Pilot Plant Spiral test with soft and hard Kittaburu Chrome ore

Abstract

Two samples of chrome ore viz. (1) soft ore and (2) hard ore, both from Kittaburu weighing in all over one ton were received from the Superintendent of Prospecting, Messrs. Tata Iron & Steel Company, Jamshedpur with a request that a pilot plant spiral test be done with the mixed hard and soft ore (50:50) after grinding to minus 65 mesh. With the mixed ore ground to – 65 mesh, as desired by Tisco, the spiral concentrate and middling , when combined assayed 46.22 percent Cr2O3 with a recovery of 67.1 percent Cr2O3.The batch test with mixed ore, done earlier, vide I.R.No. 3, but with a coarser food ( - 35 mesh for hard and – 48 mesh for the soft ore) yielded a concentrate of nearly the same grade but with a recovery of 80 percent. By grinding to – 65 mesh for the continuous test, a large amount of slime is produced, which escapes with the tailing .With a coarser grind, similar to the one used for batch test, a higher recovery of at least 75 percent could be obtained in a concentrate of nearly the same grade. A standard size 5 spiral As used for this test, could treat 750 1bs. /hour for this grind, but could be expected to give a higher output with a coarser food.