Abstract: The recovery of barium from the barium dregs of witherite tailings was studied by using an improved two-step HCl leaching method.The effects of several factors，including liquid-solid ratio，concentration of HCl，leaching time，and leaching temperature etc. on the leaching and purification of barium were investigated.The results showed that the first HCl leaching step could convert the impurities of iron，calcium，and strontium etc. into their chlorides respectively，and could dissolve most of them in the water phase；the second one could convert the residue barium of last step into liquid barium chloride.The optimal conditions were as follow：liquid-solid ratio was 1∶2 and HCl concentration was 1 mol/L in the first step； while 7∶1 of liquid-solid ratio，2 mol/L of HCl concentration，2 h of leaching time，and 70 ℃ of leaching temperature in the second step.The recovery of barium reached 95% under those conditions.By adding oxalic acid，the Ca²⁺ and Sr²⁺ could be removed by precipitation in the third step，at the pH of 3，BaCl₂ crystal was separated by evaporating concentration.The barium chloride with the purity of 99.9% was prepared after ethyl alcohol washing and drying.

Key words: barium dregs of witherite tailings, leaching, purification, barium chloride