Magnesium (Mg) and its compounds are vital in many areas. One of the best and most common sources of Mg is dolomite. The main topic of this work is the separation of Mg from dolomite, which can be achieved by selective leaching and selective precipitation. The elemental composition of two samples of Slovenian dolomite was determined by microwave digestion and analysis by ICP OES. The effect of reagent equivalent and volume on leaching with sulfuric (VI), oxalic and tartaric acid and precipitation with sodium hydroxide was determined on one of the samples. The effectiveness of the processes was evaluated by calculating the Mg yield and the molar ratio Mg/Ca. Optimal procedures were then tested on the second sample. Both samples were very close to ideal dolomite. The optimal methods demonstrated high yield and selectivity for Mg. The best procedure achieved a yield of 98.3 % for Mg and a molar ratio (Mg/Ca) of 155 for the first sample, but was less effective for the second sample with a Mg yield of 66.1 % and a Mg/Ca ratio of 327.
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