http://dx.doi.org/10.5277/ppmp1845 Physicochem. Probl. Miner. Process., 54(2), 2018, 546-553 Physicochemical Problems of Mineral Processing http://www.journalssystem.com/ppmp/ ISSN 1643-1049 © Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Received May 16, 2017; reviewed; accepted September 18, 2017 Micaceous iron oxide production by application of magnetic separation Mehmet Tanriverdi, Sezai Sen, Tayfun Ciçek Dokuz Eylul University, Engineering Faculty, Mining Engineering Department, Tinaztepe Campus, 35390, Buca, Izmir, Turkey Corresponding author: sezai.sen@deu.edu.tr (Sezai Sen) Abstract: In this study, different flowsheet options were evaluated to achieve the best upgrading conditions for a micaceous iron oxide ore. The first option included the recovery of micaceous iron oxide particles using a double stage magnetic separation circuit after the grinding and classifying of the ore into coarse (-1000+106 µm) and fine (-106 µm) size fractions. A belt type dry high gradient magnetic separator (BHGMS) was used to beneficiate the coarse fraction. The concentrate of the BHGMS was ground to -106 µm, and combined with the fine fraction produced at screening stage, and subjected to high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) at 1.2 T. A concentrate grading about 61.33% Fe with 60.3% recovery was obtained applying the separation process incorporating BHGMS and HGMS. A single stage separation circuit considering the use of HGMS after the grinding the ore below 106 µm was employed as the second concentration option. A concentrate having 63.80% Fe with 37.1% weight recovery was obtained in this test. As the highest Fe grade and the lowest S concentration was obtained by application of HGMS after the grinding the ore below 106 µm, and it was decided to conduct a pilot scale study using pulsating HGMS. A concentrate assaying 69.45% Fe with 60.1% weight recovery was produced by operating the pulsating HGMS at 0.6 T. The results showed that it was possible to obtain a micaceous iron oxide concentrate to be used in pigment production using magnetic separation method. Keywords: micaceous iron oxide (MIO), magnetic separation, belt type high gradient magnetic separator, high gradient magnetic separator, pulsating high gradient magnetic separator 1. Introduction Natural iron oxides occur widely, and are exploited from a variety of deposit types. World iron oxide pigment mine production in 2014 is given in Table 1. Micaceous iron oxide (also known as specular hematite, specularite) is a variety of hematite mineral with a silvery metallic luster. It is mainly used in pigment industry and in welding electrodes as a substitute for iron. Micaceous iron oxide is an excellent pigment in paints providing physical protection for use in protective coatings for steel constructions. The lamellar pigment particles in the paint orientate themselves as overlapping array of parallel plates on the surface which offers greatly enhanced barrier protection against the corrosive substances and water (Cornell and Schwertmann, 2003; Kalenda et al., 2004; Baena, et al., 2009; Ravi et al., 2015). International Standard ISO 10601 requires >85% Fe 2 O 3 content in pigment quality micaceous iron oxide concentrates. It also defines the lamellar grade of the concentrates according to the amount of thin flake particles (ISO 10601). As for the other iron ore types, gravity concentration, magnetic separation, and flotation processes are promising methods for the beneficiation of micaceous iron oxide. Wang et al. (2011) conducted a research study on a micaceous iron oxide ore containing 35% Fe using high intensity magnetic separation and reverse flotation in sequence. A concentrate grading about 66.62% Fe with a weight recovery of 30.65% was obtained in this study. Ravi et al. (2015) studied on a micaceous iron oxide ore