Beneficiation of a phosphoriferous iron ore by agglomeration methods

The Snake River iron ore deposit, in the northern Yukon, Canada, is an enormous, potentially valuable natural resource. Conservative estimates indicate that the deposit contains some thirty thousand million tons of ore. Unfortunately the chemical quality of the mine-run ore falls significantly below established industrial specifications, in particular the phosphorus content is not acceptable. Previous mineralogical examination of the deposit has indicated that the gangue constituents are finely disseminated throughout the ore.An outline is given for the selective agglomeration of the ore to concentrate the phosphorus minerals during grinding. The ground ore is then further treated to agglomerate selectively the iron fraction, which can then be separated from the remaining gangue constituents by differential settling. Successful beneficiation has been achieved on both the crude Snake River ore and a jig concentrate, with some concentrates assaying 69.0% Fe and <0.03% P (iron-ore specification is 0.07% P max.). The effects of various parameters on efficiency of separation are discussed.