Materiały konferencyjne SEP 2025

5 X-ray diffraction (XRD) The XRD patterns of powdered samples were used to determine the structure of the samples in the form of powder. The analysis resulted in the mineralogical characteristics of the samples, it is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. Mineralogical composition of samples [7] 3. BENEFICIATION PROCESSES FOR REEs RECOVERY FROM MINING WASTE Tailings from New Kankberg (Sweden) and Covas (Portugal) were identified as promising REEs secondary sources. REEs recovery process includes several stages: excavation and transport, beneficiation – that is physical and chemical pre-treatment, leaching and purifi- cation; hydrometallurgical separation; ionic liquid separation; membrane separation and finally post - treatment stage - residues disposal and reclamation. Beneficiation is one of the main step of REEs recovery and it was developed within the ENVIREE project in a pilot scale. The proposed beneficiation scheme of New Kankberg tail- ings includes flotation followed by magnetic separation. Flotation allows recovering 70% of the total phosphate content and 50% of REEs. Following the flotation stage, the concentrate that contains a mix of phosphates (apatite and monazite) is further enriched through magnetic separation. The final step is dewatering - filtration. A pilot was operated on 1 ton of New Kankberg tailings [8]. The proposed beneficiation scheme of Covas tailings includes gravity separation followed by magnetic separation. Magnetic separation only stands for tungsten concentration purposes. Magnetic separation allows increasing further the REEs content and particularly the one of tungsten. Final recovery for REEs is 55% and 35% for tungsten. A continuous pilot was oper-