Experimental study was carried out on continuous leaching of mixed wolframite-scheelite concentrate with soda in a horizontal continuous autoclave reactor, and the effects of various processing parameters on the decomposition rate of the mixed ore were investigated. Under the processing conditions, including grinding fineness of -0.050 mm for the mixed ore, leaching temperature of 200 ℃, liquid-to-solid ratio of 2.1∶1, soda usage at four times of the theoretical dosage, addition of NaOH at 25 kg/t of ore, and feeding rate of 10 m³/h, the decomposition rate of tungsten in the mixed wolframite-scheelite concentrate reaches 99.55%, with only WO₃ content of 0.28% in the slag. It is found that the continuous leaching with soda offers the advantages of easy operation, higher production efficiency, lower energy consumption, stable decomposition rate, as well as higher automation.

wolframite  /  scheelite  /  mixed wolframite-scheelite concentrate  /  soda autoclaving  /  continuous leaching process  /  tungsten ore