Prof. Nagdy M. Farag Chairman of Nuclear Materials Authority

Prof. Nagdy M. Farag Chairman of Nuclear Materials Authority

Egyptian Phosphate Rocks U Th REEs

Egyptian Phosphorites and Uranium Potentiality The phosphate occurrences in Egypt from north to south may be subdivided into three east-west trending facies belts. The phosphorite of the northern facies belt, spreading from Bahariya Oasis to Sinai. The phosphorites of this belt have no economic potential, where they occur as thin layers mainly of carbonate and sand facies.

The economic occurrences are restricted to the central facies belt which is confirmed to the following localities: 1. The red sea from safaga to Quseir land-stretch. 2. The Nile valley between Idfu and Qena and particulary near Sebaiya. 3. The western Desert on Abu-Tartur plateau between the Kharga and Dakhla Oasis. Phosphatic mining and production started in 1908 in Egypt (Hermina, 1972). The total resources estimated about 3300 million tons. One of the largest deposits in Africa is located along the southeastern margin of Abu-Tartur plateau, Western Desert.

The Distribution of Phosphate Deposits in Egypt

Red Sea Phosphate Photographs Show the underground phosphatic mines of Safaga and El-Hamrawin area Red Sea coast. Note: the product phosphatic bed of Duwi Formation underlain the Dakhla Formation.

The phosophorites of the Eastern Desert occur along the northsouth landstretch between safaga and Quseir. The Duwi Formation consists of three members (A,B and C) comprising 10 to 15 phosphate beds, which is separated by bituminous black shales and chert, limestone and marl. The phosphate beds vary in their thickness from 0.6-1.5m, may reach 2-3m. The P 2 O 5 content ranges from 22 to 30 % occasionally reaches 34 % in some areas. Youssef (1957) related the formation of the phosphorites of the Red Sea to up welling in synclines.

Average content of P 2 O 5 (%), eu(ppm), eth(ppm) and REEs in the Red Sea Coast phosphorites P 2 O 5 (%) eu (ppm) eth (ppm) REEs (ppm) Red Sea 28.27 67 3.5 209

Nile Valley Phosphate Photographs Show the phosphatic open-cust mine of El-Sibaiya East. Note: the product phosphatic bed of Duwi Formation underlain the Dakhla Formation.

The phosphorite deposits of the Nile valley occur along both sides of the Nile valley between Qena and Idfu. The economic phosphate deposites in the Nile valley are located in Sebaiya and Mahamid and at Gabal Abu Had, and Wadi Qena. On the western bank of the Nile the phosphate beds crop out between Idfu and Eana. The middle member is the main economic phosphate unit that include one or two commercial phosphate beds ranging from 0.5 to 1.5m in thickness.

Average content of P 2 O 5 (%), eu(ppm), eth(ppm) and REEs in the Nile Valley phosphorites Sibaiya East Sibaiya West P 2 O 5 (%) eu (ppm) eth (ppm) REEs (ppm) 27 82 3 275 24 51 2.6 250

Western Desert Phosphate Photograph shows outcroup stratigraphic section at Abu-Tartur plateau. Note the phosphatic Members (Lower, Middle and Upper) of Duwi Formation overlain by Dakhla shale Formation and Kurkur limestone Formation.

The phosphorite-bearing rocks of the Western Desert occur in the Dakhla, Kharga, Dungul, and Kurkur Oases as well as in Abu Tartur plateau (Hermina, 1973; Ghorab et al., 1968; Said, 1971; Wassef at al., 1977; Dominik and Shaal, 1984). The thickest accumulation of phosphorite rocks occurs at the base of the sequence at Abu Tartur with average thickness about 4m (Hermina, 1973, Wassef, 1977; Glenn, 1990).

Average content of P 2 O 5 (%), eu(ppm), eth(ppm) and REEs in Abu Tartur phosphorites Abu Tartur P 2 O 5 (%) eu (ppm) eth (ppm) REEs (ppm) 26 24 7 998

U- content (in ppm) Histogram shows distribution of uranium in some Egyptian phosphorites Fig.(5):Histogram shows Distribution of uranium in some Egyptian phosphorites, after Abdou,2002 100 80 60 40 20 0 Localities of phosphate Red Sea Nile Valley Abu-Tarturweathered Abu-Tarturunweathered U

REEs-content in (ppm) REEs distribution in the Egyptian phosphatic rocks Fig.( 1 ): Histogram shows distribution of REEs in some Egyptian phosphorites 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Localities of phosphorites Red Sea Nile Valley Abu-Tarturweathered Abu-Tarturunweathered ΣREE

The average uranium content of various phosphatic rocks in Egypt Area Locality U (ppm) Reference Red Sea Nile Valley Quseir Um El-Hweitat Wasif Safaga Hamrawin Abu Shegiala Oweinia Mahamid East Mahamid West Sibaiya East East Luxor Wadi Higaza Kharga Oasis 85 67 49 84 102 131 94 55.2 35 143 98 116.5 67 62.6 94 114 69 20 Davidson&Atkin (1953) Abdou (2002) Shahata et al (2004) Shahata (2005) Davidson&Atkin (1953) Abdou (2002) Hassan& El-Kammar (1975) Abdou (2002) Ahmed (1986) Hassan& El-Kammar (1975) Germann et al (1987) Abdou (2002) Hassan& El-Kammar (1975) Abdou (2002) Hussein (1954) Salman (1974) El-Aassy (1977) Zaghloul&Abdel Aziz(1961) Zaghloul&Mabrouk(1964) Western Desert 20 El-Mahrooky (1992) Abu Tartur 33 24.7 El-Kammar&El-Reedy(1984) Abdou (2002) Sinai East El Qaa SouthWeast Sinai 88 38 El-Aassy (1992) Shahata et al (2001)

Average contents of some rare earth elements in some Egyptian weathered phosphorites. Localities Element Red Sea Phosphorites Nile Valley Phosphorites Abu-Tartur weathered Ph. Abu-Tartur un-weathered Ph. Y 59 72 212 232 La 41.7 53.5 172 180 Ce 60.3 78.5 308 403 Nd 33.3 42.3 133.3 141 Sm 7.2 8.6 33 35 Eu 1.5 2.0 7.8 82 Tb 1.30 1.57 4.97 7 Yb 4.5 6.1 19.3 21 Lu 0.5 0.7 2.8 2.9 ΣREEs 209.3 265.27 893.17 1103.9

The phosphate resources and uranium content in the different localities of phosphatic rocks in Egypt Locality phosphorites P 2 O 5 -content U-content Red Sea 72 million tons 16.7 million tons 7,000 tons Nile Valley 225 million tons 55.8 million tons 22,500 tons Western Desert 700 million tons 156.0 million tons 21,000 tons There are no good figures on the current production of phosphate rock in Egypt. In 1977 There was a reported production of 600,000 tons of phosphate. The total uranium content would be 120,000 pounds (60 ton) per year, assuming uranium content 100 ppm. The phosphate resources and uranium content according to De voto and stevens (1979) are tabulated in table (2) and illustrated in figure (6&7).

U-content in million pounds Phosphate production in million ton Fig.(6): Histogram shows phosphate resources in Egypt after De Voto and Stevens (1979) 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Red Sea Nile valley Abu-Tartur Localities of phosphate resources Phosphate product Fig.(7): Histogram shows uranium content of the Egyptian phosphate resource(after Voto and Stevens, 1979) 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Red Sea Nile valley Abu-Tartur Localities of phosphate U-content

U, Th and REEs (In ton) Reserves in Egyptian Phosphorites Location Th/ton REE/ton Uranium/ton P 2 O 5 /ton Geological reserve/ton Abu Tartur 6000 1732000 33000 270000000 1000000000 Nile Valley 3000 319500 118500 345000000 1500000000 Red Sea 500 47500 17000 66500000 250000000

U and REEs (In ton) Reserves in Egyptian Phosphorites

Sample Std. apatite Elemet Duango1 Durango2 A01 A02 A03 A04 A05 A06 A07 A08 A09 A10 Average Na 1510.4 1631.0 7835.9 5648.7 5158.2 7190.7 7074.1 8223.4 11904.5 5748.8 4600.3 5968.5 6935.3 Mg 148.5 171.4 2133.9 1525.0 1147.9 1137.4 1612.0 1597.0 3124.6 1503.7 976.9 1584.0 1634.2 Al <3.22 <3.37 4234.5 3077.1 622.3 825.6 785.8 2302.4 4529.2 2151.7 227.8 616.6 1937.3 Si 1426.7 1661.5 2332.4 3769.0 466.7 595.5 8610.6 1351.2 16167.4 3235.0 <189.39 3318.6 4427.4 P 206013.2 305855.8 214056.9 172288.1 216704.9 205318.3 268498.4 280413.8 332104.1 389708.3 644086.1 473074.0 319625.3 K 1.8 2.6 292.9 4587.5 218.2 119.7 511.4 123.5 697.1 526.8 59.6 298.3 743.5 Ca 336910.0 336910.0 336909.9 336909.9 336910.0 336910.0 336910.0 336910.0 336910.0 336910.0 336910.0 336910.0 336910.0 Sc <0.55 <0.49 11.1 8.3 5.0 7.6 9.4 8.1 11.4 9.8 8.3 9.8 8.9 Ti <1.45 <2.54 237.9 254.7 44.1 51.8 79.6 146.1 288.8 131.7 29.5 38.2 130.2 V 27.8 31.7 1247.5 928.5 94.9 114.4 98.9 592.4 1284.5 783.5 41.3 78.2 526.4 Cr <0.99 <1.03 355.3 423.1 103.3 93.9 109.3 275.5 377.0 200.4 54.4 89.8 208.2 Mn 80.9 83.4 1196.7 1268.1 1689.7 1303.9 1305.7 4029.9 3612.0 4126.6 337.8 312.2 1918.3 Fe <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** <**** Co <0.192 <0.213 11.1 13.0 2.5 3.2 3.0 10.4 14.5 8.0 0.6 1.9 6.8 Ni <0.40 <0.41 275.5 326.9 34.9 56.2 41.5 267.5 366.8 209.2 15.7 21.6 161.6 Cu <0.172 <0.184 92.1 396.1 21.8 22.3 23.8 49.2 91.0 57.5 12.9 15.1 78.2 Zn <0.25 0.4 2753.3 3120.6 433.9 494.3 436.5 2114.4 3065.4 1894.0 204.3 267.4 1478.4 Ga 0.6 0.8 9.7 14.9 8.8 5.1 8.9 9.0 11.4 12.6 5.9 6.9 9.3 Ge 27.7 29.6 6.2 7.3 1.0 1.7 1.4 3.8 4.7 2.5 <0.57 1.2 3.3 As 893.0 936.8 308.9 355.0 24.9 26.9 81.9 209.0 417.0 230.1 7.0 39.0 170.0 Rb 0.1 0.1 0.2 2.3 0.1 0.1 2.3 0.0 2.3 0.7 0.3 0.7 0.9 Sr 392.5 478.8 1427.2 2223.8 1710.6 1319.9 1250.2 1642.5 1730.2 2011.0 1394.9 1258.5 1596.9 Y 565.1 578.8 65.3 75.5 37.1 47.2 62.9 46.5 49.5 35.8 51.0 87.3 55.8 Zr <1.88 <1.81 43.9 57.8 17.8 11.7 31.3 24.2 51.2 22.0 9.3 11.3 28.1 Nb 0.1 <0.101 0.4 1.0 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.6 0.4 <0.083 0.1 0.4 Ag <0.89 <0.90 <1.32 <1.90 <1.11 <1.04 <1.55 <1.22 <1.59 <1.47 <1.47 <1.33 <1.90 Sn <0.072 <0.073 1.0 11.4 0.3 0.7 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.3 0.2 1.7 Cs <0.0149 <0.0138 <0.0173 0.0 <0.0159 <0.0119 <0.023 <0.0176 0.0 0.0 <0.0173 0.0 0.0 Ba 1.7 1.6 63.2 104.1 111.3 94.0 101.7 107.4 113.9 163.8 81.1 93.9 103.4 La 2801.1 2737.1 31.8 36.5 22.5 28.0 38.1 23.0 27.8 23.0 28.4 43.6 30.3 Ce 4138.5 3991.5 50.3 58.0 35.7 43.7 57.3 33.7 37.9 32.8 45.5 95.2 49.0 Pr 344.6 377.4 6.0 6.9 4.5 5.1 6.2 4.2 5.7 3.9 5.0 10.4 5.8 Nd 1027.1 999.3 24.0 29.8 16.9 21.1 29.1 17.3 21.9 14.3 22.8 37.9 23.5 Sm 146.9 151.9 6.2 6.1 2.6 4.6 6.4 4.5 5.1 3.2 3.9 6.6 4.9 Eu 11.2 14.9 1.6 1.8 0.8 1.0 1.8 1.1 1.1 0.8 1.1 2.3 1.3 Gd 123.4 120.8 6.3 6.9 4.0 4.1 7.7 3.6 6.4 3.9 3.9 8.1 5.5 Tb 14.9 17.4 0.9 1.1 0.7 0.6 0.9 0.6 0.8 0.6 1.1 1.2 0.8 Dy 92.1 99.0 6.3 6.5 3.7 4.8 7.0 3.8 5.9 3.3 5.3 8.7 5.5 Ho 18.3 18.8 1.4 1.3 0.9 1.2 1.3 0.8 1.3 0.9 0.9 2.0 1.2 Er 50.8 55.9 3.9 4.5 3.2 3.9 4.3 2.7 3.4 2.1 4.5 5.8 3.8 Tm 6.1 6.9 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.6 Yb 38.0 38.6 3.2 4.1 3.0 3.1 4.9 2.6 3.7 2.8 4.2 5.2 3.7 Lu 3.9 4.3 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.9 0.6 Hf <0.174 <0.00 <0.54 0.5 <0.177 <0.130 <0.36 0.3 0.5 <0.40 <0.21 <0.26 0.5 Ta 0.0 <0.0275 0.1 0.1 <0.039 0.0 0.0 0.0 <0.054 <0.077 0.0 0.0 0.0 Au <0.031 <0.045 <0.058 <0.065 <0.059 <0.038 <0.066 <0.053 0.1 <0.079 <0.051 <0.060 0.1 Pb 0.8 0.7 13.9 21.5 2.8 4.7 3.6 12.0 20.0 11.8 2.1 2.7 9.5 Th 173.3 181.1 1.5 1.1 0.2 0.5 1.1 0.3 0.4 0.2 0.6 3.3 0.9 U 10.3 10.6 53.7 67.0 33.5 51.0 48.7 59.5 89.3 73.1 52.5 54.8 58.3 2 9

In Egypt; Phosphoric acid is produced mainly at Abu- Zaable Fertilizer Company and El-Nassar Company. The total phosphoric acid production capacity is about 200,000 ton/ year high strength phosphoric acid (42-45 % P 2 O 5 )/ year. Average uranium content in produced phosphoric acid is 60 ppm.

In 1996, Nuclear Materials Authority has established a semi-pilot plant for experimental uranium extraction from dihydrated phosphoric acid using D 2 EHPA & TOPO system. Phosphoric Acid Pretreatment Stage First Cycle Second Cycle

Uranium Extraction Unit Uranium Extraction Pre-Treatment Tanks Safe Room Uranium Stripping