Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat, Navoi, Uzbekistan:

K. S. Sanakulov, Chief Executive Officer, Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences
M. A. Kurbanov, Chief Production Engineer of Mine Management 5, mashkhur.kurbanov@mail.ru
O. F. Petukhov, Deputy Head of Science at the Central Research Laboratory, Doctor of Engineering Sciences

The primary target of subsoil management is to extract maximum possible useful component from natural materials and mining waste, which is achieved through integrated processing. The research in the indicated direction is extensively carried out in the international practice of mining. The most industrially wanted chemical elements include rhenium. One of the sources of rhenium is the uranium deposits in the Republic of Uzbekistan. This study is aimed to substantiate and develop an optimal technology for rhenium by-recovery from Kyzylkum uranium produced by the method of in-situ leaching. The Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat has carried out an investigation cycle to develop an efficient technology for rhenium recovery from uranium. As a result of laboratory and full-scale testing, the highest efficiency has been reached with the hybrid process flowsheet including: adsorption of rhenium from ISL mother solution by ion exchanger RA; subsequent desorption of pregnant ion exchanger by nitric-acid solution; liquid extraction of rhenium from the marketable reagent and solidphase re-extraction by ammonia water. This process flowsheet enables an increase in the concentration of rhenium in the marketable product up to 6800 mg/l at the recovery up to 99.7%.

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