoga sedimentary rocks, SW Sinai, Egypt, was processed for leaching and extraction of U and Cu respectively. This sample assayed 200 mg/kg U and 5 g/kg Cu. The present work aims to obtain solid waste free of U and Cu through selective alkaline leaching for uranium followed by environmentally safe glycine solution for copper leaching from the resulted waste. Under studied optimum conditions the leaching efficiency of U and Cu attained 93% and 96% respectively. Uranium was extracted using Amberlite IRA-400 Anion exchanger while Cu was selective extracted by LIX-973N diluted in kerosene. The relevant factors affecting the Cu extraction process were adequately studied and the number of stages for extraction and stripping were determined by the construction of McCabe–Thiele diagram.