Abstract:A combined beneficiation and metallurgy test study on lithium extraction was carried out to comprehensively recover quartz and lithium from a hydrothermal alteration clay-type lithium ore. The main mineral components of the raw ore are feldspar, quartz, chlorite, and muscovite, containing 0.214% of Li2O. The process of sand making, scrubbing, desliming, magnetic separation and flotation was adopted to recover quartz, and a quartz concentrate with yield of 8.45% and SiO2 grade of 99.16%, as well as a quartz secondary concentrate with yield of 5.02% and SiO2 grade of 95.43% was obtained. Lithium is mainly enriched in argillaceous minerals, weakly magnetic minerals and flotation tailings. The sulfuric acid curing and water leaching process was used to extract lithium. The appropriate process conditions are as follows: the acid-to-ore ratio is 1.5︰1, the curing temperature is 160 ℃, the curing time is four hours, the acid concentration is 60%, the liquid-to-solid ratio of water leaching is 2︰1, and the water leaching time is one hour. Under these conditions, the leaching rate of lithium in argillaceous minerals, weakly magnetic minerals and flotation tailings is 98.40%, 91.21% and 83.75%, respectively, and the comprehensive leaching rate of lithium is 93.67%.