Abstract
The search for alternatives that minimize the generation of tailings and enable their reuse, leads to characterization studies with the objective of a better understanding of the physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of iron ore tailings. The increase in demand for high-quality ore overlapping ore extraction with increasingly lower iron concentration levels, is part of the challenge of mineral exploitation. In view of the aforementioned needs, a more detailed characterization of the tailings contributes to the improvement of the mineral processing stage and the reuse of the generated tailings. To this end, an analysis of the characteristics of the tailings was carried out through physical, chemical and mineralogical characterization, with emphasis on quantitative electron microscopy - QEM. The tests revealed that the predominant phases are hematite and quartz and, to a lesser extent, goethite, gibbsite and kaolinite. As for the degree of release, hematite/magnetite has 88.13% of its particles totally free, 0.53% associated with quartz and 6.77% associated with goethite. The chemical composition is 32.29% Fe, 47.92% SiO2, 2.76% Al2O3, and 2.14% PPI. In this scenario, mineralogical characterization, as a main component of geometallurgy, makes it possible to propose alternatives that improve the ore beneficiation process and the reuse of tailings.
Highlights
Iron ore is one of the main exploited mineral resources in the world and it would be no different in Brazil
It is important to highlight that granulometry plays an important role in the iron ore classification and beneficiation process, such as determining the degree of ore release, the crushing and screening work ranges, the size distribution in the process feed, among others
The fields in which there is a higher percentage of concentration are 0.6 and 1.2 teslas, it is observed that, of the sample volume, 47.20% was attracted by the applied fields and that 52.80% were repelled by these same fields
Summary
Iron ore is one of the main exploited mineral resources in the world and it would be no different in Brazil. It is the second metal in abundance in the lithosphere, covering approximately 4.2% of it. It was, is and will be part of the countries’ industrialization process, being the main raw material for the manufacture of steel, being directly linked to the development of the world market and economy[1,2]. It is worth noting that the impoverishment of deposits and the levels of mined and processed ores directly impacts the greater generation of tailings resulting from the process.
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