Rubidium Mining

Rubidium is an abundant element as much as zinc and much more than copper in Earth's crust. It is very much similar to caesium where it replaces caesium in some of its applications.

Ores:

Rubidium is not a rich composite in any mineral ore. It occurs as an impurity in most of the ores. The main ores where the commercial production of rubidium is executed are pollucite ore of caesium and lepidolite ore of lithium.

Mining:

The mining of rubidium composing ores are usually mined by open pit surface mining and in some rare cases underground mining.The open pit surface mining is carried out where the availability of ore is near the surface of the earth. The open pit mining is less expensive and needs only a limited number of labors. The mine pit is craved as steps of walls for an easy excavation of the mineral.

In-pit ramps are built in the mines for haulage of ores, water, labors, equipment and waste from the mines to the surface. A space for collecting the tailings is craved inside the quarry which is mostly filled with poisonous sulfur extracts of the mine. The extractions of ores in the quarry are done by drilling, blasting, transporting of ore, milling and finally processing. The collected ores are basically processed near the pits. Open pits are commonly used in the extraction of rubidium entailing ores.

The world's largest rubidium producing Tanco mine uses open pit mining for its extraction of ores. Underground mining are principally used when the ores are deeper about more than 100m from the surface and also rich in quality and quantity. The underground mining is much expensive than open pit mining. Initial step in this mining is analyzing of ore's size, abundance and quality; area's surface, rocks and geometry.

Then the mining is started by digging a tunnel with the help of machineries and manual labor. A shaft is erected near the tunnel for the transporting the ores, water, labor and waste from the surface to inside the tunnel. The shaft also provides air ventilation for the tunnel as deeper the tunnel, lesser the air. The wastage produced in this mining is very less compared to open pit mining. The underground mining is a risky process for both the laborer and the labor. This mining technique is not employed until various conditions are fulfilled.

Processing and extraction:

The excavated ores comprising of rubidium is collected and milled. The milling breaks down the larger ore particles into smaller ones. The milled ores are then crushed for the conversion of the smaller ore particles into even littler ones capable of dissolving in the solution. The crushed ore is then collected in a pit and are dissolved in strong concentrated acids for separation of elements from the ores as salts.

The elemental salts are precipitated and resulted salts are made to undergo fractional crystallization process for making rubidium composing caesium alum ((Cs, Rb) Al (SO4)2?12H2O). Then the fractional crystallization of caesium alum is repeated where the compounds are separated by their solubility. After an eventual number of repetitions pure caesium alum is obtained. Finally, rubidium is extracted from caesium alum by reduction.Rubidium is extracted in countries such as Canada, Italy, Namibia and Zimbabwe.