Separation of thorium from uranium ore

Thorium-230 has many research applications, but there is not a commercial source of this isotope. However, since Th-230 is part of the U-238 decay chain, it can be separated from naturally occurring uranium. In this work, a novel procedure was developed to separate thorium from uranium ore, consisting of leaching, liquid-liquid extraction, precipitations and ion exchange chromatography. The final product was 91.32 +/- 0.77 mg of thorium with a purity of 99.5 +/- 1.2 wt%. Of that, 7.65 +/- 0.10 mg was Th-230 and the remainder Th-232. The total yield of Th-230 was 71.1 +/- 5.4%. Ways to improve the yield by further processing the back-extraction solution are suggested.