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Utilization of Mine Waste
Published in Karra Ram Chandar, B. C. Gayana, P. Shubhananda Rao, Mine Waste Utilization, 2022
In the form of steel, iron is the world’s most commonly used metal, which is obtained by processing of iron ore. Iron makes about 95% of the total amount of metals used in a year (https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/iron_ore/mcs-2017-feore.pdf). It has applications in automobiles, machinery, marine purposes, structural engineering, etc. If we see the world reserves, out of 170,000 Mt of proved reserves, there exists only 83,000 Mt iron, and the remaining 87,000 Mt is going to be waste which is almost 51%, which indicates the steady increase in waste and reduction of iron content from iron ore. This increase in waste is due to extraction of high-grade ores in the past, and in future we need to extract the low-grade iron ore in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for steel. Considering the increase in rate of production, and decrease in iron content of ore in future, at least there would be 10% increase in the waste every year. In the processing of ore, different chemicals are added at different stages, which further increases the quantity of tailings slurry. So, constructing tailing dams every year to accommodate the increased tailings is a gigantic task, which requires a lot of space, construction materials and maintenance of the tailing dams. Instead, the tailings can be used for different purposes.
Recovery of Value-Added Materials from Iron Ore Waste and Steel Processing Slags with Zero-Waste Approach and Life Cycle Assessment
Published in Hossain Md Anawar, Vladimir Strezov, Abhilash, Sustainable and Economic Waste Management, 2019
Hossain Md Anawar, Vladimir Strezov
According to the USGS's estimate, the world's total economic reserves are estimated at 160 billion tons (Gt) crude ore containing 77 Gt of iron (Table 2.1). In 2009, Australia had about 12.5% of the world's reserves of iron ore and was ranked third after Ukraine (19%) and Russia (16%) (Table 2.2). Australia has about 13% of the world's reserves and is ranked second behind Russia (14%). Australia produces around 15% of the world's iron ore and is ranked third behind China (35%) and Brazil (18%) (Table 2.1). The most important iron ore resources of the world are located in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Russia and Ukraine (Yellishetty et al., 2012).
Raw Materials: Characterization and Preparation
Published in Ram Pravesh Bhagat, Agglomeration of Iron Ores, 2019
The metal iron is one of the predominantly available elements that constitutes 4.6% of the earth's crust. There are a number of commonly occurring iron minerals, and the deposits of iron ores are found at the earth's surface. The three most common iron ore minerals are hematite, magnetite, and goethite, which together account for an estimated more than 99% of the total Fe constituting minerals.[3a]
Characterization and drying kinetics of iron ore pellet feed and sinter feed
Published in Drying Technology, 2021
T. C. Souza Pinto, A. S. Souza, J. N. M. Batista, A. M. Sarkis, L. S. Leal Filho, T. F. Pádua, R. Béttega
Iron ore is the primary source of metallic iron for industries and is mostly used in the production of steel. The mining of iron ore generally involves the exploitation, grinding, and beneficiation of the material, and then dumping of waste. The final concentrate is usually presented in three main products, depending on the size distribution: coarse (lump ore), medium (sinter feed), and fine (pellet feed). According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS, 2019),[1] the global prices of iron ore products have recently trended down, which is especially concerning because the mining and transport sectors require high investments in equipment and infrastructure such as heavy machinery, off-road trucks, railroads, and bulk carrier ships. In these circumstances, the competitiveness of mining companies is strongly linked to the production costs and the quality of the commodity. For these reasons, it is fundamental to study and develop mining technologies aiming at cost reduction along the iron ore production chain, ensuring sustainability and viability in long-term operation.
A novel dry gravity separation method for cleaner production of fine sized iron ore concentrate
Published in Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly, 2021
Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Ganesh Chalavadi, Ambesh Gupta, Achintya Kumar Das
Iron ore is the basic raw material for iron and steel production. Around 98% of the total domestic consumption of iron ore is by the Iron and steel industries. Iron ore is most often found in the forms of hematite and magnetite. All the present-day production comes from hematite reserves due to its high-grade quality and lumpy nature. The practice adopted by major steel industries in India, in general, is to use a medium to high-grade iron ore (+62 Fe), which is achieved by selective mining or keeping 58-60%Fe as cut-off grade followed by wet beneficiation to increase its Fe content [1]. The wet physical beneficiation consists of multiple crushing stages followed by scrubbing, screening, wet gravity concentration, etc. The wet scrubbing process is very primitive and used invariably to dislodge soft and lateritic masses, fine sand, and limonitic clay particles adhering to the lumps. Wet gravity concentration is carried out by exploiting the specific gravity difference between iron ore mineral (SG of hematite, magnetite, goethite, and siderite is 5.1,5.2,4.2, and 3.85, respectively) and gangue minerals (Specific gravity of quartz, calcite/limestone, clay, and gibbsite is 2.65,2.75, 2.65, and 2.67 respectively). Various effective wet gravity concentration techniques are practiced to treat iron ore across wide size ranges from 50 mm to 0.03 mm [2–8]. Water requirement for this purpose is in the tune of 1 m3 per ton of ROM for adding at various stages of wet beneficiation [9].
Innovative development on agglomeration of iron ore fines and iron oxide wastes
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review, 2018
Iron ore is available in nature in form of hematite, magnetite, goethite, limonite etc. Out of which hematite and magnetite are the major source. Hematite can be used directly in iron making furnaces in lump form. Magnetite is generally used after pre processing. In India, the graded hematite lump is widely used in the blast furnaces and in rotary kiln. However, during the lump ore preparation (10–30 mm size) lots of mineral dressing (crushing, grinding, screening etc.) are required wherein a significant amount of fines (~ 60%) are generated. These fines cannot be used directly in any furnaces. For utilization of these fines, agglomeration techniques, such as sintering, pelletizing, or briquetting, are required. Sintering is the oldest, easiest, and energy-efficient process to use these fines. Therefore, in most of the steel plant sintering routes are followed for using these undersize iron ore. However, sintering has a size limitation. Excessive fineness (<0.5 mm) loses its bed permeability. However, a huge quantity of ultra-fines iron oxides is generated both in the mines area and in the steel plant itself.