PER - CONCENTRATION OF IRON ORE SLIME IN MAGNETIC SEPARATOR

Indian iron ore is generally friable in nature that results in generation of significant quantity of fines (around 35%) during mining and processing in the country. The ratio of lumps to fines produced in the country is 2:3. During washing and sizing of the ore, slimes with less than 0.21 mm size are generated and discarded into the tailing pond. It is estimated that around 10 million tons of slimes are being generated in every year during the processing of hematite ore and lost as tailings containing around 48 - 62% of Fe. The slime sample collected from Barsua assaying 54% Fe, 8.3% SiO2 & 11.08% Al2O3 was studied for pre concentration of iron values adopting gravity techniques followed by magnetic separa tion. The results indicated that Magnetic separation is a better pre concentration technique compared to gravity.