Recovery of RE from Baotou rare earth concentrate with chlorination roasting

A process for recovery of RE from Baotou rare earth concentrate was developed by fixing the fluorine and chlorinating RE with ammonium chloride in the ore. The optimum conditions were determined as follows: fixing the fluorine of the ore 80 min with the MgO dosage m (ore)/m (MgO) = 3 : 1 at 600 degreesC; chlorinating the fixed fluorine calcine 80 min, with NH4Cl dosage m (NH4Cl)/m (ore) = 2 : 1 at 500 degreesC. The RE recovery reaches 85% under optimum conditions. The products of fixing fluorine with MgO were determined by X-ray diffraction, and the mechanism of fixing fluorine was also discussed.