Flocculation behavior of ultrafine quartz and magnetite as main mineral components of iron ore tailings

Abstract

The thickening of the iron ore tailings allows the partial recovery and recirculation of process water, also helping to reduce fresh water consumption, which enables lower operating costs and environmental impact. The settling characteristics of the mineral components of an iron ore tailing in the thickening process may be different at various pulp conditions. Hence, the study of settling characteristics of the mineral components of the iron ore tailings separately can provide very useful information for the thickening of an iron ore tailing. In this research, the settling behavior of the main mineral components of iron ore tailings including quartz and magnetite were investigated at various operational conditions. The quartz and magnetite showed different settling behavior, so that the maximum settling rate of quartz was achieved at different pulp conditions rather than magnetite. There was a big difference between the maximum settling rate of quartz and magnetite, so that the maximum settling rates of quartz and magnetite were determined to be 197 and 873 m/h, respectively. In the thickening of an iron ore tailing, the pulp conditions must be set based on the settling behavior of the mineral component with the lowest settling rate.