Abstract
The mineralogical characterization studies search for the best processing route, with the lowest environmental impact, aiming to improve the use of mineral resources. The electronic quantitative mineralogy (EQM) provides quickly and accurately great information about the characteristics of these materials. This work aims to characterize iron ore tailings by EQM as the main tool. It has selected seven samples of itabirite ores flotation tailings from the main mining regions of the Quadrilatero Ferrifero, Brazil. All samples were mostly composed by quartz and iron minerals, with a low presence of mixture particles of these minerals - less than 20% of the sample mass. Due to the difference between the size of particles of quartz and iron minerals, it has observed an opportunity to reprocess the fractions -37µm + 5µm of the studied tailings, with a potential recovery of 12% of the total sample mass generated for AM4, AM6 and AM7 and more than 5% for samples AM1, AM2, AM3 and AM5.
Highlights
The studies about reprocessing mining tailings has been developed due to the great companies and society concerns about the environmental impacts generated by deposition of these materials in tailings dams, either using new technologies in the treatment of low-grade ores or in other applications
The electronic quantitative mineralogy (EQM) uses software coupled to a modern scanning electron microscope (SEM), equipped with at least one energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) analyzer, for chemical microanalysis[2]
The system uses backscattered electron (BSE) images, in which the gray level of each pixel is proportional to the average atomic number of that point[1,3], in order to facilitate the composition information provided by the microanalysis and the the different mineral particles boundaries identification
Summary
The studies about reprocessing mining tailings has been developed due to the great companies and society concerns about the environmental impacts generated by deposition of these materials in tailings dams, either using new technologies in the treatment of low-grade ores or in other applications. Those studies must invest in the characterization of these materials because they have not been applied to an environmental liability yet. Whether the minerals have elements with near or equal atomic numbers (e.g., spharelite and chalcopyrite) and gray levels indistinguishable from each other, the identification is based exclusively on energy dispersion spectra[4]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
