ALUM announces the completion of the project Integrated process for the recovery of rare earth elements and scandium from bauxite residues

ALUM S.A. Tulcea announce the completion of the successful implementation of the project Integrated process for the recovery of rare earth elements and scandium from bauxite residues, which was achieved through the cooperation and exchange of knowledge and experience from joint actions and technology transfer between research groups from Universities and economic operators from Romania, Greece and Turkey and which led to obtaining technical solutions and processes that, optimized, allow the treatment of bauxite residue by:

• production of an iron rich concentrate (mostly magnetite);
• recovery of the aluminum that is now lost in the bauxite residue;
• recovery of scandium and Rare Earth Elements by acid leaching;
• reducing the amount of solid residues to be disposed of.

The proposed technical solutions are based on the intelligent combination of physical and hydrometallurgical processes that allow the recovery of Sc and REE from the bauxite residue, the production of other valuable marketable products and the drastic reduction of the amount of bauxite residue to be disposed of.

The project allowed modeling of a first technological base in the field, necessary for the development of major innovations, which will contribute to the unlocking of substantial reserves of new or currently unexploited resources in the EU. The results of the project have considerably improved the knowledge about the processing and management of the bauxite residue and provided the necessary know-how to recover the scandium and Rare Earth Elements from it.

RARE EARTH ELEMENTScue has also offered knowledge and know-how regarding the production of marketable products from the magnetic separation of bauxite residue.

Additional details related to the new REEScue project funded by the Executive Unit for the Financing of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (UEFISCDI) from Romania, through funding contract 182/2020, can be found here:

https://reescue.com/ and

https://reescue.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ALUM_s_project_final_results.pdf