Treatment of titanium ores

Abstract

A method of producing titanium, comprising providing an oxide of titanium having a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %, reacting the oxide of titanium to form a titanium oxycarbide; and electrolysing the titanium oxycarbide in an electrolyte, with the titanium oxycarbide configured as an anode; and recovering a refined titanium metal from a cathode in the electrolyte.

1 . A method of extracting a metal or semi-metal from an ore comprising an oxide of the metal or semi-metal, comprising the steps of
 providing the ore;   reacting the ore to form a product comprising an oxycarbide, a carbonitride or an oxynitride of the metal or semi-metal;   electrolysing the product in an electrolyte, with the product configured as an anode; and   recovering the metal or semi-metal in a refined form from a cathode in the electrolyte.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the metal or semi-metal is selected from the group consisting of: zirconium, silicon, aluminium, scandium, vanadium, chromium, yttrium, tantalum, uranium, hafnium and niobium. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the ore comprises impurities of at least 1.0 wt %. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 3 , in which the metal or semi-metal recovered at the cathode has a level of impurities of less than 0.5 wt %. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the electrolyte is a molten salt. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 5 , in which the molten salt comprises a chloride of an alkali or alkali-earth metal. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 6 , in which the chloride of the alkali or alkali-earth metal is selected from the group consisting of lithium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and any mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 7 , in which the molten salt comprises one of a sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic and a lithium chloride-sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 8 , in which the molten salt further comprises a chloride of the metal or semi-metal being extracted. 
     
     
         10 . A method of extracting a metal from a nuclear fuel comprising uranium, comprising the steps of:
 providing the nuclear fuel;   reacting the nuclear fuel to form a product comprising an oxycarbide, a carbonitride or an oxynitride of at least the uranium   electrolysing the product in an electrolyte with the product configured as an anode: and   recovering the metal from a cathode in the electrolyte.   
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 10 , in which the metal being extracted is uranium. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 11 , in which the nuclear fuel comprises uranium oxide, uranium carbide or uranium nitride. 
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 10 , in which the nuclear fuel further comprises a radioactive metal other than uranium, with the metal being extracted being the radioactive metal other than uranium. 
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 10 , in which the electrolyte is a molten salt. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 14 , in which the molten salt comprises a chloride of an alkali or alkali-earth metal. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 15 , in which the chloride of the alkali or alkali-earth metal is selected from the group consisting of lithium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and any mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 16 , in which the molten salt comprises one of a sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic and a lithium chloride-sodium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic. 
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 17 , in which the molten salt further comprises a chloride of the metal being extracted.