Utilization of low grade iron ore

Abstract

India has extensive reserves of iron ore. Due to the high quality of iron ore available in India, large deposits of Banded Haematite Jasper (BHJ) are left unused because of the presence of silica in undesirable quantity. Also due to the presence of alumina and silica in iron ore, the ROM is put through washing to remove the clayey matter. This results in slime generation which are disposed off in tailing ponds .Slime in these tailing ponds contain iron values in the range of 45-60%. Hence to reduce the waste generation in mines and for the sustainable development of the iron ore industry some suitable beneficiation process has to be developed. Characterization studies of BHJ shows the intergrowth of Haematite and Quartz which is the reason for difficulty in beneficiation of BHJ. Mineralogical studies of iron ore slime reveal the presence of Kaolonite. Beneficiation studies have to be carried out to develop different methods for the separation of alumina from iron ore