A Study on the Impact of Utilising Sea Water for Wet Concentration of Beach Minerals Deposits on the Recovery and Quality of Ilmenite Produced by High Tension Separation

摘要

VV Mineral (VVM) group of companies is the largest and the fi rst private producer and exporter ofrnbeach sand mineral products in India. During 2010, the company produced and marketed aroundrn750 000 tons of saleable products. Their operations are mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu and AndhrarnPradesh, India. Almost all the wet pre-concentration plants use sea water as the concentrationrnmedium, since there is no fresh water source available near the deposits. The mines are located alongrnthe south-east coast of India in the states of Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. The orebody variesrnin terms of mineral assemblage, slime content, grain size, and surface coating resulting in differentrnbehaviour of the minerals. Three different deposits containing ilmenite of different TiO2 content werernstudied. The study shows that there is no signifi cant impact of using sea water for wet concentrationrnprior to high tension separation of ilmenite. There is no signifi cant variation in recovery and purity ofrnilmenite produced from these deposits when wet concentration of the deposits were carried out withrnsea water as the concentration medium and whether the concentrates were washed with fresh waterrnor not before dry separation using High Tension Roll Separators (HTRS).