Enhanced process route to produce magnetite pellet feed from copper tailing

Block diagram of proposed process route to produce magnetite pellet feed from copper tailings. [Display omitted] •Enhanced process route to produce magnetite pellet feed from copper tailing.•Despite the complex mineralogy, it was possible to recover 62.9% of magnetite and 9.5% of feed mass.•A high-q...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Minerals engineering 2021-11, Vol.173, p.107195, Article 107195
Main Authors: Silva, Ruberlan Gomes, Silva, José Maria, Souza, Thiago Cesar, Bianchetti, Matheus, Guimarães, Lorena, Reis, Lucas, Oliveira, Eugênio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Copper
Magnetite
Pellet feed
Tailing
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Summary:Block diagram of proposed process route to produce magnetite pellet feed from copper tailings. [Display omitted] •Enhanced process route to produce magnetite pellet feed from copper tailing.•Despite the complex mineralogy, it was possible to recover 62.9% of magnetite and 9.5% of feed mass.•A high-quality magnetite pellet feed (wt%): Fe = 68.4, SiO2 = 1.9, Al2O3 = 0.4, P = 0.01 and S = 0.07.•SSA higher than 1500 cm2/g and 80% of particles lower than 20 µm, adequate to pellets production.•Contributes to sustainability, minimizing tailing disposal and increasing revenues. The majority of copper mines generate a large quantity of tailings after their concentration processing. The flotation tailings are, in general, either piled up or stored in dams, although most copper tailings have a huge potential for by-products production leading to improve sustainability and profitability of operations. This paper describes a study aiming at producing a by-product magnetite pellet feed from IOCG (Iron oxide copper–gold) industrial copper processing tailings, located in northern Brazil. The mineralogy of copper tailings indicates around 14% of magnetite in its head composition, making its concentration of economic interest also allowing a considerable reduction in the amount of tailing disposal. The proposed route of this study is composed of hydrocyclones, low and high fields magnetic separation followed by silicates reverse cationic flotation. The complex mineralogy of IOCG deposits leads to the need for regrinding the rougher magnetite pellet feed to a P80 of 20 µm to achieve the desirable magnetite liberation. A saleable magnetite pellet feed within a high chemical quality (Fe > 64.1 wt%, SiO2 
ISSN:0892-6875
1872-9444
DOI:10.1016/j.mineng.2021.107195