Phase, microstructural characterization and beneficiation of iron ore by shaking table

To know about the nature of gangue associated with the ores, characterization has become an integral part in mineral processing and beneficiation, therefore, the as-mined iron ore collected from Karak region of KP has been characterized for its phase, microstructure and chemical composition via XRD, SEM and EDS respectively. Beneficiation of the iron ore has been carried out by shaking table and magnetic separator. XRD analysis confirmed the presence of iron oxide (Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/) as the major phase along with quartz (SiO2) as the minor phase. Finely grinded iron ore powder of 100 (149 mm) and 200 (74 mm) mesh sizes were passed via shaking table and magnetic separator subsequently. The iron ore was successfully upgraded from 28.27 wt.% to 36.51 wt.% at 100 mesh and 38.70 wt.% at 200 mesh via shaking table, thus achieving a maximum of 10% upgraded iron ore. The magnetic separator did not become so effective due to nonmagnetic nature of hematite. (author)