Processing: from ore to “yellow cake”

Purification and concentration of uranium ore

Once extracted from the mine (open-pit or underground), uranium must be separated from its rock matrix and stripped of as many impurities as possible. To avoid needlessly transporting many metric tons over long distances, this concentration operation is carried out in the immediate vicinity of the mining sites.

In the plant, the ore is:

• crushed and ground by mechanical means,
• processed and purified by chemical solutions,
• extracted from the resulting liquor using organic solutions or ion exchange resins,
• washed, filtered,
• precipitated and dried.

After drying, a solid, concentrated uranium is obtained called "yellow cake" (due to its color and its doughy texture at the end of the procedure) containing around 75% uranium, or 750 kilograms per metric ton.

The "yellow cake" is packaged and put into barrels, then sent to conversion facilities for further chemical processing.