Upgrading of Phosphate Ore Wastes of El-Nasr Mining Company, Egypt

Abstract

Phosphates are vital nonrenewable resources. The treatment of phosphate ore wastes of El-Nasr Mining Company, Sepaeya, Egypt aims to upgrade P2O5 percent, adds a new economic value, development of the Egyptian national income, and aids to clean the mine district. The main aim of this paper is to compare different processing alternatives methods to concentrate and upgrade of phosphate ore tailings assayed 18.37% of El-Nasr Mining Company, Sepaeya, Egypt. The concentration of wastes not only add an economic value but also safe the human, animals, and plants. Two options of sizes obtained from grinding and sieving were separated to obtain the highest grade of P2O5 with the greatest recovery. The first option (i.e. sizes below 100 µm) gave P2O5 percent of 23.88%, P2O5 recovery of 42.37%, and weight recovery equals to 33.68%. The second option (i.e. sizes below 160 µm) gave P2O5 percent of 22.52%, P2O5 recovery of 53.25%, and weight recovery equals to 44.88%. The calcination process raised P2O5 to 22.4 with weight recovery 83.75%, and P2O5 recovery of 99.10%. Leaching process using acetic acid gave the best results at the following conditions: a)solid to liquid ratio 15% where the percent of P2O5 raised from 18% to 22.23% with weight recovery about 86%, b) Agitation time 15 minutes where the percent of P2O5 raised from 18% to 22.35% with weight recovery about 86%, c) Agitation speed 1200 rpm where the percent of P2O5 increased from 18% to 22.23% with weight recovery about 86%, d) Acid to ore ratio 16.7% where the percent of P2O5 increased from 18% to 21.44% with weight recovery about 88.7%. The leaching process on size -100 µm raised P2O5% from 23.88% to 28.44% with weight recovery 84%. The weight recovery and P2O5 recovery with respect to the original feed were 28.29% and 42.39%, respectively.