Prospecting, Processing and Evaluation of Mineral Raw Materials

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2020) | Viewed by 7553

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Geosciences Department, Geobiotec Research Unit, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: clays and clay minerals; industrial minerals in general and traditional building materials; medical geology; coastal and marine geology
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Guest Editor
Water Researches and Technologies Center, Borj Cédria Techno Park, Tunisia

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent developments in global markets are forcing developed societies to change their vision of mineral raw materials, with a special focus on sustainable exploitation and remining. All roadmaps to eco-efficient and low-C intensity economies stimulate the reliance on a large number of metals, whose demand cannot fully met on the basis of reuse, recycling, and/or substitution practices. Digital technologies of massive use reinforce tendencies toward the establishment of metal-intensive economies. In addition, the expected growth rates for demography and gross per capita incomes will boost spreads in consumption of conventional industrial minerals that are also impossible to ensure through secondary sources. All topics related to the life cycle of primary raw materials are welcome: fundamental geological (regional and local) knowledge; the availability of minerals; prospection and recognition; study of potential environmental impacts; exploitation of mineral deposits; treatment and beneficiation, processing; the disposal, treatment, and recycling of mineral wastes; decommissioning, closure and abandonment; geoenvironmental technologies; and any supporting science or technology, such as geodynamics, basin analysis, rock mechanics, geophysics, geochemistry, and geostatistics.

Prof. Fernando Rocha
Prof. Fakher Jamoussi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Sustainable exploitation
  • From wastes to resources
  • Minerals for our future
  • Eco-mining

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 5068 KiB  
Article
Kaolinite-Magnesite or Kaolinite–Talc-Based Ceramics. Part II: Microstructure and the Final Properties Related Sintered Tapes
by Aghiles Hammas, Gisèle Lecomte-Nana, Imane Daou, Nicolas Tessier-Doyen, Claire Peyratout and Fatima Zibouche
Minerals 2020, 10(12), 1080; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10121080 - 1 Dec 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3199
Abstract
In recent decades, talc and kaolinite have been widely used as raw materials for the ceramic industry. In this study, the final characteristics of kaolinitic clay mixed with 6 mass% of magnesite obtained in our previous work were compared with those obtained with [...] Read more.
In recent decades, talc and kaolinite have been widely used as raw materials for the ceramic industry. In this study, the final characteristics of kaolinitic clay mixed with 6 mass% of magnesite obtained in our previous work were compared with those obtained with mixtures of kaolin (kaolin BIP) and talc (as the source of magnesium oxide). However, different amounts of talc in the kaolin powder were studied, namely 10, 30, and 50 mass% of added talc (with respect to kaolin + talc). The tape casting process was used during this work in order to manufacture the green tapes in an aqueous system with 0.2 mass% of dispersant. Subsequently, the green tapes were heated to 1000 and 1100 °C with a dwelling time of 12 min. The green and sintering tapes were characterized using the following techniques: DTA/TG, X-ray diffraction, porosity, and flexural strength analyses. The results obtained from our previous work indicate that the specimen with 6 mass% of MgCO3 sintered at 1200 °C for 3 h exhibited the best performances, with high flexural strength and weak porosity value—117 MPa and 27%—respectively. As results from this study, the optimal mechanical and thermal properties of sintering tapes were obtained for the specimen with 10 mass% of added talc sintered at 1100 °C. Indeed, this specimen exhibited 50 MPa and 43% of stress to rupture and apparent porosity, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prospecting, Processing and Evaluation of Mineral Raw Materials)
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19 pages, 4364 KiB  
Article
Kaolinite-Magnesite Based Ceramics. Part I: Surface Charge and Rheological Properties Optimization of the Suspensions for the Processing of Cordierite-Mullite Tapes
by Aghiles Hammas, Gisèle Lecomte-Nana, Nadjet Azril, Imane Daou, Claire Peyratout and Fatima Zibouche
Minerals 2019, 9(12), 757; https://doi.org/10.3390/min9120757 - 4 Dec 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3600
Abstract
The present study aimed at investigating the influence of the concentration of sodium silicate and sodium hexametaphosphate on the dispersion of an aqueous kaolinitic clay slurry regarding further use for the tape casting process. The zeta potential of the kaolinitic clay slurry matched [...] Read more.
The present study aimed at investigating the influence of the concentration of sodium silicate and sodium hexametaphosphate on the dispersion of an aqueous kaolinitic clay slurry regarding further use for the tape casting process. The zeta potential of the kaolinitic clay slurry matched the requirements for tape casting. The addition of magnesite in the kaolinitic slurries tended to increase the zeta potential towards the required limit values. Despite this, the further addition of surfactants allowed improving the zeta potential in agreement with the tape casting conditions. Accordingly, the rheological behavior, under continuous and oscillatory flow conditions, of various mixtures of magnesite and a kaolinitic clay was studied. Regarding the pH and the zeta potential measurements, the E–F attraction prevailed at low pH value, and F–F or E–E attraction was predominant at high pH value. All slurries exhibited a shear thinning behavior, which was well-correlated by the Herschel–Bulkley model. It appeared that the best stability for the kaolinitic clay slurries was obtained while using 0.4 mass% and 1.2 mass% of sodium hexametaphosphate and sodium silicate, respectively. An increase in the magnesite concentration above 6 mass% led to a complex behavior with low cohesion energy due to the occurrence of soluble complexes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prospecting, Processing and Evaluation of Mineral Raw Materials)
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