G. J. Sparrow’s research while affiliated with Mineral Resources, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and other places

What is this page?


This page lists works of an author who doesn't have a ResearchGate profile or hasn't added the works to their profile yet. It is automatically generated from public (personal) data to further our legitimate goal of comprehensive and accurate scientific recordkeeping. If you are this author and want this page removed, please let us know.

Publications (24)


Application of a Floatex density separator for iron recovery from Pilbara iron ore plant rejects
  • Article

August 2022

·

35 Reads

·

3 Citations

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review

·

·

·

G. J. Sparrow

A Floatex density separator was used to reduce the silica and alumina contents of a low-grade iron ore plant reject sample from the Pilbara region in Western Australia to produce a high-quality iron ore concentrate suitable for use in sinter and pellet blends. From a −2.0 mm head sample containing 49.42 wt% Fe, 12.77 wt% SiO2 and 4.90 wt% Al2O3, a product of 56.66 wt% Fe (63.29 wt% Fe calcined) with 4.91 wt% SiO2 and 2.55 wt% Al2O3 was obtained with a mass recovery of 70%, an iron recovery of 80% and rejection of 72% silica and 58% alumina.


Beneficiation Strategies for Removal of Silica and Alumina from Low-Grade Hematite-Goethite Iron Ores

November 2021

·

389 Reads

·

26 Citations

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review

As higher-grade ores become depleted, there will be a greater focus on developing suitable beneficiation strategies to treat low-grade hematite-goethite ores containing higher levels of impurities such as silica and alumina. The processes selected to reduce impurity levels of these lower-grade iron ores will depend on the ore mineralogy and a thorough understanding of the separation process dynamics. The major concentration methods that may be applied to upgrade lower-grade lump iron ores include magnetic separation, wet and dry heavy media separation, and air-pulsed jigging. The technologies applicable to beneficiating iron ore fines include wet and dry gravity and magnetic separation, flotation, and roasting followed by magnetic separation. A commercial flowsheet is expected to involve the implementation of several of these separation technologies. Here the performance of different separation technologies, their testing methodologies, and difficulties in removing silica and alumina from low-grade iron ores are reviewed.


Processing options for removal of silica and alumina from low-grade hematite-goethite iron ores

November 2021

·

68 Reads

Global demand for iron and steel has increased substantially over the past 20 years and there has been a greater focus on developing suitable processing options to treat low-grade hematite-goethite ores containing higher levels of silica and alumina impurities. The processing applicable to reduce the impurity levels in these lower-grade iron ores depends on their mineralogy and a thorough understanding of the process dynamics associated with the separation technology. Different separation technologies used to remove silica and alumina from low-grade iron ores were reviewed. The major concentration methods that may be applied to upgrade lower-grade lump iron ores include magnetic separation, wet and dry heavy media separation, and air-pulsed jigging. The technologies applicable to beneficiating iron ore fines include wet and dry gravity and magnetic separation, flotation, and roasting followed by magnetic separation. It is necessary to investigate the application of separation technologies on a case-by-case basis to select economically viable beneficiation strategies suitable for the particular low-grade iron ore. A commercial flowsheet is expected to involve the implementation of several separation technologies.


Beneficiation of low-grade, goethite-rich iron ore using microwave-assisted magnetizing roasting

June 2021

·

109 Reads

·

37 Citations

Minerals Engineering

Microwave-assisted reduction roasting of a goethite-rich, reject iron ore waste stream (−2 mm) was used to produce a high-grade concentrate. Reduction roast experiments were conducted at 370 °C, 450 °C, 600 °C and 1000 °C under gas atmospheres of 30:70 and 40:60 CO/CO2, with a soak time of 20 min. Goethite was converted to hematite above 370 °C under both gas mixtures while at the higher roasting temperatures, increasing amounts of magnetite formed. Roasting conditions for the best conversion of goethite to synthetic magnetite were 600 °C in a gas atmosphere of 40:60 CO/CO2, with a soak time of 20 min. Laboratory-based magnetic separations in a Davis tube indicated that a blast furnace grade (+62 wt% Fe) pellet concentrate could be produced with an acceptable iron recovery of > 88 wt%. Under both gas atmospheres, a higher reduction temperature of 1000 °C achieved a greater conversion of goethite to magnetite but resulted in over-reduction and the generation of wüstite, fayalite and Fe-rich spinel phases with different magnetic susceptibilities that are expected to make subsequent beneficiation difficult. Further processing to optimize the microwave-assisted magnetizing roast and the magnetic separation conditions can be expected to maximize the efficiency of upgrading the iron content in low grade goethite-rich iron ores.


Evaluation of Dry Processing Technologies for Treating Low Grade Lateritic Iron Ore Fines

October 2020

·

190 Reads

·

18 Citations

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy

·

·

·

[...]

·

G.J. Sparrow Sparrow

Dry processing options, involving the use of a circulating air classifier and thermal roasting (advanced microwave-assisted magnetizing roasting), followed by magnetic separation using an Induced Roll Magnetic Separator (IRMS), were evaluated for upgrading low-grade hematite-goethite iron ore fines. The novel magnetizing roast was conducted under reducing conditions using CO/CO 2 gas mixtures which converted the initial goethite-rich ore into a magnetite-rich ore. From a feed sample containing 54.5% Fe, 2.10% SiO 2 , 7.97% Al 2 O 3 , 0.97% TiO 2 and 0.13% P with a density of 3.87 g/cm 3 and 80 wt% passing 675 µm, a high-grade IRMS magnetic product of 62.0 wt% Fe was obtained with a yield of 71.6 wt% and around 82 wt% recovery of iron units.


Figure 1-Location of the major mineral sand provinces in Australia (modified from Pownceby, Sparrow, and Fisher-White, 2008)
Figure 2-Location map of Murray Basin mineral sand deposits (modified from Pownceby, 2010)
Technological developments in processing Australian mineral sand deposits
  • Article
  • Full-text available

February 2020

·

1,614 Reads

·

3 Citations

Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Almost all Australian mineral sand deposits are placer deposits, with the major commercial deposits located in four provinces along the east, west, and south coasts and in ancient basins in the southeast of the country. The development of new technology for mineral separation and its adaption to changes in the mineralogy of the deposits are discussed. Also, a summary is given of novel processing conditions developed to lower the levels of impurity elements (in particular manganese and radionuclides) in the heavy minerals, and to remove gangue minerals to obtain the maximum value from the deposits. The extensive, but still undeveloped, fine-grained Murray Basin deposits will require unique flotation conditions and roasting processes to produce marketable heavy mineral concentrates. The numerous potential novel processes that have been proposed for these deposits are discussed.

Download

Developments in chemical separation of iron ore

December 2015

·

39 Reads

·

7 Citations

Major impurity elements in iron ore are silicon, aluminum, phosphorus, and sulfur. Often, a chemical separation is the only method able to remove phosphorus from iron ores. Phosphorus can occur as phosphorus-containing minerals (e.g., apatite) and being finely dispersed in hematite in oolitic ironstones or in goethite in goethite–hematite banded iron formation ores. An acid leach can remove phosphate present as discrete minerals and associated with hematite in oolitic ironstones. With goethitic ores, a heating treatment before a caustic or acid leach is necessary to make the phosphorus accessible to chemical separation. The amount of phosphorus removed increases with an increasing heating temperature up to 1300 °C. Silica, alumina, and sulfur usually are removed along with the phosphorus.


Recovery and processing of zircon from Murray Basin mineral sand deposits

August 2015

·

1,260 Reads

·

25 Citations

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy IMM Transactions section C

Mineral sand deposits in the Murray Basin offer the potential for significantly expanding Australia's production of ilmenite, rutile and zircon. Since prices of zircon and rutile are higher than ilmenite, and zircon grades in most deposits are significantly higher than those for rutile, zircon often is the major economic mineral component in mineral sand deposits. Two types of deposits occur in the Murray Basin. They comprise strandline deposits, in which the particle size of the heavy minerals is similar to that in other Australian deposits, and fine grained, sheet-like, WIM style deposits. While production from several strandline deposits has commenced, the fine grained deposits, which contain significantly greater amounts of mineralisation, are still to be developed. Problems with processing the finer particle size of the mineralisation, its variable mineralogy, higher surface and lattice impurity levels, in particular uranium and thorium in zircon grains, have contributed to this. Overcoming these problems is necessary to obtain the full commercial value from the Murray Basin deposits. Processing to recover a fine grained zircon concentrate from the extensive WIM style deposits and the removal of impurities in the concentrate are discussed in this paper. In particular, treatments to remove surface and lattice impurities, and to lower uranium and thorium levels by an acid leach and with heat and leach treatments, are reviewed. The conditions used in the heating treatment (e.g. Temperature and nature of any fluxes added) affect the impurity removal and whether zirconia (ZrO2) or zircon (ZrSiO4) is obtained as the product.


Review of flotation of feldspar

January 2012

·

1,027 Reads

·

43 Citations

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy IMM Transactions section C

This paper reviews the application of flotation for the separation of feldspar from the other minerals with which it naturally occurs (such as quartz, clay minerals, mica, ilmenite, rutile, anatase and magnetite) as well as the separation of the individual feldspar minerals themselves. Much of the published information on feldspar flotation relates to fundamental studies seeking to elucidate the mechanism of the separation and recovery of feldspar with anionic or cationic collectors and activators. However, the separation schemes currently being used industrially are largely the same as those first proposed 60 years ago because the processes used are very efficient. The general circuit for commercial separation of feldspar consists of three sequential stages of flotation, all of which are carried out in an acid medium. Usually, before flotation, the feed is deslimed, removing any fine clay minerals present. In the first flotation stage, mica is removed with an amine collector. In the second stage, titanium and iron oxide minerals, such as ilmenite and magnetite, are removed using an anionic collector. In the third stage, feldspar is activated with fluoride ions and floated with an amine. The residual product is usually high grade quartz. This procedure results in feldspar products that meet market specifications, including low iron levels. Depending on the nature of the ore being treated and the particular contaminants it contains, one or more of these stages are used. A commercial feldspar product usually contains more than one feldspar mineral, and flotation conditions for the separation of individual feldspar minerals have been developed to produce individual feldspar minerals for specific applications. Potassium feldspar can be floated from sodium feldspar in a sodium chloride solution with an amine collector at neutral or acidic pH values. To overcome environmental issues when fluoride ions are used to activate the feldspar in the third flotation stage, fluoride free flotation conditions that utilise a combination of anionic and cationic collectors have been developed. © 2012 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and The AusIMM.


A review of the effects of the grinding environment on the flotation of copper sulphides

July 2011

·

848 Reads

·

135 Citations

International Journal of Mineral Processing

The reported effects of the grinding method and grinding medium upon the flotation performance of sulphide minerals has shown that the pulp chemical environment, the ore composition, the properties and type of the grinding media, the size reduction method employed, pre-conditioning stages prior to flotation, and reagent interactions during grinding (and conditioning) can influence the subsequent flotation process. These factors are reviewed and discussed in relation to the flotation of copper sulphide minerals.Galvanic interactions between sulphide minerals and steel grinding media increase iron levels, lower the dissolved oxygen concentration in the slurry, and result in the formation of iron hydroxides. These changes can be deleterious to copper flotation. It has been shown that chrome alloy balls can have beneficial effects on flotation performance in some systems by limiting the formation of hydroxides in the pulp. As well, galvanic interactions between the sulphide minerals can occur, depending on the mineralogy of the ore, and they can influence the separation efficiency in flotation.While reagent additions, such as collector, lime, or cyanide, during milling can alter the pulp chemistry during grinding, there is little clear evidence in the literature that their addition during grinding has any strong influence on the subsequent floatability of copper sulphide particles.Improvements in copper recovery by flotation following fully autogenous milling in comparison with conventional milling using steel rod and ball mills at the same grind size have been noted in several laboratory and plant studies.


Citations (21)


... These tanks consist basically of cubic or cylindrical shapes in which the material to be separated is fed from the top, being separated according to the differential interaction of fractions with different densities and sizes with the upward flow of water injected from the bottom of the equipment (the light fraction leaves the equipment through overflow, while the dense fractions sink and are discharged as underflow) ( Figure 7a). Among some commercial models, the AllFlux [43], CrossFlow [44], Hydrosort [45], and Floatex [46] separators can be mentioned, which differ from each other mainly due to the mechanisms employed for material distribution in the feed and injection of the upward water stream. Ultrasonic and electromagnetic sensors are commonly used for measuring and regulating the apparent pulp density and the upward velocity of water, respectively, which are the main controlled operational parameters. ...

Reference:

Gravity Concentration in Urban Mining Applications-A Review
Application of a Floatex density separator for iron recovery from Pilbara iron ore plant rejects
  • Citing Article
  • August 2022

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review

... Iron is a widely distributed element in the earth's crust, constituting up to 4.75% (Tang, 2021). Steel and ferroalloys are widely used in industries such as mechanical manufacturing, transportation and construction, etc. Nunna et al., 2021). Since the beginning of the 21st century, with the rapid development of the steel industry, the supply of iron ore in the international market has been tight (Ma et al., 2018). ...

Beneficiation Strategies for Removal of Silica and Alumina from Low-Grade Hematite-Goethite Iron Ores
  • Citing Article
  • November 2021

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review

... Recent studies by Nunna and co-workers [8] used microwave-assisted reduction roasting to upgrade Fe from the rejected waste of goethite-rich iron ore from Western Australia. They employed roasting temperature between 370 -1000 °C under the gas atmosphere of 30:70 and 40:60 CO/CO2 for 20 mins. ...

Beneficiation of low-grade, goethite-rich iron ore using microwave-assisted magnetizing roasting
  • Citing Article
  • June 2021

Minerals Engineering

... Для сравнительной характеристики двух технологий определялись и использовались оптимальные технологические параметры дробления на аппаратах дробления и измельчения, фракционные составы дробления и измельчения, раскрываемость минералов золота из рудной матрицы, результаты проведенных исследований по сухому обогащению измельченной фракции на пневмосепараторе ПОС-2000 с определением извлечения минералов золота пневмосепарацией, степени сокращения [11,12]. Определение качества обогащения и продуктов разделения производилось по классам крупности. ...

Evaluation of Dry Processing Technologies for Treating Low Grade Lateritic Iron Ore Fines
  • Citing Article
  • October 2020

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy

... Ilmenite may incorporate Mg, Al, Cr and Mn within its structure through substitution with Fe 2+ . The Cr content in ilmenite is critical, as variations of up to ~1-2 % may be deemed unsuitable for processing (e.g., Australian mineral sands - Pownceby et al., 2020). Additionally, the alteration of ilmenite results in the formation new solid-solution phases such as pseudorutile and leucoxene. ...

Technological developments in processing Australian mineral sand deposits

Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

... These can be removed by applying a magnetising roast treatment that selectively enhances the magnetism of the ilmenite grains, followed by magnetic separation (e.g. Bergeron and Prest, 1974;Merritt and Cranswick, 1994;Nell and den Hoed, 1997;Reaveley and Scanlon, 2001;Grey et al., 2003). However it is important that the roast conditions do not produce well crystallised rutile as one of the roast products because of its relative insolubility in the sulphate route acid digestion. ...

Research on processing Murray Basin ilmenties
  • Citing Article
  • March 2003

... Goethite can accommodate into its structure some trace elements as well, where the process of replacement has been controlled mainly by the ionic radius and to a lesser extent by the cation valence (Wells & Ramanaidou, 2011). Plenty of studies have indicated that without thermal treatment the removal of phosphorus is quite inefficient, accompanied by significant iron losses (Kokal et al., 2003, Fisher-White et al., 2009, Edwards et al., 2011). The two main directions for phosphorus removal from iron ores used in steelmaking could be summarized as: 1) addition of alkali or alkaline earth compounds before Direct Reduction of Iron (DRI), besides volatilization the process includes magnetic separation; and 2) thermal process at lower temperatures using additives followed by physical separation and acid leaching. ...

Removal of phosphorous from australian iron ores
  • Citing Article
  • January 2011

... Applications of thiourea leaching have been demonstrated after fine grinding (Kusnierova et al., 1993), mechanochemical milling (Balaz et al. 2003), bacterial oxidation (Caldeira and Ciminelli, 199 3;Wan et al., 1995;Deng et al 2001;Deng and Liao, 2002), after pressure oxidation (Yen and Wyslouzil, 1986;Bilston et al., 1990;Murthy et al, 2003) and after roasting (Bilston et al., 1990;Moussoulos et al., 1984). The perceived advantage is that the acidic pre-oxidised sulfide ore can be directly leached with thiourea without a neutralisation step that would be required for leaching with cyanide. ...

Comparison of methods of gold and silver extraction from Hellyer pyrite and lead-zinc flotation middlings
  • Citing Chapter
  • January 1990

... Un concentré de 57,27% Fe, 4,05% SiO 2 et 1,58% CaO est obtenu en appliquant la séparation électrique par (Morar, R., et al., 1999), avec une teneur de 35,45% Fe, 31,33% SiO 2 et 4,13% CaO dans le tout-venant ou dans le minerai initial. (Lovel R. R et al., 2015) La plupart des impuretés contenues dans le minerai de fer peuvent affecter la qualité du fer produit dans un haut fourneau. La silice et l'aluminium se rencontrent souvent dans les minerais de fer sous forme de quartz, de silicate d'aluminium (argile) ou de gibbsite. ...

Developments in chemical separation of iron ore
  • Citing Article
  • December 2015

... The quality and proportion of HM concentrates are also intimately linked to the original sediment source; therefore, knowledge of HM provenance is especially important for developing exploration strategies for new HMS deposit discoveries. Australia's Murray Basin (Figure 1) hosts an estimated total mineral sands resource of 10 851 Mt at 4.0% HM ore (Mudd & Jowitt, 2016) with key minerals of economic interest including zircon (ZrSiO 4 ), ilmenite (Fe 2þ TiO 3 ), rutile (TiO 2 ) and monazite ([Ce, La, Th]PO 4 ) (Pownceby et al., 2015). These deposits formed as part of one of the world's largest and most well-preserved strandplain systems, developed between 7.2 and 5 Ma during tectonic uplift and an associated episode of marine transgression and regression in the Murray Basin (Hou et al., 2017;McLaren et al., 2011;Miranda et al., 2009). ...

Recovery and processing of zircon from Murray Basin mineral sand deposits
  • Citing Article
  • August 2015

Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy IMM Transactions section C