Mineral Industry in Egypt– Part II Non-Metallic Commodities – Silica Ores

摘要

Silicon, nowadays, is involved in many advanced and high technology industries due to its unique property. The silica ores exist in the form of quartz, quartzite, and white sand. In Egypt, quartz is confined to igneous and metamorphic origins, while white sand exists in the form of sedimentary deposits. Quartz and quartzite are found in association with basement rocks in Eastern Desert and Western Desert. While white sand deposits are widely distributed in Sinai, Eastern Desert, and Western Desert, with the most commercial deposits in Sinai and Eastern Desert.Estimation of the geological and economic reserves indicate huge tonnages of all types of silica ores. Quartz reserves sum up to 20 million tons, and silica sands sum up to more than 3 billion tons. Evaluation of the chemical and physical characteristics of the silica in Egypt showed high quality silica with low contaminations. The major part of these reserves is available through open-pit mining with very low costs due to minimal overburden. Some of the silica sand deposits contain a high percentage of white kaolin, up to about 11 percent, which is separated as a valuable economic byproduct. The basic processing operations of the white sand are washing, screening, attrition scrubbing, desliming and dewatering. In some locations magnetic separation is used for the removal of magnetic impurities. Academic research work showed that the quality of the white sand product can be improved when froth flotation operation is used.