Trans Indian Inst Met
DOI 10.1007/s12666-017-1177-8
TECHNICAL PAPER
Recovery of Ultra-Fine Iron Ore from Iron Ore Tailings
Lopamudra Panda1 • S. K. Biswal2 • R. Venugopal3 • N. R. Mandre3
Received: 2 September 2016 / Accepted: 25 July 2017
© The Indian Institute of Metals - IIM 2017
Abstract Many attempts has been taken for further utili-
sation of the tailings and slimes through different routes i.e.
beneficiation, agglomeration etc. Though the slimes and
tailings contain huge ultra fines, conventional beneficiation
methods many not be much effective for handling because
of particle size limitations. Physicochemical method i.e.
selective flocculation is a process for handling the ultrafine
particles present in the tailings. Review shows that selec-
tive flocculation technique have very limited commercial
application. Here the study focuses on the application of
selective flocculation process for beneficiation of synthetic
mixtures of iron ore and kaolinite as well as iron ore tail-
ings. Results show that it is possible to achieve 65.78(%)
of Fe, with 2.65% Al2O3, 3.66 SiO2 (%) in the concentrate
using synthetic mixture feed and more than 60% of Fe is
obtained from natural iron ore tailings.
Keywords Synthetic mixtures · Joda iron ore slime ·
Selective flocculation · Dispersant · Flocculant ·
SEM analysis
& Lopamudra Panda
lopapanda7@gmail.com
1 taken to establish the selective flocculation process for real
Process Research Group, Tata Steel, Kalinganar, Odisha,
India
2
MP Department, IMMT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
3
Department of Fuel and Mineral Engineering, Indian School
of Mines University, Dhanbad, India
1 Introduction
Extensive studies have been done by various research
institutes and agencies for reutilisation of the wastes i.e.
tailings, slimes, etc. generated during mining, raw materi-
als industrial operations. Reported literature shows that
approximately 10–15 million tonnes of iron ore slimes are
generated every year while processing [1]. Due to
depletion of high grade ores, government of India has
taken initia- tives and fixed the cut-off grade of the ores
below which only the ores can be rejected as the tailings.
Review shows that for further reutilisation of the tailings,
either conven- tional beneficiation methods or
agglomeration techniques have been applied [2].
Conventional methods of separation
i.e. gravity separation, magnetic separation, flotation has
been attempted for beneficiation of iron ore tailings [3–6].
The slimes and tailings contain huge ultra-fines because of
which the conventional methods may not be effective for
handling, because of the particle size limitations [7].
Selective flocculation is a physicochemical separation
technique which can handle very ultrafine particles.
Extensive research has been done to establish selective
flocculation process in lab scale using synthetic mixtures
of hematite with its associated gangue minerals i.e. quartz;
kaolinite etc. using natural reagents and synthetic reagents
[8–15]. Findings show that only at Tilden Iron ore mines,
selective flocculation has been commercially used after
reverse flotation process [10]. Very few attempts have been
iron ore tailings in the laboratory scale [10, 14, 16–19].
The commercial application of this process is very limited.
On the above view, an attempt has been made to establish
the selective flocculation technique using synthetic
mixtures of hematite, kaolinite, and iron ore slimes of Joda
Iron ore Plant.
1
3
2 Materials and Methods
2.1 Materials
Iron ore used in the study was collected from a beneficia-
tion plant of India. The as received iron ore sample was
subjected for grinding followed by screening to generate
particle size less than 45 micron. Furthermore, the
screened sample was processed by WHIMS (Wet high
Intensity Magnetic Separation) for further up gradation.
Size anal- ysis showed that 90% of the particle passed
through 72 lm
size fraction. Assay analysis showed that the sample con-
tained 67.57(%) Fe, 2.04(%) Al2O3, 0.88(%) SiO2, 0.96(%)
LOI etc. XRD analysis showed that major phase of the
sample was hematite and little amount of gibbsite and
quartz was also associated in the sample [13–15]. From the
SEM Analysis, it was observed that along with Fe, Al
compounds were also present in the sample (Fig. 1a).
Fig. 1 a SEM analysis of the high grade iron ore. b SEM analysis of synthetic mixture of iron ore and kaolinite. c Size analysis of the iron ore
slimes. d SEM analysis of Joda slime
Kaolin (particle size below 45 lm) used in the
study was generated by desliming of blue dust sample.
Assay analysis showed that the sample contained 18.12(%)
Al2O3, 46.43(%) SiO2, 13.17(%) Fe, 11.3(%) LOI etc. Size
analysis showed that 90% of kaolinite passed through 14
lm size fraction. XRD analysis showed that kaolinite
was the major mineral phase present in the sample. Along
with kaolinite, little amount of quartz and hematite phase
was also associated in the sample [13–15].
Synthetic mixture of different ratios was prepared by
using hematitic iron ore and kaolinite i.e. (60:40), (70:30),
(50:50) by weight percentage. The feed grade was calcu-
lated and the detail was given in the Table 1 [13–15]. SEM
analysis of the synthetic mixture is presented in Fig. 1b.
From the figure, it was observed that along with Fe, Al and
Si compounds were also present in the sample.
Around 200 kg of iron ore slime sample was collected
from the tailing pond of Joda area. Proper sampling was
Trans Indian Inst Met

c 100

80
Cum.wt(%) passing
60

40

20

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Particle size(µm)

Fig. 1 continued

done and the representative sample was subjected for 8.86% of Al2O3, 7.12% of LOI etc. Size analysis showed
detailed characterization analysis. Assay analysis showed that approximately 90% of the particles were less than 37
that the sample contained Fe (T) 50.98%, 9.64(%) of SiO2, lm (Fig. 1c). From SEM Analysis (shown in Fig. 1d), it

1
3
Table 1 Synthetic mixture feed grade of different ratios (values in
%) [6–8]
Ratio
(70:30)
(60:40)
(50:50)
was observed that along with the iron, alumina and silica
bearing impurities were also present. It was also observed
that the iron bearing particles were present in the free form
which could be separated from the gangue particles by
beneficiation method.
2.2 Reagent
Selection of the flocculants and evaluation of the
selectivity of the flocculant to the particular mineral is the
most crit- ical part in the selective flocculation process.
Based on few initial studies, degraded wheat starch was
identified as the flocculant for iron ore. Detailed study was
explained in the earlier published literature [13–15].
Similarly, based on initial experimental work, particular
dispersant and dis- persant dose was identified. Sodium
silicate was used as the dispersant for synthetic mixtures.
Sodium hexametaphos- phate was used as dispersant in
natural iron ore slimes. For pH adjustment of the feed
slurry, little amount of hydrochloric acid solution or
sodium hydroxide solution was used.
2.3 Method
In selective flocculation process the feed slurry was mixed
properly with dispersant dose. The mechanical stirrer speed
was maintained very high for proper mixing of the dis-
persant dose with the feed particles. Required pH of the
feed slurry was maintained; subsequently flocculant dose
was added to the feed slurry. After addition of the floccu-
lants, the stirrer speed reduced slowly to prevent the
breakage of the floc. Approximately after 120 s of addition
of the flocculants by decantation the concentrate was sep-
arated from the tailing. After drying of both the products,
weight was taken and further the product was subjected for
detailed analysis and characterization. The requirements of
the process are presented in Fig. 2.
3 Experimental
3.1 Synthetic Mixture
Few experiments were conducted using synthetic mixtures
of different ratios i.e. (70:30), (60:40), (50:50) with
varying
Feed grade
47.06
44.6
37.65
Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of selective flocculation process
flocculant dose, dispersant dose and pH etc. The test
products were quantified in terms of grade (%), recovery
(%) and separation efficiency, SE (%). The separation
efficiency (%) was calculated by;
Separation efficiency ¼ R1 — R2;
R1 = % recovery of valuable mineral, R2 = % recovery
of the gangue into the concentrate [13–15, 19]. For all the
experiments, both grade (%) and Fe recovery (%) was
calculated. A part of the experiment was explained
somewhere else [13–15]. Variation of the flocculant dose
with different ratio of synthetic mixture was presented in
Fig. 3a. From the plot, it was observed that from feed grade
of 47.06(%), 65.78(%) of Fe with 80.71% Fe recovery was
achieved in the concentrate. In addition to this, it was also
observed that at 0.8 g/kg of flocculant dose, 65.78(%) of
Fe with 70.08(%) of separation efficiency (%) was
achieved in the concentrate. At this particular condition,
along with 65.78(%) of Fe, 2.65% Al2O3 and 3.66 SiO2 (%)
was obtained in the concentrate [13–15, 19]. The
experimental results for synthetic mixture of (70:30) was
presented in Table 2.
Few test work was conducted using iron ore slime (\37
lm of particle size) at different pH range. It was
observed that at pH 11, approximately 63.48% grade was
achieved in the concentrate. From Fig. 3b, it was observed
that better grade was obtained at higher alkaline pH.
Similarly, it was observed that at the same pH, Fe
Recovery (%) was less compared to other pH. Because, as
the dispersant dose increased, particles remained more in
the dispersed phase. At higher pH, due to higher zeta
potential, higher electrostatic repulsion occurred and
mostly all the particles present in the system remained in
the dispersed phase [20]. Also the results supported earlier
published literature, which showed that starch was having
specific interaction to iron ore at a particular pH [10, 20].
Fig. 3 a Effect of flocculant
dose on feed grade (%), Fe a 90
recovery (%) and SE for
Feed grade- 47.06(%) Feed grade - 44.6(%) Feed grade -37.65(%)
different ratios (70:30), (60:40)
and (50:50) ratios. b Effect of 80
pH on Fe (T) % grade and
recovery (%) on 208.33 g/t
flocculant dose and 444.58 g/t 70
of dispersant dose
60

50
(%)

40

30

20

10

% Grade
b

Table 2 Effect of flocculant dose on (70:30) synthetic mixture

4 Conclusion and Way Forward
F. dose (g/kg) % Grade % Fe recov SE (%)
Selective flocculation is the alternative phenomena for
0.2 66.18 79.54 70.12 beneficiation of ultra-fines. From synthetic mixture study,
0.4 66.05 79.92 70.11 it was observed that, initial feed grade (%) was upgraded
0.8 65.78 80.71 70.09 from 47.06% to more than 65% Fe with more than 80 (%)
2 65.71 81.8 70.85 Fe recovery. Similarly the process was applied to iron ore
3 63.95 80.44 64.82 slime and the findings showed that it was possible to
4 63.26 80.83 63.17 upgrade the iron ore tailings more than 63% from the feed
grade of 50.98(%) by selective flocculation process. The
detailed study using iron ore slime is under process. It will
be communicated later.
Acknowledgements Authors are thankful to Tata steel management
for giving permission for publishing the papers. Authors are thankful
to the staffs of R&D Tata Steel who had helped to complete the work.
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