Fluorspar and its beneficiation

With the expansion of steel, aluminium and ceramic industries envisaged under Five Year Plans the demand could be met if proper methods of beneficiation are adopted to exploit the extensive deposits of low grade fluorspar occurring in Rajasthan. The paper presents in brief the world occurrences of fluorspar with special reference to Indian deposits. Uses of fluorspar and specifications laid down for use in metallurgical, acid and ceramic industries are outlined. General methods adopted for dressing of some of the low-grade ores are briefly indicated. The results obtained after systematic studies undertaken in the National Metallurgical Laboratory on samples from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are presented. The samples assaying 46:25, 56:48 and 21:14% CaF2 could be successfully beneficiated by froth flotation to yield fluorspar concentrates of 80-98% purity, with recoveries ranging from 90-60% CaF2.