CSIRO carbon steel raw materials research

Abstract

While Australia has large resources of iron ore, manganese ore and metallurgical coal to meet increasing export demands for many decades, some of the traditional high-grade resources are being depleted and alternative resources are now being developed to meet demand. These alternative resources include lower-grade Brockman, Marra Mamba, Channel Iron, detrital and magnetite ores, as well as lower rank metallurgical coals. The mineralogy of these new resources is different from the traditional resources, and they tend to be more friable and contain higher levels of impurities, such as alumina, silica and phosphorus in the case of iron ores. A detailed understanding of beneficiation options and downstream processing characteristics is therefore required to optimise their utilisation. CSIRO’s iron ore processing research ranges from mineral characterisation and beneficiation to agglomeration and process modelling, with a particular focus on developing methods for removing impurities in the ores and counteracting their adverse affects on downstream processing characteristics, such as agglomeration performance. In addition, triggered by the relocation of the BHP Billiton Carbon Steel Materials group from Newcastle to CSIRO’s Brisbane laboratory in July 2009, research activities are currently being expanded to included manganese ore as well as coke making, including installation of BHP Billiton’s pilot-scale coke ovens in Brisbane. Commissioning is scheduled to commence in March 2011.