Thermochemical Processing of Low-Grade Ores and Mineral-Related Wastes

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 5937

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Council for Geoscience, 280 Pretoria Street, Silverton, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Interests: mineral waste (characterisation, valorisation); coal fly ash; mine tailings; acid mine drainage; metal extraction; geopolymerisation; nanomaterials; carbon capture and mineralisation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The development of new technological processes for metal recovery from untapped low-grade ores and mineral wastes is emerging as an area of great interest, owing to the decreasing grades and quality of primary ores, the precarious balance of supply and demand of critical raw materials (CRMs), and the modern-day concepts of “sustainable mining” and “circular economy.” Historically, metal extraction processes have consisted of one or more pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, and/or bio-hydrometallurgical processing steps. These traditional processes used for metal extraction from primary, high-grade ores are generally uneconomical when applied to low-grade ores and mineral wastes. The development of novel or the modification of existing processing routes is therefore needed. In recent years, thermochemical processing of low-grade ores and mineral wastes has received renewed attention. This Special Issue will focus on recent advances in thermochemical processing of low-grade ores and mineral wastes, including but not limited to the following topics:

  • Alkali roasting-leaching methods using e.g. NaOH, Na2CO3, CaCO3
  • Ammonium salt roasting-leaching methods using e.g. (NH4)2SO4, NH4Cl
  • Microwave-enhanced extraction methods
  • Thermochemical processing applied to e.g., mine tailings, coal fly ash, individual minerals (e.g., serpentine)
  • Extraction of rare earth elements, aluminium and other metals by thermochemical processing
  • Thermochemical decomposition of extraction agents (e.g., (NH4)2SO4)
  • Thermodynamics and kinetics studies
  • Techno-economic and exergy studies

Dr. Frédéric J. Doucet
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Thermochemical processing
  • Thermal solid-solid processing
  • Alkali roasting-leaching process
  • Microwave-assisted processing
  • Ammonium salts
  • Mineral waste
  • Low-grade ores
  • Mineral recovery
  • Metal extraction

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 8532 KiB  
Article
Effect and Mechanism of CaO on Iron Recovery and Desulfurization by Reduction Roasting-Magnetic Separation of High-Sulfur Cyanide Tailings
by Zhengyao Li, Jinzhi Wei, Na Liu, Tichang Sun and Xuewen Wang
Minerals 2022, 12(2), 239; https://doi.org/10.3390/min12020239 - 12 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2643
Abstract
The increasing demand for iron ore in the world causes the continuous exhaustion of mineral resources. The utilization of iron in secondary resources has become of focus. The present study was carried out to recover iron from high-sulfur cyanide tailings by coal-based reduction [...] Read more.
The increasing demand for iron ore in the world causes the continuous exhaustion of mineral resources. The utilization of iron in secondary resources has become of focus. The present study was carried out to recover iron from high-sulfur cyanide tailings by coal-based reduction roasting-magnetic separation. The mechanism of CaO to increase iron recovery and reduce sulfur was investigated by observing CO and CO2 gas composition produced by the reaction, mineral composition and microstructure, distribution characteristics of sulfur, and the intercalation relationship between iron particles and gangue minerals. The results showed that the addition of CaO could increase the gasification rate of the reducing agent, increase the amount of CO2 gas produced, promote the reduction of iron minerals, and improve the metallization degree of iron. When CaO was not added, sulfur was mainly transformed into troilite, which was closely connected with iron particles and was difficult to remove by grinding and magnetic separation. With the addition of CaO, CaO preferentially formed oldhamite with active sulfur, which reduced the formation of troilite. Oldhamite was basically distributed in an independent gangue structure. There was a clear boundary between iron particles and gangue minerals. Oldhamite could be removed by grinding-magnetic separation. Full article
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10 pages, 2913 KiB  
Article
Utilization of Metallurgy—Beneficiation Combination Strategy to Decrease TiO2 in Titanomagnetite Concentrate before Smelting
by Pan Chen, Yameng Sun, Lei Yang, Rui Xu, Yangyong Luo, Xianyun Wang, Jian Cao and Jinggang Wang
Minerals 2021, 11(12), 1419; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11121419 - 15 Dec 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2445
Abstract
Excessive TiO2 in titanomagnetite concentrates (TC) causes unavoidable problems in subsequent smelting. At present, this issue cannot be addressed using traditional mineral processing technology. Herein, a strategy of metallurgy-beneficiation combination to decrease the TiO2 grade in TC before smelting was proposed. [...] Read more.
Excessive TiO2 in titanomagnetite concentrates (TC) causes unavoidable problems in subsequent smelting. At present, this issue cannot be addressed using traditional mineral processing technology. Herein, a strategy of metallurgy-beneficiation combination to decrease the TiO2 grade in TC before smelting was proposed. Roasting TC with calcium carbonate (CaCO3) together with magnetic separation proved to be a viable strategy. Under optimal conditions (roasting temperature = 1400 °C, CaCO3 ratio = 20%, and magnetic intensity = 0.18 T), iron and titanium was separated efficiently (Fe grade: 56.6 wt.%; Fe recovery: 70 wt.%; TiO2 grade 3 wt.%; TiO2 removal: 84.1 wt.%). X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis were used to study the mechanisms. The results showed that Ti in TC could react with CaO to form CaTiO3, and thermodynamic calculations provided a relevant theoretical basis. In sum, the metallurgy-beneficiation combination strategy was proven as an effective method to decrease unwanted TiO2 in TC. Full article
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