Iron ore; Itabirite; Geometallurgy; Mineral Processing; Process Modelling
Abstract :
[en] The Iron Quadrangle district is a world-class iron ore mining district in the region of Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais state, in Brazil. Many mining companies have been mining high-grade hematite ores for decades throughout the region. The mines reserves often include itabirite ores which are available in high volumes, but have lower iron grades than hematite ores and require elaborated mineral processing to meet the requirements of downstream steelmaking. Itabirite ores have acquired importance, with the depletion of high-grade hematite reserves due to their intensive mining. The objective of this paper is to propose a geometallurgical model for the processing of itabirite ores from an Iron Quadrangle deposit, which will allow predicting the behaviour of ores throughout the deposit, according to their local variations. An initial step consists in characterizing representative samples of the different ores to acquire mineralogical and textural data. Then, itabirite ores of known characteristics are processed with different techniques, in order to extract the trends and key parameters upon which the geometallurgical model is developed. At first, the model takes into account the particle size distribution and its shift during mining and screening, as well as the chemistry and mineralogy of the material. Then, using the previously identified key parameters such as iron recovery, the model predicts the composition of the processing products. Finally, this data is used to model the mineralogy and mass recovery of the products. The geometallurgical model is of great importance, as it is able to model the processing of any sampled ore throughout the deposit. The incorporation of the results in a mining block model will assist mine planning and opens new opportunities for an optimized mining schedule.
Disciplines :
Geological, petroleum & mining engineering
Author, co-author :
Martino, Rémi ; Université de Liège > Département ArGEnCo > Traitement et recyclage des matières minérales
Correa de Araujo, Armando
Gotelip Barbosa, Marcela
Gaydardzhiev, Stoyan ; Université de Liège > Département ArGEnCo > Traitement et recyclage des matières minérales
Language :
English
Title :
Geometallurgical Modelling of Low-Grade Itabirite Iron Ores from the Iron Quadrangle, Brazil
Publication date :
11 September 2016
Event name :
XXVIII International Mineral Processing Congress
Event organizer :
Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum
Event place :
Québec City, Canada
Event date :
September 11-15, 2016
Audience :
International
Main work title :
Proceedings of the XXVIII International Mineral Processing Congress (IMPC 2016)
Publisher :
The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, West Westmount, Canada
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