Abstract
Abstract Not long ago, certain iron ore processing plants in Brazil were unable to efficiently recover iron ore fines and, as a result, operated only with high grade iron ore. For this reason, material stored in some iron ore tailings dams have considerable amounts of iron content with a potential to produce pellet feed fines through a concentration process. This study presents the results of magnetic concentration tests carried out on samples from four iron ore tailings dams located in Minas Gerais, named as A, B, C and D. The average iron content is 54% for A dam, 36% for B dam, 49% for C dam, and 58% for D dam. This material had a significant amount of ultra-fine particles, with more than 50% below 0.045mm for all dams, particularly the A and D dams, which present more than 80% of the below 0.045mm on average. Magnetic concentration tests were conducted on bench and pilot scales. The resulting concentrates showed the following average iron content: 66% for dam A, 63% for dam B, and 67% for dams C and D, with a mass recovery of 42% for dam A, 38% for dam B, 75% for dam C, and 63% for dam D. These results confirm the potential for pellet feed production from tailings dams through magnetic concentration.
Highlights
The environmental aspects of tailings dams are a substantial issue from the standpoint of ore production sustainability, especially in the case of idled dams, which cannot receive more tailings, but represent a permanent environmental impact and geotechnical risk; their need to be continuously monitored.Not long ago, certain iron ore processing plants in Brazil were unable to efficiently recover iron ore fines and, as a result, operated only with high grade and material that generates coarse products
Material stored in some iron ore tailings dams have considerable amounts of iron content, with a potential to produce pellet feed fines through a concentration process
Test results indicate the possibility of producing pellet feed fines at higher than 63% iron content using a magnetic concentration process for the four dams studied
Summary
Certain iron ore processing plants in Brazil were unable to efficiently recover iron ore fines and, as a result, operated only with high grade and material that generates coarse products. For this reason, material stored in some iron ore tailings dams have considerable amounts of iron content, with a potential to produce pellet feed fines through a concentration process. Material stored in some iron ore tailings dams have considerable amounts of iron content, with a potential to produce pellet feed fines through a concentration process In this context, a series of characterization and recovery studies of the fines deposited in tailings dams is being developed. The recovery of ore fines from tailings dams usually poses a number of challenges, such as material heterogeneity, throughput fluctuations due to difficulty in recovering and handling the tailings, and the presence of contaminants such as natural sediment, sand, and organic materials. Ribeiro and Ribeiro (2015) show the problems in magnetic concentration due to blockage in the matrix by coarse particles and organic materials
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