Selective flocculation applied to Barsuan iron ore tailings

Experiments have shown that it is possible to obtain a concentrate containing 65% iron, 1.8% alumina and 1.4% silica with an iron recovery of 80% from the tailings of Barsuan iron ore plant containing 52.5% iron, 7.4% alumina and 7.8% silica through selective flocculation employing starch. Key to such success lies in the manner in which the flocculant is desired from the parent starch. Barsuan deposit being a limiting case of typical fine-grained high-alumina iron ores, the results open up technical possibilities of better utilization of such deposits.