Abstract
Rwanda is known to be among the top producers of tin and tantalum, despite having low recovery and grades. This study was carried out to evaluate the efficiency of using mechanized methods to increase the recovery rate and grades of tin and tantalum mined in Gatsibo, Eastern Province, Rwanda, since the general separation techniques used are artisanal. The minerals in those mines include cassiterite (SnO2) and colombite–tantalite ((Fe,Mn)(Ta,Nb)2O5), with impurities such as Al2O3, Fe2O3, MnO, MgO, Cao, Na2O, K2O, TiO2, and P2O5. A combination of gravity separation techniques, including shaking tables and magnetic separation, were used as the mechanized processing techniques. The results were compared to the results obtained by artisanal processing techniques. The proposed mechanized techniques were found to increase the efficiency of tin and tantalum recovery from 60.75% to 81.85% and from 22.9% to 48.57%, respectively, and the grades of the tin and tantalum increased to 63.75% and 35.7%, respectively. Based on these results, the proposed mechanized processing techniques and the recycling of waste from artisanal processing techniques are highly recommended.
Highlights
Received: 21 December 2021Tantalum production in the Great Lakes region of Central and East Africa has overtaken Australian production since 2009 and the area remains the major source of tantalum production [1]
Rwanda’s mining industry is the second largest sector contributing to gross domestic production and the country is known to be among the largest producers of tantalum [1]
This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of using mechanized separation techniques to increase tin and tantalum recovery rates and grades in the eastern part of the country, and especially for Company X
Summary
Received: 21 December 2021Tantalum production in the Great Lakes region of Central and East Africa has overtaken Australian production since 2009 and the area remains the major source of tantalum production [1]. Minerals are becoming an important source of revenue for the economy of Rwanda and have shown good potential for increasing growth and economic transformation. Rwanda’s mining industry is the second largest sector contributing to gross domestic production and the country is known to be among the largest producers of tantalum [1]. Value addition and increasing the recovery rates and grades of Rwanda’s “3Ts”. (tin, tungsten, and tantalum) are the main goals of the country’s mining industry. All run of mine minerals have low grades and this leads to the need for mineral beneficiation techniques to recover the minerals and extract metals, as well as increase the grades [2]. The extraction techniques used in Rwanda are techniques that have been used since
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