Beneficiation of titaniferrous iron ore sample

Abstract

A few sporadic deposits of titaniferrous iron ore are located in Gondia area of Maharashtra. In this area, the ore occurs in the form of lumps as well as fines in the ratio of 1:1 and mostly comprised of iron bearing mineral of hematite followed by magnetite and ilmenite. Both the iron oxide minerals are titaniferrous containing 1–1.25% TiO2. The ore deposit as a whole assayed Fe (T) 47–52%, FeO 8–9%, TiO2 14–15%, Al2O3 5–7%, SiO2 4–8% for both lumpy and fine ore mineralization. The ore does not find appropriate market. Beneficiation studies on the sample failed to produce either iron or titanium rich concentrate of marketable grade on account of intimate association of ilmenite iron oxide minerals. This need appropriate consumer market and one that draw attention is likely use it as dense medium in Heavy Media Separation (HMS) process of coal. Invariably, the characteristics of dense medium like magnetite, etc. necessitated fines size of around 325 mesh (~45µm) having specific gravity to be over 4 with high magnetic susceptibility so that media reclamation through low intensity magnetic separation may be possible. This paper deals with scope of up-gradation of available highly magnetic mineral concentrate that can find market as dense medium.