Upgradation study of low grade Magnetite Iron ore from Bajaur Agency through gravity and magnetic
Separation
Aftab Khan
Department of Mining Engineering, University of
Engineering & Technology
Peshawar, Pakistan
Email: aftabkhan2749@gmail.com
Abstract
Iron is a non-renewable natural resource. The high
grade deposits of iron are rapidly depleting and only
low grade deposits are left there. About 1.3 billion
tons of iron is mined per annum to produce
approximately 1 billion tons of steel worldwide. So it
is the need of hour to utilize the low grade iron ore
deposit in order to fulfil the demand of steel industry.
The specification of iron ore for Steel Industry is (57-
60) % Fe (min), 8.5% SiO2 (max), 0.5% Al2O3 (max),
0.1% P. The Magnetite iron ore sample collected
from Bajaur agency has a total of 28.9% Fe. Samples
were collected from the exposed outcrop.
Characterization of the ore was carried out by thin
section study and XRD analysis. The chemical
analysis of the raw sample revealed that the ore
contain iron (Fe2O3) 40%, Silica 15.2%, CaO 25%
and Alumina 7.6%, Magnesium oxide (MgO) 2.38%.
Thin section study shows that the rock is composed
mainly of calcite grains along with the inclusions of
silica and alumina. The iron ore is medium grained
mostly composed of magnetite. XRD analysis was
used to confirm the result.
Due to sufficient difference in the specific gravity
and magnetic susceptibility of valuable and gangue
minerals shaking table followed by magnetic
separator was used for its upgradation. The
parameters of shaking table were varied and
optimized for optimum grade and recovery. It was
found that the optimum grinding time is 40 minutes,
tilt angle is 5 degrees and flow of water is 4 liters per
minutes. The shaking table could produce a
concentrate of 52% Fe with a recovery of 72%. It was
passed from the magnetic separator which produced
an iron concentrate of assay 64.5 %Fe.
1. Introduction
Iron is mainly used for the production of steel
worldwide. Compared to other metals, iron has low
price and good mechanical properties due to which it
has high consumption. Iron ore is mainly used as feed
for iron and steel making and it is accounting for
98% globally of all the iron mined.[1] Iron ore
production in 2000 was 969 million tons. It has
increased in the following years and in 2015, the
production of iron reached up to 2280 million
Nisar Mohammad
Assistant Professor
Department of Mining Engineering, University of
Engineering & Technology
Peshawar, Pakistan
Email: nisarmohammad@uetpeshawar.edu.pk
tons[2]. The total crude iron ore in the world are
estimated to be more than 800 billion tons which
contain more than 230 billion tons of iron. [3, 4] To
meet the industrial requirement, huge amount of iron
ore is mined annually. This has led to the depletion
of high grade deposits and only low grade deposits
are currently available to meet the future market
demands. The rate of depletion of high grade ore is so
high that middling and tailings of yesterday are
supposed to be the feed of today’s plant. Therefore
iron ores are beneficiated by different techniques to
concentrate the iron content and reduce the amount of
gangues so that the product can be used as feed for
steel industry.
Iron ores may have different composition of iron and
other impurities like silica, alumina, lime and
magnesia as well as varying proportion of other
compounds such as Ni, S, Mn, P, Zn, Cu, Ti, Cr
etc.[5]. At least 25% of iron (Fe) should be there in a
deposit in order to consider it to be economical
deposit. However this can be lower than 25% if a
deposit is in large quantity and concentration and
transportation is possible at low cost. [6, 7]
Iron ores required for steel plants must have a high
content of iron and minimum content of gangue
minerals. Steel Industry of Pakistan is the largest
consumer of iron ore which has production of about
1.1 million tons per year and has requirement of
about 1.8 million tons of iron per year to meet the
production targets. The specification of iron ore
required for Steel Industry Karachi, is 57-60% Fe,
maximum 8.5% silica and 3.75% alumina along with
0.1% phosphorous. [8] The reserves of good quality
iron are rapidly decreasing. So it is the need of hour
to utilize the low grade iron ore deposit to fulfil the
need of modern industrialization. [9]
Different types of separation techniques are available
and are utilized by different researchers worldwide to
upgrade different types of iron ores having different
mineralogical and chemical composition. These
techniques include Scrubbers (Attrition & Drum),
Heavy media separation & jig, Teeter Bed Separator,
Centrifugal concentrator, flotation, gravity
separation, magnetic separation and pelletisation and
Roasting etc.[10] Iron ore from the different mines
may look the same but its response to beneficiation
technique may be different. This is because different
iron ores have different mineralogical characteristics.
Based on this it requires unique beneficiation process
followed by metallurgical process to get the required
product at lesser cost. So the selection of a specific
beneficiation process is dependent upon the nature of
ore and associated gangue minerals.[10]
Literature suggests that for different type of iron ore,
a separate beneficiation technique should be used
keeping in view the nature and association of gangue
minerals with the valuable iron minerals. Sunati et.
al. worked on the iron ore having Fe content of about
58.13%. The amount of silica and alumina are 6.4%
and 4.9% respectively. Hydro cyclone and wet high
intensity magnetic separator was used to upgrade the
ore[11]. Swagat et al. worked on the complex iron
ore having 57% Fe from India. The ore is having fine
dispersion of silica particles. The study revealed that
upgradation is possible through reduction roasting
followed by magnetic separation.[12] Ahmed et al.
worked on the iron ore is having 36% Fe and 48%
silica respectively. Due to gravity difference and
magnetic susceptibility of iron and gangues minerals,
gravity separation followed by magnetic separation
was used for the upgradation. The results showed that
64% Fe at the recovery of 72% was achieved at
optimum grinding to 150 micron. [13] Ishaque Abro
et al. worked on the Dilband iron ore Pakistan having
intergrown structure and 39% Fe. The study revealed
that liberation size of iron is below 45 micron and
upgradation is possible by using selective
flocculation technique. [14]
In the current research study, an attempt was made to
beneficiate the Magnetite iron ore deposit, Anjokai
area, Bajaur agency to the required grade of steel
industry. By varying the parameters of beneficiation
process optimum parameter values were determined
to attain required grade and recovery. Since there is
sufficient difference between the specific gravity of
iron and the associated gangue minerals so gravity
separation is suggested for the upgradation of iron
ore. Also the magnetic susceptibility of iron and
associated gangue minerals suggested the use of
magnetic separation on the concentrate of gravity
separation.
2. Material and Methodology
About 60 kg iron ore sample was collected from the
Anjokai Area of Tehsil Barang, Bajaur agency with
the help of FATA Development Authority Peshawar.
The chemical analysis of the raw sample was carried
out in the Mineral Testing Laboratory (MTL), Hayat
Abad Peshawar. Characterization of the ore was
carried out by XRD analysis and thin sections to
study the mineral composition. Thin Sections were
prepared in the department of Geology, university of
Peshawar and studied at National Centre of
Excellence in Geology, UoP. The presence of various
minerals was confirmed by XRD.
The raw ore sample was crushed by using laboratory
jaw crusher in order to reduce the size. The feed size
of the sample was 4 to 5 inches and the product size
of the crusher contains ¼ inch material. The sample
collected from the jaw crusher was grinded in the rod
mill Model D.R, AMDEL Australia, Sr. No BRD –
104, in MTL.
Sieve analysis was carried out to find out the
percentage of Fe at different size range. Sieve set
comprises of the course size sieve was 250 micron
and the fine size sieve was 45 micron. At the bottom
of the sieve nest, a pan was placed to collect the
fines. The sieves were shaken during each time for 15
minutes by using an electric sieve shaker, Model
ACTAGON 200, UK.
After grinding the sample in the rod mill, shaking
table was used to separates the heavy iron particles
from the light gangue particles. Each time 200 gram
sample would pass from the shaking table. Finally the
concentrate of shaking table was passed from the
magnetic separator to further upgrade the product to
the required grade. For that purpose, each time 50 gm
of sample from the concentrate of shaking table was
passed from the magnetic separator which gave two
products i.e. concentrate and tailing. Separate
chemical analysis was carried out for each
concentrate and tailings to find the content of Fe and
other gangue minerals in them. Grade and recovery
was calculated for all the products.
3. Results and Discussion
Mineralogy of the ore
It was found from the mineralogical study that the
iron ore is composed of magnetite, calcite, quartz,
kaolin and feldspar. The magnetite is the major iron
bearing constituent while calcite is the major gangue
mineral. Under optical microscope it was observed
that the host rock is composed mainly of calcite. The
calcite grains also contain quartz inclusions.
Inclusion of chlorite is also observed. Grains are
angular to sub rounded. The study also revealed that
iron ore is medium grained.

Figure 1 Thin Section view
Chemical analysis
Table 1 presents the chemical analysis of the ore used
in this research work. The iron content in the ore is
very low as compared to the required industrial
grade. The major gangue minerals are SiO2 and
Al2O3 in the range of 15.2% and 7.6% respectively.
4. Gravity separation
Gravity separation was applied for the concentration
of Magnetite iron ore as sufficient difference in the
specific gravity existed. The results are presented
below.
a. Effect of grinding
The figure 2 shows the effect of grinding on the
grade and recovery of shaking table concentrate. The
grade of Fe in the concentrate is increasing as the
grinding time is increased. And at a grinding time of
45 minutes it finally reaches to 54 % Fe. This is due
to the fact that grinding caused the Fe liberation
which is recovered in the concentrate. On the other
hand, recovery of iron in the concentrate of shaking
table is decreasing as the grinding is increased. This
is because grinding causes size reduction of particles
which flow out with flowing water on the surface of
shaking table and lost in tailings. The recovery drop
is very high at grinding time of 45 minutes. So for the
Magnetite iron ore, the optimum grinding time is 40
minutes in the rod mill which gives a shaking table
concentrate of 52% Fe at a recovery of 72.9%.
Recovery Grade
100
Grade and Recovery
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60
Grinding Time (minutes)
Figure 2 Effect of Grinding on Grade and
Recovery
b. Effect of Shaking table Tilt Angle
The figure 3 shows the effect of table inclination on
the grade and recovery of shaking table concentrate.
It was found that the grade of Fe in the concentrate of
shaking table increased with increasing the table tilt
angle. This is due to the fact that increasing the tilt
angle helps in the flow of particles towards the
gangue collection side of the shaking table. So most
the gangue particles flowed out towards the gangue
collection side with increasing the table tilt angle
results an increase in the grade of Fe. The recovery of
Fe in the concentrate of shaking table decreased with
increasing the tilt angle. This decrease in the recovery
is because of the fact that increasing slope on a
surface causes the acceleration of both valuable as
well as gangue particles. So as the slope increases,
more particles tends to flow down with water toward
tailings. So the result is that the weight of the
concentrate starts decreasing with increasing the tilt
angle. Since recovery is directly dependent up on the
weight of the concentrate and grade of the
concentrate. So a decrease in the weight of
concentrate results in the decrease of recovery. At the
tilt angle of 5, 6 and 7 degrees, no sufficient increase
in the grade of Fe is observed but at the same time a
sufficient decrease in the recovery is observed at this
point. So increasing the tilt angle further beyond 5
degrees, there is no noticeable positive effect on the
grade of the Fe. Instead, it causes a decrease in the
recovery of Fe. So it is concluded that the tilt angle of
5 degree is the optimum angle of inclination for the
grade and recovery of Magnetite iron ore through
gravity separation technique.
 5. Result of Magnetic Separator
Effect of Tilt angle on Recovery
Magnetic separator was used to further upgrade the
100 Recovery Grade concentrate of shaking table. The concentrate resulted
from shaking table by varying its parameters was
80 passed from the magnetic separator. The results are
Recovery

60 presented here.

40 a. Cleaning of shaking table concentrate of

20
0
0 2 Tilt angle4(Degrees) 6
Figure 3 Effect of Tilt angle on grade and
recovery
c. Effect of Flow of Water
It is observed from the figure 4 that increasing the
rate of flow of water results an increase in the grade
of Fe. This is because the running water flushes the
mineral grains with itself. Since, the grains of silica,
alumina and related gangue minerals are lighter than
the associated Fe, so they were flushed out with the
water resulted an increase in the grade of Fe in
concentrate. On the other hand increase in the rate of
flow of water has also a negative effect on the
recovery of Fe. This is because increasing the flow of
water flushes the valuable mineral grains with itself
which reduces the amount of concentrate. Since
recovery is dependent on the mass and grade of
concentrate, so if the mass of the concentrate is
decreased, it will cause the decrease in the recovery
of Fe. Studying the combined effect of rate of flow of
water on the grade and recovery of Fe, it is concluded
that the flow rate of 4 liters per minute is the
optimum flow rate. Because further increasing the
flow rate does not much improve the grade of Fe but
reduce the recovery.
Effect of Water Flow on Recovery
Recovery Grade
100
80
Recovery
differential grinding by magnetic separator
The concentrate of shaking table by varying the
grinding time of the feed in the rod mill increased the
Fe content ranging from 45.1% Fe at grinding time of
8 15 minutes to 54% Fe at grinding time of 45 minutes.
This concentrate was passed from the magnetic
separator which further increased the Fe content in
the final product as shown in table 5. This increase is
due to the fact of liberation of iron particles from the
associated gangue minerals of silica, alumina etc.
Effective grinding helps to efficiently separate the
valuable minerals from the gangues. So grinding the
sample for optimum time in the rod mill is necessary
to effectively upgrade the sample. If the sample is not
grinded properly, it may contain the gangue minerals
interlocked with the valuable minerals which will
reduce the overall efficiency of the process in term of
grade and recovery. However, if the sample is
grinded for more than the required time of grinding,
it will cause to produce slimes in the product. Slimes
have negative effect and reduce the recovery of the
process because valuable mineral is lost in the
tailings. Hence optimum grinding time is required for
a sample to upgrade it properly by shaking table and
magnetic separator.
b. Cleaning of shaking table concentrate of
differential tilt angle by magnetic separator
Slope of the table has also an important effect on the
grade and recovery of Fe in the final concentrate. The
increase of tilt angle has positive effect on the grade
of the Fe in the final product. This is because
increasing the inclination of the table 3 causes the
particles to move down with ease towards the tailings
collection point and hence is removed easily from the
valuable minerals. It was concluded from the current

60 study that table tilt angle of 5 degrees is an optimum

tilt angle. The results are presented in the table 2.
40
c. Cleaning of shaking table concentrate of
20
differential Water Flow by magnetic
0 separator
0 2 4 6 Flow of water on the table has also an important
Water Flow (liter/min) effect on both the grade and recovery of Fe in the
final concentrate. Flow of water through the table has
Figure 4 Effect of water flow on grade and positive effect on the grade of Fe. Increasing the
recovery quantity of water through the surface of the table
increases the flow rate of the slurry on table surface
which helps to separate effectively the gangue
minerals from the valuable minerals. So the grade of
the final concentrate increases with the increase of
flow rate of water through table surface.
So flow of water has an important effect on both
grade and recovery of Fe in the final concentrate as
shown in table 4. If the flow of water is high, the
grade will be high and recovery will be low. On the
other hand, if the flow of water is low, recovery will
be high but grade will be low. So an optimum flow
rate is necessary for the optimum grade and recovery.
6. Conclusions
The conclusions which are drawn from the
characterization and beneficiation studies of
Magnetite iron ore are given below.
Characterization of the Magnetite iron ore by thin
section study revealed that the ore is mainly
composed of magnetite and the associated impurities
are silica, alumina and calcium oxide. Their presence
was confirmed by XRD analysis. Literature survey
reveals that various beneficiation techniques are
available to upgrade low grade iron ore to the
required grade of steel industry depending upon the
composition of ore and nature of association of
gangue minerals. Based on the considerable
difference in the specific gravity and magnetic
susceptibility of the valuable iron mineral and the
associated gangue minerals, gravity separation
followed by magnetic separation was suggested for
the upgradation of Magnetite iron ore.
Shaking table was used to upgrade the ore and its
parameters such as feed size, tilt angle and flow of
water were varied to obtain optimum grade and
recovery. It was found that an optimum grade and
recovery was obtained at grinding time of 40
minutes, shaking table tilt angle of 5 degrees and
water flow of 4 liters per minute. Passing the
concentrate of the shaking table from magnetic
separator produced a concentrate of 64.5% Fe with
optimum recovery. Hence it is concluded that the
shaking table followed by magnetic separator is
suitable beneficiation technique for the upgradation
of Magnetite iron ore.
7. Future Recommendations
Based on the results of the current research work it is
recommended that Magnetite iron ore could be easily
upgraded to the required grade of steel industry. So it
is recommended that pilot scale work should be
carried out on the deposit of Magnetite iron ore to
make it suitable to be used as feed for steel industry.
Steel Industry imports iron ore from the other
countries like Iran, India and Australia etc. This
results in huge foreign exchange. So it is
recommended that local low grade iron ores should
be upgraded and used in the steel mill. Processing
plant may be installed at the site to process the ore
and the concentrate can then be easily transported to
Steel Industry Karachi. So in this way local iron ore
can be used in which will save foreign exchange and
will help to increase GDP.
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Appendix
Table 1- Chemical analysis of iron ore
Constituent Fe3O CaO SiO2 Al2O3 MnO2 MgO
4

% 40 25 15.2 7.6 0.36 4.38

composition

Table 2- Cleaning of shaking table concentrate of differential grinding by magnetic separator

Grinding Time Variation

Recovery %
Grinding Feed Concentrate Tailings
Time wt wt Assay wt
S.No (minutes) Assay% (gm) (gm) % (gm) Fe %

1.0 15.0 45.1 50.0 33.0 57.2 17.0 19.0 68.70

2.0 20.0 46.2 50.0 33.5 58.0 16.5 18.0 67.41

3.0 25.0 47.5 50.0 34.0 59.0 16.0 16.4 65.50

4.0 30.0 48.2 50.0 34.8 62.0 15.2 15.7 67.00

5.0 35.0 49.5 50.0 35.5 63.0 14.0 14.5 65.42

6.0 40.0 52.0 50.0 37.5 64.5 12.5 13.2 66.64

7.0 45.0 54.0 50.0 37.2 65.0 12.8 14.0 55.93

Table 3- Cleaning of shaking table concentrate of differential tilt angle by magnetic separator

Slope Angle Variation

Feed Concentrate Tailings Recovery %
Slope Assay wt wt Assay wt Assay
S.No (degree) % (gm) (gm) % (gm) %
1.0 3.0 42.0 50.0 38.5 51.5 11.5 9.0 78.23
2.0 4.0 46.6 50.0 37.3 58.7 12.7 10.5 70.90
3.0 5.0 51.0 50.0 36.8 64.2 13.2 11.6 67.18
4.0 6.0 51.2 50.0 35.5 64.4 14.5 14.3 59.88
5.0 7.0 51.3 50.0 34.5 64.7 15.5 15.4 53.15

Table 4- Cleaning of shaking table concentrate of differential Water Flow by magnetic separator

Flow of Water variation

Feed Concentrate Tailings Recovery %
Water flow Assay wt wt Assay wt Assay
S.No (liter/min) % (gm) (gm) % (gm) %
1.0 2.0 43.3 50.0 39.8 51.4 10.2 9.6 75.64
2.0 3.0 48.2 50.0 37.4 59.8 13.0 11.0 71.74
3.0 4.0 51.3 50.0 36.5 64.3 12.5 12.0 64.90
4.0 5.0 51.8 50.0 35.6 64.6 14.4 14.4 56.71