Methods of Iron Ore Separation Process

By: Fote MachineryJuly 23rd,2020

At present, there are about 300 kinds of iron ore in nature. According to their chemical composition, iron ore can be divided into magnetite, hematite, limonite and siderite. But according to the different magnetization coefficient of iron ore, iron ore is divided into strong magnetic and weak magnetic minerals, which provides the basis for the selection of beneficiation technology. Different properties of iron ore, the processing technology is completely different.

一、Strong magnetite

1、Single magnetite

The composition of single magnetic iron ore is simple, magnetic strong, easy to wear and separation, so weak magnetic separation method is often used.

• When the grinding size is greater than 0.2mm, most iron ore magnetic separation plants usually adopt a grinding - magnetic separation.
• When the grinding particle size is less than 0.2mm, secondary grinding - magnetic separation is used.
• In arid and water-deficient areas, dry grinding - dry magnetic separation process can be considered in iron ore concentrators.

2、Polymetallic magnetite

Polymetallic magnetite often contain silicate and carbonate minerals, cobalt pyrite, chalcopyrite or apatite, etc. It is suggested to adopt the combined process of weak magnetic separation and flotation, that is, the weak magnetic separation process is used to recover iron first, and then the flotation process is used to recover sulfide or apatite, which is conducive to obtaining a higher concentration index.

二、Weak magnetite

1、Single weakly magnetite

Single weak magnetite mainly includes hematite, siderite, limonite and siderite. Because this kind of mineral involves many kinds and has a wide range of particle size, the ore dressing method is also more complicated, which usually adopts the process of gravity separation, flotation, strong magnetic separation or their combination.

• Flotation process is mainly used to select fine particles of weakly magnetic iron ore, including positive flotation and reverse flotation processes. Among them, the positive flotation process is suitable for quartz hematite ore without easy-floating gangue, while the reverse flotation process is suitable for ore with easy-floating gangue.
• Gravity separation process and strong magnetic separation process are mainly used to separate coarse-grained (2mm-20mm) and medium-grained weakly magnetic iron ore.

2、Polymetallic weakly magnetite

Polymetallic weakly magnetic iron ore refers to phosphorus-containing hematite and siderite ore. Most ore beneficiation plant will first use gravity separation, flotation, strong magnetic separation or combined process to recover iron minerals, then use the flotation process to recover phosphorus or sulfide.

Obviously, due to the large variety and complex nature, most iron ore will use multiple beneficiation combined processes to obtain ideal beneficiation indicators. It is recommended that mine owners must do a good job of beneficiation tests, and rationally choose the appropriate iron ore beneficiation process based on the final report results.

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