Abstract
The beneficiation methods for some tantalite ores from selected deposits in Nigeria have been assessed through mineralogical and compositional analyses of the ores. Tantalite ores obtained from eight different well-known locations of the mineral in the country were analyzed with 109Cd excitation source Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometry using the emission-transmission method of quantification. The major minerals detected and quantified include TiO2, MnO, Fe2O3, Ta2O5, Nb2O5, WO3, Th and U. Impurity elements such as Hf, Zn, Zr, Co, Pb, Rb, and Y were also observed and evaluated. Our analyses further show that Ta2O5 in the ores ranged from a minimum concentration of about 8% in Otu to about 60% in the Egbe deposits, while the Nb2O5 concentrations in the ores ranged from about 20% to 37.5% with the highest coming from the Ofiki deposit. Based on these results and the work of other authors, we deduced that clean-up operations might be adequate for Ta extraction from most of the tantalite deposits in Nigeria. The consideration of simplicity and cost of process favours the direct dissolution of the ores in HF for the clean-up operations.
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