Reductive Dissolution of a Lateritic Ore Containing Rare Earth Elements (REE) Using Acidithiobacillus Species

Lateritic deposits containing rare earth elements (REE) are important resources in Brazil, where monazite is the main REE-bearing mineral and is frequently associated with iron hydroxy-oxides and quartz. In order to recover valuable metals such as REE and uranium, experiments were carried out under reductive mineral dissolution using Acidithiobacillus species. In terms of phosphate, aerobic reductive dissolution at pH 0.9 using A. thiooxidans extracted about 35% of that present in the ore which is and indicator of the dissolution of monazite. Although only ~9% of the cerium and 5% of the lanthanum were extracted, ~72% of the uranium was solubilized, indicating that it was more susceptible to extraction by reductive dissolution than the other two REE.