Holistic pre-feasibility study of comminution routes for a Brazilian Itabirite Ore
File(s)minerals-11-00894.pdf (1.32 MB)
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OA Location
Author(s)
Segura-Salazar, Juliana
Santos, Natasha de SL
Tavares, Luís Marcelo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Comminution is an essential step in processing itabirite ores, given the need to liberate silica and other contaminants from the iron minerals for downstream concentration and then pellet feed production. In general, these ores in Brazil are not particularly hard to crush and grind, but both capital (CAPEx) and operating (OPEx) expenditures in this stage of preparation can be critical for the project, in particular due to uncertainties in iron ore prices. Several circuits have been designed and are in operation for this type of ore in Brazil; however, it is not yet clear which technologies are more cost-effective and in which configuration they should be applied. This work critically analyzes four comminution circuits for an undisclosed case study. For these circuits, CAPEx, OPEx, and some environmental sustainability indices, as well as qualitative technical criteria, were used in the comparisons. This work concludes that two of these process routes, especially those based on more energy-efficient technologies (and one of these still rarely explored even at bench-scale), have demonstrated to be very attractive from multiple standpoints.
Date Issued
2021-08-18
Date Acceptance
2021-08-16
Citation
Minerals, 2021, 11 (8), pp.894-894
ISSN
2075-163X
Publisher
MDPI AG
Start Page
894
End Page
894
Journal / Book Title
Minerals
Volume
11
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2021 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/8/894
Subjects
0403 Geology
0502 Environmental Science and Management
0914 Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-08-18