Disclosed in the present invention is a method for continuously leaching an ionic
rare earth ore. The method comprises: putting an ionic
rare earth ore and a leaching agent solution to a multi-stage leaching reactor for co-current leaching, and carrying out
solid-liquid separation to obtain a
rare earth leachate and leached
tailings; putting the leached
tailings and clear water into a multi-stage
elution reactor for co-current
elution, and carrying out classification and
solid-liquid separation to respectively obtain coarse-sized
tailings, medium-sized tailings, fine-sized tailings, and an eluate; and enriching the rare earth
leachate and / or the eluate, and then circulating same to prepare the leaching agent solution, wherein the rare earth
leachate flows back to the multi-stage leaching reactor, and the eluate flows back to the multi-stage
elution reactor. By means of the continuous multi-stage co-current leaching with the leaching agent solution and the
backflow of the rare earth leachate for leaching, and the continuous multi-stage co-current elution with clear water and the
backflow of the eluate for elution, the rare earth
leaching rate and the rare earth concentration in the leachate are effectively improved, the consumption of the leaching agent is greatly reduced, the ore leaching period is significantly shortened, and full-process
water balance and tailing classification and comprehensive utilization are achieved.