Beneficiation of Lateritic Iron Ore from Malili Area, South Sulawesi, Indonesia Using Magnetic Separator

Abstract

Abstract The increasing demand of sponge iron as raw materials in steel industry nowdays has led to increase the effort in obtaining such materials from various sources. This study aims to characterize and beneficiate of a lateritic iron ore sample from Malili area of South Sulawesi. Mineralogy of the ore was investigated by means of X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and microscopy techniques; whereas chemical composition of the sample was determined by using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. Result of mineralogical analysis indicated that ore sample consists of goethite, magnetite and chromite. The ore shows fine grained size with accicular texture. Chemical analysis reveals that sample is composed of Fe 2 O 3 32.8%, Al 2 O 3 35.5%, SiO 2 21.0%, Cr 2 O 3 7.2%, MnO 1.5%, and NiO 1.2%. Sieving of 20 kg iron ore sample was carried out to separate into five size fractions: (+212)μm, (-212+180)μm, (-180+150)μm, (-150+90)μm and (-90)μm with mass distribution of 12.0kg; 2.8kg; 0.9kg; 1.8kg and 1.6kg respectively. Each feed fraction was further treated by using dry low-intensity drum magnetic separator to produce concentrate. Result of each fraction having the mass percentage of 15.5%; 31.7%; 30.7%; 32.0% and 40.0% with the respective iron content (Fe 2 O 3 ) of 45.0%; 47.9%; 43.9%; 46.7% and 47.2%. The Fe 2 O 3 grade of concentrate in all fractions have narrow range values, but the mass percentage of concentrate increase significantly with finer grain size fraction. The highest Fe 2 O 3 recovery was found to be 89.82% with -90 μm size fraction.

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