Beneficiation Studies on Recovery of Secondary Sources of Iron from Ferrigenous Alluvial Sands

Abstract

Beneficiation studies were carried out on iron bearing alluvial sand to recover iron values for pelletisation. The studies include detailed mineralogical characterization, physical and chemical characteristics, beneficiation studies including grinding, magnetic and high tension separation. The results of these investigations indicate that the samples contain 50.2% Fe and 8.2% SiO2 on average. The mineralogical studies reveal that the sand contains dominantly heavy minerals with small amount of quartz. The heavy minerals are magnetite and ilmenite with small quantities of amphibole and pyroxene group minerals. Detailed beneficiation studies carried out by various techniques indicated that the iron content can be upgraded by simple low intensity wet magnetic separation after grinding the sample to below 210 microns. A product with 62.7% Fe can be obtained at 65.5% yield. The product obtained can be used for pelletisation by blending with suitable high grade iron concentrate.