Cascadero {TSX.V: CCD} have successfully demonstrated the recover of the rare element cesium, from their Taron project located in Argentina.
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The recovery of Cesium from a mineral sample from the Taron target deposit has been demonstrated. The mineral sample was obtained from the 2009 drill program (drill hole number TAR-09-5). A sub-sample was crushed and ground to a particle size of 100 microns (P80). The Cesium content of the sample was analyzed at 4761 ppm or 0.476%.
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The metallurgical treatment of this sample was demonstrated at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Department of Materials Engineering, Vancouver, Canada.
Highlights included:
- 94.7 % extraction of Cesium after 4 hours of leaching at 90 C with 250 g/L H2SO4 and 20 % Solids
- Recovery of 97.8 to 99.4% of the Cesium as a Cesium Aluminum Sulfate (Alum) precipitate after addition of aluminum sulfate and cooling to 4 C.
- Purification of the Cesium-containing alum using (1) re-dissolution and re-precipitation of alum by hot water leaching, cooling and filtration, (2) re-dissolution of purified alum by hot water leaching followed by removal of aluminum and sulfate by stepwise precipitation by addition of barium hydroxide. The result of this treatment was a high – purity Cesium hydroxide solution.
- Conversion of the Cesium hydroxide solution to Cesium formate solution by simple addition of formic acid.
- The co-precipitation of iron, arsenic and other species from the leachate using neutralisation with limestone was demonstrated.
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