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By R. F. Al-Fariss

The phosphoric acid industry is expected to develop in Saudi Arabia in the near future. There are three main reasons for expecting this: the discovery of phosphate deposits in the Sirhan-Turayf region, the construction of phosphate fertilizer facilities of the TSP, DAP and NPK plants on the east coast of the country, and the availability of an ample amount of sulfur As a by-product from the petrochemical industries. This study is a part of the research work performed in the chemical engineering department At King Saud University to evaluate the Saudi phosphate rocks for the wet process phosphoric Acid production and to test different flotation methods for the carbonate rich phosphate rock In a laboratory scale flotation cell. Experimental results for the above tests, as well as Beneficiation by calcination, are presented.

Jan 1, 1993

By D. P. Chakraborty

Joda East Iron Mine, one of the captive iron ore sources of Tata steel, located in the state of Odisha in eastern India caters to approximately 45% of the iron ore requirement of the Jamshedpur Steel Plant. The iron ore occurring in the mine having high in iron content along with high in alumina. Clay and gibbsite are the predominant mineral phases present as surface coating, fracture filling and/or free occurring and are responsible for alumina content higher. Alumina in iron ore impacts the techno-economic performance of a steel plant by impacting sintering and blast furnace productivity. The impact is even higher when it comes to fine ore used in the blast furnaces in the form of sinter as it constitutes a major portion of the blast furnace burden. Therefore, it is beneficial to upgrade iron ore in the mine head and to reduce alumina before it is subjected to agglomeration. Mineralogical test works reveal, that alumina in iron fines is mainly associated with the clay attached to the hematite particles, either free or interlocked to a very fine size. The paper describes the efforts made to reduce alumina in the iron fines in Joda East processing plant, without much of capital investment for a very sophisticated fines beneficiation circuit. In this process, a suitable dispersant was added in the plant that dispersed the masked slime coating over the iron ore fines, thereby making a better quality iron ore fines with reduced alumina content. The alumina in fines improved by 0.2 units? means from a label of 2.4-2.6 % reduced to 2.2-2.4 %. With this initiative, not only the primary objective of alumina reduction is met but also it has given substantial benefit in reduction of silica and as well as moisture in product. This moisture reduction also has given bottom line impact by reducing idle freight and royalty.

Sep 1, 2012

By Surendra Kumar Biswal, Sachida Nanda Sahu, B. C. Meikap

The unutilized iron ore fines (IOF, − 10 mm, 45% to < 60% Fe(T)) left at various mine sites during blasting and processing are rich in goethetic-hematite associated with high clay and considered a potential iron ore resource. The variation of loss on ignition (LOI) from mines to mines is based on the goethite and clay mineral content. The clay containing below 45 μm is mostly brittle, causing beneficiation problems. The IOF has an LOI of 7.83%, with high silica (5.52%) and alumina (4.57%), and 57.17% of Fe(T) subjected to both conventional deep beneficiation (CDB) and magnetization roasting using high-ash non-coking coal to adopt the suitable upgradation process. The CDB and magnetization roasting concentrate has 62.61% and 67.58% Fe(T) with 64.69% and 85.19% yield, respectively. However, the presence of 6.40% LOI in CDB makes the ore challenging for pelletization. Characterization like X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM), and chemical analysis was used to assess the concentrate quality and potential industrial application.

Jun 4, 2022

By Jing Zhou

In view of the state of the long time use of sodium cyanide in lead-zinc-sulfur-silver multimetallic ore production, we propose alternative reagents system through experimental research. The experiment first used TJ, sodium sulfide to adjust the flotation pulp, after that, zinc sulfate, sodium sulfite was added to low alkaline pulp to inhibiting zinc sulfur mineral and adapted MB, 25# aerofloat and diethyl dithiocarbamate combination collectors to float lead minerals. The obtained test index is as follows: lead concentrate recovery rate of small scale test was increased by 5 to 10%, the recovery rates of gold and silver in lead concentrate were increased by 7% and 11% respectively; the industrial test is conducted under the condition that the total grade of lead and zinc content in raw ore decreased by 4.81%, the total recovery rate of lead and zinc increased by 7%, recovery rates of gold and silver in lead concentrate were increased by 7.62% and 9.65% respectively. So it successfully realizes the target to replace the sodium cyanide, using low-alkaline non-toxic reagents system in mineral processing practice of three kinds of complex lead-zinc-sulfur ore of this mine. Keywords: refractory lead-zinc-sulfur ore, depressant, non-cyanide flotation

Sep 1, 2012

By Jean-Sébastien Kroll-Rabotin, Éric Climent, Florent Bourgeois

"Falcon concentrators are enhanced gravity separators designed for concentrating fine and ultrafine slurries. The Falcon UF model is unique in that it is dedicated to beneficiation of ultrafines, one key feature being that it does not make use of any fluidisation water. In a former study, we investigated the physical mechanisms that govern the transport of ultrafine particles (in the range 10 to 80 µm) inside Falcon UF concentrators, and concluded that separation efficiency is governed by differential settling. Initially, we derived and published a predictive model of the partition function under dilute conditions. The present paper proposes an extension of the initial model to concentrated ultrafine suspensions for application to industrial scenarios. The paper discusses how hindered settling has been added into the initial model to account for solid concentration effects. The modified model is tested against experiments carried out with a laboratory scale UF Falcon concentrator from dilute conditions up to 30 vol%. A good agreement between measurements and model predictions is obtained, which confirms that our hypotheses about the physics of separation inside a UF Falcon separator remain valid even at high concentrations.INTRODUCTIONThe Falcon concentrator is a fast spinning bowl that is fed at its centre of rotation. It uses centrifugal force to separate particles that are transported inside a thin liquid film that flows upward along the inclined wall of the bowl (McAlister and Armstrong, 1998). Due to differential settling, dense and coarse particles are concentrated inside the bowl whereas light and fine particles are rejected with the overflow stream. The fast rotation speed of the bowl yields high centrifugal force several hundred times the attraction of Earth. Despite the thinness of the liquid film (between 100 µm and 1 mm with a Falcon L40) where separation takes place, the Falcon concentrator can treat high flowrates (up to 30 L/min). At the bottom of the bowl, an impeller transmits the bowl rotation to the feed, which drains upward by centrifugal force as soon as it hits the base of the spinning bowl (Figure 1)."

Jan 1, 2011

By F. Bourgeois, J. -S. Kroll-Rabotin

ABSTRACT: Falcon concentrators are enhanced gravity separators designed for concentrating fine particles. The Falcon UF model is unique in that it is dedicated to beneficiation of ultrafines, one key feature being that it does not make use of any fluidization water. We investigated the physics of particle transport inside Falcon concentrators, and concluded that separation efficiency is governed by differential settling velocity. We derived and published a predictive model of the partition function under dilute conditions. We intend to extend the initial model to concentrated ultrafine suspensions for application to industrial scenarios by adding hindered settling to account for solid concentration effects.

Jan 1, 2011

By N. Acarkan

Slags usually contain some quantity of valuable metals. They are actually a secondary resource of metals, rather than an end-waste and have been utilized as a resource material in many areas. In addition, for some applications, slags have comparable or even better properties than their competitors. Leaching is a method for extraction of metals from copper slags. The extraction of metals such as copper and cobalt from the copper slag of Küre-Turkey, was investigated in the past decades. Fayalitic type of these copper slags containing 0.934 % Cu, 0.353 % Co and 50.91% Fe were subjected to the experimental study. As a result of mineralogical analysis of the slag sample, fayalitic type of slag was found to contain hercynite, magnetite, hematite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, covellite, bornite and metallic copper. Direct acid leaching methods were applied on the sample. Effects of leaching time, temperature and acid concentration on Cu and Co leaching recoveries were investigated in the direct acid leaching. The optimum leaching conditions were found as leaching time of 2 hours, solid/liquid ratio of 1/3, H2SO4 concentration of 125 g/L and temperature of 70 °C. At these conditions, 75.5 % of Cu, 95.6 % of Co and 70.9 % Fe were extracted. In the second stage of the leaching experiments, copper in the pregnant solution was precipitated by cementation to produce a Cu concentrate assaying 95.58 % Cu; cobalt was obtained by precipitation with H2S to produce a concentrate containing 62.10 % Co. As a result of this study a process flow sheet has been developed for recovering Cu and Co from these slags to demonstrate its economic and technological benefits.

Jan 1, 2014

By U. S. Chattopadhyay

The estimated requirement of the nation by the year 2020 is approx. 80 Mt of steel and more than 0.2 million MW installed capacity of the electricity, thereby increasing the consumption of the coking and non-coking coal, which is expected to be in tune of about 75 Mt & 500 Mt respectively. One of the major deleterious factors in achieving the goal is the deteriorating quality of the feed coal used in both steel and power industries. Indian coking coals, in general, are typified by high ash, high inert (both organic and inorganic), low rank, low reactive macerals content, heterogeneous petrographic make-up, inferior coking properties and poor amenability to washing, thereby necessitating suitable washing measure. Coke-based steel industries in India require washed coking coal containing ash % varying between 17-19. The situation demands taking on immediate challenges to fill up the gap between the requirements and supply of coking coal. This paper reviews the R&D attempts in this laboratory and throws light on the key measures as long-term solution to the problem. Search for alternative source of coking coal, like LVC coal and their judicious preparation technology. The low volatile coking coal (LVCC) constitutes about 50% of the total coking coal reserves in India. These coals are characterized by high raw coal ash content (37 to 40%) and very difficult washability potential. If these coals are treated in the existing washeries, which are generally 2 or 3-product systems, the cost of clean coal is high as the byproduct sale value is low. It has been proposed to produce a new type of by product, which enjoys high demand and good coking properties.

Sep 1, 2012

By S. S. Hsieh

Bench-scale beneficiation studies were made on Idaho dolomitic phosphate rock using the TVA carbonate flotation process. The process employed diphosphonic acid as a phosphate mineral depressant and fatty acid as a carbonate mineral collector. Silica was subsequently rejected as float using an amine collector, with phosphate product recovered as the sink fraction. Two samples of prepared flotation feed from commercial operation were used; one contained 21% P205 and 3.2% MgO, and the other contained 26% P205 and 1.8% MgO. The results indicate that concentrates containing 31-33% P205 and 1% or less MgO can be obtained, with P205 recovery of about 80%.

Jan 1, 1984

By Arafat Ghosheh, Yousuf Abu-Rish, Darwish Amara, Mohammed Baderkhan

The Jordan Phosphate Mines Company is one of the world&apos;s major phosphate rock and phosphatic fertilizers producers (the second largest phosphate rock exporter), with ore reserves exceeding 2 billion tonnes, mainly located in the Eshidiya area. The Eshidiya phosphate deposits, 120 km north-east of Aqaba, are of sedimentary origin (as are all phosphate ore in Jordan). Three exploitable beds (Al, A2, and A3) with variable content of P205, CaO, SiO2, etc., are processed in order to produce 68-70,73-75, and 75-77% TCP grades. The A3 bed, which is characterized as the most siliceous containing 40-48% TCP, requires physical beneficiation using wet scrubbing, screening, and desliming by hydrocylone, followed by anionic conventional flotation to achieve 75- 77% TCP grade. For the last 15 years extensive laboratory and pilot tests (including physical, chemical, and mineralogical studies) were carried out. After operating the industrial plant, certain modifications were deemed necessary to adjust the operational parameters and the final flowsheet, which was followed to obtain the targeted quantity and quality of concentrate.

Jan 1, 1999

By J M. F Clout

The low-grade clay-rich -1.0 mm fraction of fine iron ores have often proved difficult to upgrade and capital intensive to process when using traditional wet beneficiation technology including single or two stage hydrocyclone desliming, wet high intensity magnetic separation (WHIMS), spirals and final dewatering using fine screens. Very fine (&lt;0.010 mm) clay-rich slimes simply follow the water split to the hydrocyclone underflow where it often impedes the subsequent processing performance of any downstream spirals and can result in troublesome direct dewatering of hydrocyclone underflow. The -1.0 mm fraction in goethitic iron ores is typically considered as waste. A new two-stage wet gravity separation flow sheet, referred to as the ædesandÆ process, has been designed to overcome these issues for the upgrading of low-grade clay-rich goethitic or hematite-quartz fine iron ores. The desand process is designed to treat the -1.0 mm range from -8.0 mm natural fines, to recover a -1.0 +0.038 mm higher-grade fraction by rejecting to tailings any low-grade clay-rich ultrafines and low density sand-size fine chert/quartz gangue and shale.The desand process consists of wet screens with a nominal 0.7-1.0 mm cut point which direct the undersize to hydrocyclones. The hydrocyclone underflow is then fed to upcurrent classifiers where the classifier middlings is sent to spirals and classifier and spirals concentrates are then dewatered using vacuum belt filters or fine screens. The three product upcurrent classifier is employed to further deslime the hydrocyclone underflow, producing firstly a coarse final concentrate, and then a deslimed middlings for feeding to spirals as well as a 0.100 mm clay and fine quartz or banded iron formation (BIF) sand in final overflow for feeding to the residue thickener. The upcurrent classifier middlings provides the spirals with a significantly cleaner feed material than traditional methods, with the end result that the spirals do not silt up with slimes and therefore can continue to run at their optimum. The upcurrent classifier and spirals form a complimentary pair, with the upcurrent classifier better able to send coarser, acceptable grade particles to concentrate and fine slimes to tailings whilst allowing the spiral to better reject coarser, subgrade low specific gravity particles. Test results for the Mayoko-Moussondji iron project, Republic of Congo, using upcurrent classifier-Wilfley Table (simulating spirals) gave acceptable mass recovery from run-of-mine (ROM) and Fe recovery from hydrocyclone underflow for HEMCOL (6.2 per cent mass recovery from ROM/43.1 per cent Fe recovery) and HEMBIF2 (5.1 per cent mass recovery from ROM/22.3 per cent Fe recovery) mineralisation types. The desand process also enables improved dewatering of -1.0 +0.038 mm product from a clay-rich plant feed.A number of new wet plants in the Pilbara use the desand flow sheet including FMGÆs Cloudbreak and their two Christmas Creek plants. Many potential new applications are being explored, with new iron ore plants in India as well as those being proposed for West Africa. Operational experience has highlighted the importance of providing clean process water to the upcurrent classifiers as well as ongoing design improvements including increased wear life, reduced maintenance and enabling a more steady feed rate to spirals.CITATION:Clout, J M F, 2013. Beneficiation of fine iron ores using the desand process, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2013 , pp 337-348 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 12, 2013

By Arthur F. Colombo

The selective - deslime - flotation process developed by the Federal Bureau of Mines as part of its goal of maintaining an adequate supply of minerals to meet national economic and strategic needs is described. The operating parameters for the selective flocculation - cationic flotation of oxidized taconites from the western Mesabi range in Minnesota are discussed. Data from the operation of a 410 kg/hr (900 lb/hr) pilot plant employing reclaimed water are summarized for 2 types of oxidized taconites.

Jan 1, 1979

By T. O. Llewellyn

The Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, conducted studies to recover phosphate from four dolomitic southern Florida deposits not currently mined. The samples contained 5.8 to 10.2 percent P205 and 1.7 to 1.8 percent MgO. Chemical analyses of sized fractions indicated that no pebble concentrate (plus 1.2 mm) could be produced from these samples. A scheme was developed that consisted of desliming, grinding, scrubbing, and redesliming the ore to produce a flotation feed. Conventional one-step fatty acid-fuel oil batch flotation tests on the samples resulted in concentrates containing 29.0 to 31.3 percent P205 at flotation recoveries ranging from 72.4 to 96.1 percent of the flotation feed. The MgO content of the concentrates ranged from 0.47 to 1.36 percent. Continuous flotation of the Manatee No. 2 sample indicated that commercial-grade phosphate concentrates analyzing 31.3 percent P205 and 0.55 percent MgO could be produced with a flotation recovery of 89.9 percent. The MgO content of concentrates obtained from the Manatee No. I and Hardee samples was 1.20 to 1.36 percent, respectively. Leaching with aqueous SO2 reduced the MgO content of these phosphate concentrates to 0.5 and 0.8 percent, but with a concomitant loss in phosphate recovery.

Jan 1, 1983

By Andrzej Luszczkiewicz, Kazimierz S. Sztaba

Flotation tailing of Polish copper sulfide ores represents more than 90% of the mass of run-of-mine ore. The tailing contains mainly quartz, dolomite, clay minerals, traces of sulfides, and some accessory minerals. Almost all minerals of the tailing are well liberated and, therefore, any further beneficiation process applied to the tailing is expected to be inexpensive. In this work, results of investigations on utilization of flotation tailing using classification and gravity concentration are presented. It is shown that due to classification of flotation tailing in hydrocyclones, the coarse fraction becomes suitable material for gravity separation providing backfill material for underground mines as well as heavy minerals, a source of valuable rare elements. It was also found that heavy minerals separated by gravity methods contain a significant amount of rare elements such as zirconium, titanium, silver, rare earth metals, and uranium. The light fraction of the gravity separation contains well deslimed quartz particles and meets strict requirements for hydraulic filling material ked for structural support in underground mines. Evaluation of the cost of the proposed technology indicated that investment to implement the method would provide a return within 2-4 years.

Jan 1, 1995

By G. Bhaskar Raju, S. Prabhakar

The amenability of column flotation for the beneficiation of fluorspar was investigated, and the overall performance of the column, flotation was compared to the performance of the existing conventional flotation cells at the plant. It was estab¬lished that improved grades and recoveries could be obtained by adopting column technology. Acidspar concentrates as¬saying 97% CaF2, suitable for HF manufacturing, can be produced by adopting two-stage column cleaning in place of multistage cleaning by conventional cells. Similarly, metspar concentrates assaying 90% CaF2, suitable for metallurgical applications, can be achieved in a single-stage cleaning by column flotation. This is an improvement over what is now being achieved using the existing conventional rougher and three-stage cleaning cells in the plant. The number of stages, i.e.,four in the acidspar circuit and four in the metspar circuit, including rougher stages, can be eliminated by adopting a three-column configuration. Thus, the cost of production, the complexity of the circuit and the power consumption can be effectively reduced with other attendant benefits.

Jan 1, 2000

By M. Ghiani, R. Peretti, S. di Giovanni, G. Zonnedda, A. Serci, A. Zucca

"Beneficiation of the epithermal gold mineralizations associated with an extensive alteration zone in the Serrenti-Furtei region on the island of Sardinia, is proving a complex issue. Experimental investigations have in fact demonstrated that while the ores contained in the upper parts of the deposit are amenable to conventional cyanidation, the gold contained in the refractory ores in the lower portions needs to be recovered by means of flotation, combined with leaching where necessary.The results of commercial heap leaching, carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing and flotation, designed on the basis of the experimental findings and applied to the oxidized portions and transition zones of the deep sulphide mineralizations, confirmed the expectations emerging from the laboratory tests."

Jan 1, 2003

By S. C. Borah

Graphite, a mineral form of pure carbon, is one of the most versatile minerals in industry, because of its varying physical properties and characteristics. The mineral occurs naturally in the form of tubular crystals or microcrystalline earthy lumps, or it is disseminated in rocks, which have undergone intense metamorphism. India has a large deposition of graphite minerals out of which about 43% are found in Arunachal Pradesh. However, compared to the rest of the country, the North-East Region and particularly Arunachal Pradesh has not attracted attention till date for detail investigation for characterization, beneficiation, prospecting and/or exploitation of the mineral resources including graphite. Bulk graphite sample were collected from upper Subanshiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. Chemical analysis of the representative samples were carried out and found that 7.29%, 19.60% and 6.07% of fixed carbon (FC) is present in graphite sample collected from La-Lamdak, Bopi and Taliha, Arunachal Pradesh, respectively. Chemical analysis of the ash of the graphite sample shows presence of impurities such as silica, Al2O3, Fe2O3, Ca, Mg etc in the graphite sample which are also supported by XRD and SEM-EDX investigation. The graphite samples of Arunachal Pradesh are low grade and do not fulfill the market requirement for the industrial applications. Therefore, low-grade graphite is subjected to beneficiation for the upgradation of the graphite for industrial applications. We have adopted the dispersion?cum-settling technique for the beneficiation of the graphite sample collected from Arunachal Pradesh. The FC of 40.21% with 41.17% raw graphite recovery which is equivalent to 71.02% carbon recovery have been obtained by gravity separation technique using only distilled water without any chemical reagent in case of graphite sample collected from Bopi, Arunachal Pradesh. The graphite sample is upgraded up to 47.75% FC with 41.91% raw graphite recovery, which is equivalent to 85.85% carbon recovery with the pH adjustment at 9 with NaOH. Keywords: graphite, beneficiation, gravity separation, arunachal Pradesh

Sep 1, 2012

By Milind Chikhale, Ranjeev Kumar, Keshav Tyagi

Ore characterisation including mineralogy and beneficiation testwork of an ore is very important for determination of possible products and their quality. The results of such study help in ascertaining the beneficiation process route for the ore. The present study deals with ore characterisation study and beneficiation testwork on the samples of hematite iron ore with goethite impurity. The characterisation study reveals that the hematite is under alteration stage to goethite which has become an integral part of hematite. High goethite/limonite content is enhancing the loss of ignition content of the ore and reducing its Fe content. The findings indicate that in case of hematite iron ore associated with goethite and limonite, it is difficult to achieve high grade of concentrate above 65% Fe. It depends on the amount of goethite and limonite minerals and their association with hematite. These minerals contain aluminous impurities and hence, their rejection becomes essential. Separation of limonite and of goethite to limited extent is possible. In case of goethite, effective liberation is not achieved where it occurs as surface alteration product of hematite grains. The gangue mineral reported are clay and gibbsite, and are closely associated with iron minerals. The test work results indicate the grade and recovery of Fe along with alumina and silica content in lumps, sinter fines and pellet feed fines that can be achieved for the different ore types vis-a-vis the percent of available hematite in the ore. The recovery of iron is dependent on the hematite available and the loss of iron values in tailings is more because of rejection of limonite and goethite.

Jan 1, 2014

By Kr. J. Dedelyanova

Selective flocculation of iron minerals could improve the economics of high intensity magnetic separation as concomitant process. When the minerals are finely disseminated is necessary a finer grinding to be applied which generates a lot of slimes. The HIMS is not enough efficient for particles below 20 microns ? territory where the selective flocculation is already well known industrial practice, so the combination of these two methods of beneficiation can bring a higher grade at high recovery to be achieved. The dynamics and selectivity of the precipitation process is studied in batch tests with flocculant starch and dispersants sodium silicate and sodium hexametaphosphate. The influence of preliminary conditioning with nitrogen acid at pH 2 before flocculation is also investigated. Flowsheet including these two methods is tested and the distribution of iron is shown.

Jan 1, 2014

By B. Das

The separation of iron values from a typical Indian iron ore slimes containing 57.2% Fe, 5.81% SiO2 and 7.05% Al2O3 by wet magnetic separation and selective magnetic coating is investigated. The iron phases, which are mostly paramagnetic in nature, have been coated with magnetite or colloidal magnetite in presence of surfactant by manipulating the surface properties of the minerals. The studies have indicated that an iron concentrate containing 62.32% Fe with 66.5% iron recovery can be obtained at medium magnetic intensity of 7.8 kG which is much less compared to normal magnetic intensity of 13 kG to14 kG required for hematite-goethite separation. The performance of this technique with respect to both grade and recovery is superior to conventional magnetic separation or flotation of iron ore slimes.

Jan 1, 2014