PGM converter matte mineral characteristics and effects on downstream processing

摘要

There is little in-depth study on the downstream processing characteristics of granulated PGM-containing converter matte, particularly related to grinding and liberation behavior closely associated with leaching, and also as a function of iron endpoint specific mineralogy. Moreover, there is limited physical property data available, such as hardness and breakage of converter matte mineral structures that allows for considering a possible dependence between the mineralogy and the downstream processing characteristics of converter matte. The aim of this study was to investigate a relationship between indentation hardness, breakage and the mineralogy of two different iron end point converter mattes namely Fe_0.15% and Fe_5.17%. This also allowed for a subsequent investigation to relate the mineralogy to the integrated downstream processing characteristics of granulated converter matte.