Beneficiation of Some Egyptian Glass Sands

Abstract

QUALITY silica sands required by the glass industry have brought about the need for processing contaminated sand deposits. In addition, the continual increase in glass sand requirements in U. A. R., coupled with the losses of its resources in Sinai, has emphasized the need to develop new local deposits. One source, `Wadi El Natrun' depression, has been employed in this invest-igation. In its raw state, the sand contains iron bearing minerals of different types.These may occur with clays, as a surface contaminant, as iron oxide in the form of a stain on the surface, or deposit in the fissures of quartz particles. These deposits must be removed for the sand to qualify for glass production. In addition to iron impur-ities, most of the raw sands were found to contain a relatively high percentage of heavy mineral particles such as magnetite, chromite, ilmenite, staurlite, epidotes, hornblende, zircon and sometimes mica, chlorite and calcite.