Abstract
As part of a geometallurgical program for the Leveäniemi iron ore mine, the Davis tube was used as proxy to classify ore types, predict iron recoveries in wet low-intensity magnetic separation (WLIMS), and to estimate liberation of mixed particles. The study was conducted by testing 13 iron ore samples with a Davis tube and a laboratory WLIMS. Ore feed was studied for modal mineralogy and liberation distribution with Automated Scanning Electron Microscopy. Data analyses to detect the patterns and data dependencies were done with multivariate statistics: principal component analysis, and projection to latent structures regression. Results show that a simple index (XLTU) based on mass pull in the Davis tube is capable of easy classification of magnetite ores. Using Davis tube mass pull and iron recovery, together with iron and Satmagan head grades may predict iron recovery in WLIMS. Also, the variability in Fe-oxides liberation pattern for magnetite semi-massive ores can be explained with the chemical composition of the Davis tube concentrate. It is concluded that the Davis tube test is better used only for marginal ores, since iron oxide minerals tend to be fully liberated in high-grade magnetite massive ores after grinding. The developed models may be used in populating a production block model.
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