Recovery of niobium and rare earth elements from mineralized pegmatite of Gabal El-Faliq, South Eastern Desert, Egypt

This study presents a novel hydrometallurgical strategy for recovering niobium (Nb) and rare earth elements (REEs) from mineralized pegmatite ore at Gabal El-Faliq, Egypt. The ore, containing economically significant concentrations of Nb (0.83 percent), REEs (2.3 percent), zirconium (4.3 percent) and tantalum (0.03 percent), was processed via optimized sulfatization pug leaching. At 250 °C, 3 h cu...