Mining Institute of Kola Science Centre of RAS (Apatity, Russia)

Opalev A. S., Vice Director for Sciences, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, a.opalev@ksc.ru
Alekseeva S. A., Senior Researcher
Palivoda A. A., Engineer of the I^st Category
Kalyuzhnaya R. V., Junior Researcher

The article presents research aimed at improving ore preparation for magnetite-apatite ores from a deposit in the North-West of Russia. The goal is to reduce the formation of fines for the main minerals and improve the iron ore concentrate grade. Specific processing features of the mineral raw materials were considered to substantiate the key principles for optimizing the existing processing circuit. These features include the mineral and chemical composition, grain size distribution for the main minerals in the initial ore and its grinding products, distribution of free and intergrown minerals across the products, the degree of liberation of the main minerals, and more. The best ore preparation parameters were selected by means of a magnetic-gravity separation performance analysis using the Hancock–Luyken criterion. The research findings indicate that the concentrate grade can be improved from 64.5±0.5 to 65.9 % Fetot with a magnetic iron recovery of approximately 98% by introducing preliminary screening of the ore mass upstream of the rod mill and 1 mm check screening of the rod mill overflow at the first processing stage, replacing ineffective hydrocyclone classification with screening at the second stage, and performing final processing using 0.16 mm fine screening, regrinding, and magnetic-gravity separation. When properly implemented, this technology will enhance processing performance by removing undersized product, reducing the grinding load in the second processing stage, and decreasing circulating loads in the circuit. These improvements will minimize the formation of fines of valuable components and enhance their separation efficiency. Furthermore, this approach will significantly reduce the amount of equipment needed in the final processing operations.

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