The recovery of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) from apatite was investigated.
REEs in an apatite concentrate were leached efficiently at 2 mol/L H2SO4.
HREEs in the leachate were selectively adsorbed onto a column packed with EDASiDGA.
Passage through the column enriched HREEs by 10- to 30-fold.
The eluate contained only small amounts of other elements (e.g., Al, Ca, and Fe).