Processing of Lean Iron Ores by Dry High Intensity Magnetic Separation

Abstract

Dry high intensity magnetic separation (DHIMS) is investigated to process a lean hematite ore. It was found that the feed particle size and the drum rotation speed have significant influences on the separation performance, and a magnetic concentrate assaying 36.22% Fe with 75.97% recovery is achievable from the ore assaying 29.14% Fe at a coarse particle size below 10 mm. While the DHIMS is applied to process a lean limonite ore, a similar separation phenomenon is observed to that of the hematite ore. It was concluded that DHIMS may significantly improve the economic viability for exploration of lean iron ores.

Keywords:

• processing of lean iron ores
• magnetic separation
• hematite
• limonite

Additional information

Funding

This research work was supported by the Educational Key Program of Yunnan Province of China (Grant No. 2014C009Z) and the Major Technical Equipment Innovation Development and Industrialization Project of Sichuan Province (Grant No. 2014ZZ059).