Determination of uranium and thorium content in the various stages of monazite upgrading

A dominating characteristic of monazite minerals in black sands is the presence of natural Th and U. During the upgrading of monazite from Egyptian beach sands it has been found that there exists a predictable relationship between the monazite content of the different concentrates and electrical conductivity. Uranium and Th concentrations have been determined, for different upgrading stages of monazite applying y -ray spectrometric and “ED-XRF” spectrophotometry techniques. Electrical conductivity measurements for the different concentrates have also been performed. It has been found that the conductivity of the different concentrates decreases with increasing U and Th content, i.e. percentage monazite. Use of electrical conductivity measurements can be expected to be of value as a rapid quality control technique for evaluation of the monazite content in the upgrading of beach sands. These same measurements provide a basis for the high efficiency of the electrostatic separation technique in obtaining high-grade monazite concentrates.