Multistage dilute acid leaching of a medium grade iron ore to super-concentrate

Abstract

The phosphorous laden Koton Karfe iron ore is a medium grade iron ore deposit in Nigeria that can be upgraded as a super-concentrate for use at the Aladja Steel Midrex plant. The 75 μm size sample fraction of the ore was preconcentrated with shaking table and leached in the oven at atmospheric pressure with dilute hydrochloric acid in single and multistage leaching sequences of H2O-HCl-H2O and HCl-H2O-H2O. The as-received, as-tabled and asleached samples were then subjected to X-ray fluorescence and microscopic analyses. The results obtained showed that the H2O-HCl-H2O route produced a higher grade concentrate that assayed 68.54% Fe indicating about 58% upgrade in iron content; while the phosphorus and sulphur contents were reduced by about 77 and 99.6% respectively. In addition, the silicon, manganese, and titanium contents were drastically reduced, while potassium was completely eliminated. The upgrade of iron content in the ore to 68.54% and the drastic reduction in phosphorous and sulphur contents has thus rendered the Koton Karfe iron ore suitable for use as a super concentrate for the Aladja steel plant direct reduction iron making process.

Keywords

• iron ore
• pre-concentrate
• leaching
• multistage leaching
• super-concentrate