US3645454A - Separation of nickel from asbestos ore - Google Patents
Separation of nickel from asbestos ore Download PDFInfo
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- US3645454A US3645454A US68443A US3645454DA US3645454A US 3645454 A US3645454 A US 3645454A US 68443 A US68443 A US 68443A US 3645454D A US3645454D A US 3645454DA US 3645454 A US3645454 A US 3645454A
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- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
- C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
- C22B23/00—Obtaining nickel or cobalt
- C22B23/005—Preliminary treatment of ores, e.g. by roasting or by the Krupp-Renn process
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
- B03C—MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
- B03C1/00—Magnetic separation
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- the nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted, preferably by ball milling, to increase the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles and to fracture the other more easily ground material in the tailings, mainly magnetite and serpentine rock, into smaller particles. After the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles has been increased, they can be efficiently size-separated from the smaller particles of fractured magnetite and serpentine.
- This invention relates to a physical process for obtaining a concentrated nickel-containing product from chrysotile asbestos ore. More particularly, the invention relates to a physical process for concentrating the awaruite particles (FeNi that are found in asbestos ore in low weight percentages.
- Nickel is present in small amounts in some asbestos ores in the form of awaruite, a metallic alloy with iron (FeNi
- FeNi a metallic alloy with iron
- concentration of nickel in tailings from asbestos ore milling operations may be about 0.2 percent by weight.
- granular fractions obtained from asbestos-milling operations tend to contain more nickel than fibrous materials and sifter undersizes. It should be noted, however, that the nickel content of asbestos ore found within specific locations within the same mine can vary widely.
- the awaruite is magnetic and can, like the magnetite, be magnetically concentrated from the screen undersize material resulting from milling asbestos ore. However, much serpentine rock remains with the magnetically separated material, which precludes successful smelting operations and economical chemical recovery methods.
- a principal object of the present invention is to provide a commercially practicable process for recovering nickel from asbestos ore tailings, that is a process which produces nickel having a value greater than the cost incurred in practicing the process.
- Still another object of the invention is to provide an economical mechanical process for concentrating the awaruite present in asbestos ore.
- the invention provides a process for concentrating the nickel alloy awaruite found in asbestos ore tailings. Asbestos ore tailings, preferably granular mill fractions having a major portion of the asbestos fiber removed, are magnetically separated to obtain a magnetically attracted, nickel-enriched fraction and a waste fraction.
- the nickel-enriched fraction is The process of the invention permits efficient recovery of nickel from asbestos ore tailings. It has been known for years that certain asbestos ore tailings contain nickel but the problems in economically recovering the nickel have previously been thought to be insurmountable.
- the present invention offers the first economically feasible process for recovering nickel from asbestos ore tailings. While the percentage of nickel present in the asbestos ore tailings is small, the commercial utilization of the process will permit recovery of large amounts of nickel per year, since vast quantities of asbestos ore tailings are readily available every year.
- the process of this invention is useful for concentrating particles of awaruite (FeNi found in asbestos ore, and in the tailings resulting from asbestos ore-milling procedures. While the process can be used to concentrate awaruite from extremely low percentages of awaruite in the starting material, it
- the starting materials comprise tailings obtained after asbestos ore has been fiberized and screened.
- the undersize material from the screening operation is utilized, but sometimes it may be advantageous to further crush and process oversize fractions also.
- the starting material for the process contains a significant amount of asbestos fiber, it is desirable to fiberize this material and remove it before proceeding to the magnetic separation step described below. Magnetic separation is hindered by the presence of fibrous material which tends to bind the awaruite and serpentine particles together, or to trap small magnetic particles.
- a screening with aspirating step in some instances combined with air separation, aids in putting the feed in the optimum granular, fiber-free condition.
- the feed particle size is between 10 and mesh prior to the magnetic separation step and the feed contains a minimum of fiber.
- the finely divided asbestos tailings are magnetically separated to obtain a magnetically attracted, nickel-enriched fraction.
- This magnetic separation can be accomplished by commercially available equipment such as discussed on pages 109]1093 ofChemical Engineering Handbook, by John H. Perry, third Edition, Mc- Graw-Hill. Typical of such equipment is an enclosed belt-type magnetic separator manufacture by Eriez Manufacturing Co. and a high-intensity induced roll magnetic separator manufactured by Carpco Manufacturing, Inc.
- the awaruite content in the nickel-enriched frac' tion was found to be highest in +l00-mesh particles.
- the nickel-enriched fraction is subjected to mechanical impact to increase the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles and to fracture the remaining materials, mainly serpentine rock, into smaller particles. It has been discovered that the awaruite is more malleable than the other major components of the nickel-enriched fraction, serpentine and magnetite, and that the softer awaruite particles do not accumulate an undesirable amount of small-gauge particles during the procedure.
- the awaruite flattens and thereby enlarges in two dimensions.
- the magnetite andserpentine tend to shatter intosmaller pieces, with the small pieces of magnetite and serpentine tending to form particles that are physically distinct from the awaruite particles.
- a large portion of the awaruite particles is over 325-mesh in size after completion of the mechanical impacting step, while almost all of the physically distinct particles of magnetite and serpentine are smaller than 325-mesh.
- the nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically im- 5 pacted by ball or pebble-milling.
- the presence of fiber in the nickel-enriched fraction tends to decrease the efficiency of the milling by becoming more voluminous during processing and thus contributing a cushioning action which damps the impact of the milling process on the serpentine or magnetite and is so undesirable that a dry-processing step to remove fiber is advantageous if such an operation was not performed prior to effecting the magnetic separation.
- the exact milling procedure to be used for any given nickelenriched fraction depends on the particle sizes present in the charge, and the amount of fiber present in the nickel-enriched fraction. While ball or pebble-milling produces presently preferred results, other procedures can be used to mechanically impact the nickel-enriched fraction including hammer 2O milling and centrifugal impact milling.
- the increased dimension awaruite particles are separated from the smaller particles of magnetite and serpentine by a size separation procedure, such as screening, or air-separation, or a combination of air-separa- 2 5 tion and screening.
- a size separation procedure such as screening, or air-separation, or a combination of air-separa- 2 5 tion and screening.
- air-separation can be carried out on a large scale at highfeed rates.
- the preferred final size separation step comprises wet screening on a very fine mesh screen, for example, a 65 to 400 mesh screen, with a 325-mesh screen presently considered op timum.
- This wet-screening step removes most of the serpentine and magnetite and leaves the awaruite particles as the oversize fraction.
- Dry-screening and airjet-sieving procedures 4 can be utilized in the final separation step, but possess problems because the material tends to agglomerate.
- EXAMPLE I The undersized material (0.23% Ni) from an ore screening operation using a screen of 28 mesh in a Quebec Chrysotile asbestos mill is passed through a magnetic separator. A mag- 60 netic concentrate containing 0.42 percent by weight of nickel is recovered. Analysis of the materials resulting from the magnetic separation operation is shown below in Table I:
- the magnetic separation concentrated 30 percent of the nickel originally present into a nickel-enriched fraction com prising 17 percent by weight of the original sample.
- nickel-enriched fraction is then passed through a centrifugal impact mill manufactured by Entoleter, Inc. to subdivide or open the residual fiber bundles, making them more bulky and easier to subsequently separate and remove.
- the nickel-enriched portion is subjected to a screening and aspirating operation to simulate standard asbestos recovery techniques in which the bulky fiber tends to stratify above the granular material on a shaking screen where it can be removed by suction.
- the screening and aspirating procedure produces a more concentrated fraction containing 0.70 percent by weight nickel.
- This 0.70 percent nickel fraction is ball milled in a small mill for 16 hours to produce flat, platelike particles of awaruite and to fracture the magnetite and serpentine rock remaining in the processed material.
- the ball-milling operation is carried out dry.
- the milled material is sent to a mechanical air separator which separates the material into a heavy fraction that amounts to 15 percent by weight of the material charged to the separator and contains 95 percent of the recoverable nickel. Subsequently, the air-separated material is subjected to a wet-screening operation using a 325- mesh screen. About 1 pound of material per ton of charged feed is recovered and this material contains about 50 percent nickel.
- the awaruite particles present in the product of this example are in the form of substantially flat shiny platelets, and have the general shape illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings.
- EXAMPLE ll Asbestos ore tailings comprising 28-mesh screen undersized materials are magnetically concentrated to contain about 0.35% Ni and 50 percent serpentine rock. Further concentration of the nickel is accomplished by micropulverizing the material to liberate more awaruite particles and then screening the material on a nest of increasing mesh screens.
- the serpentine content of the magnetically attracted frac tion is reduced to about 30 percent by the magnetic separation and the nickel percentage is raised to about 3.5 percent.
- This material containing 3.5 percent by weight of nickel is ball-milled while dry for about 72 hours and subsequently wetscreened through a 325-mesh screen. Microscopic examination of the plus fraction showed that the particles are platelike and silver-colored, and have the general shape shown in FIG. 1. Spectographic analysis confirms that the particles are almost completely awaruite. The actual nickel content of this plus fraction is percent, and the calculated composition is 79 percent awaruite, 8 percent magnetite, and 8 percent serpentine. This procedure produced a recovery of 0.4 percent of the original 28-mesh tailings.
- the particles present in the plus fraction are all basically awaruite particles.
- a small amount of fine gangue is apparently driven into the soft awaruite particles, however, to give a slightly impure product.
- EXAMPLE III In this example, 66-mesh undersize asbestos ore tailings which would have had any large, heavy, awaruite particles already screened out, is used as the feed material. It is more fibrous and has a lower magnetic content that the feed material of Examples I and II. This material is processed in accordance with the procedure of Example 1 except that no air v separation step is utilized between the ball-milling and the wet-screening. The ground concentrate is directly wetscreened to give an awaruite recovery amounting to 0.07 lbs. per ton of charged feed (about 0.04 lbs. nickel per ton of charged feed).
- EXAMPLE IV Granular screen undersize feed as used in Example I is fiberized in a hammer mill and then passed through a mechanical air separator to remove fiber and fines. The coarse fraction from the separator is then magnetically separated to produce an enriched nickel and magnetite concentrate.
- Example V The procedure of Example IV including the original screen ing, tiberization, air-separation, and magnetic separation is used to prepare a feed material for the mechanical impact procedure.
- a process for concentrating the nickel alloy awaruite found along with asbestos fiber, serpentine rock and magnetite in asbestos ore tailings comprising:
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Abstract
The nickel-alloy awaruite found in chrysolite asbestos ore tailings is concentrated by magnetically separating the asbestos ore tailings to obtain a magnetically attracted, nickel-enriched fraction. The nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted, preferably by ball milling, to increase the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles and to fracture the other more easily ground material in the tailings, mainly magnetite and serpentine rock, into smaller particles. After the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles has been increased, they can be efficiently size-separated from the smaller particles of fractured magnetite and serpentine.
Description
United States Patent Fowler 5] Feb. 29, 1972 [54] SEPARATION OF NICKEL FROM ASBESTOS ORE Richard Payson Fowler, Somerville, NJ.
[72] Inventor:
[73] Assignee: Johns-Manville Corporation, New York,
[22] Filed: Aug. 31, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 68,443
[52] US. Cl. ..24l/4, 241/24, 209/39 [51] Int. Cl. ..B03c 1/30 [58] Field of Search ..241/20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 79, 241/81; 209/4, 39
[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,500,154 3/1950 Crocket ..241/4 X 2,723,029 11/1955 Lawver ..241/79X 3,022,956 2/1962 Haseman ..24l/24 3,372,803 3/1968 De Lisleetal ..24l/4X Primary ExaminerGranville Y. Custer, Jr. Attorney-John A. McKinney and Robert M. Krone [57 1 ABSTRACT The nickel-alloy awaruite found in chrysolite asbestos ore tailings is concentrated by magnetically separating the asbestos ore tailings to obtain a magnetically attracted, nickelenriched fraction. The nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted, preferably by ball milling, to increase the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles and to fracture the other more easily ground material in the tailings, mainly magnetite and serpentine rock, into smaller particles. After the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles has been increased, they can be efficiently size-separated from the smaller particles of fractured magnetite and serpentine.
10 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure Patented Feb. 29, 1972 3,645,454
uwau'roa RICHARD F. FOWLER ATTORN EY SEPARATION OF NICKEL FROM] ASBESTOS ORE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a physical process for obtaining a concentrated nickel-containing product from chrysotile asbestos ore. More particularly, the invention relates to a physical process for concentrating the awaruite particles (FeNi that are found in asbestos ore in low weight percentages.
Nickel is present in small amounts in some asbestos ores in the form of awaruite, a metallic alloy with iron (FeNi For example, the concentration of nickel in tailings from asbestos ore milling operations may be about 0.2 percent by weight. In general, granular fractions obtained from asbestos-milling operations tend to contain more nickel than fibrous materials and sifter undersizes. It should be noted, however, that the nickel content of asbestos ore found within specific locations within the same mine can vary widely.
Nearly the entire nickel content of chrysotile asbestos ore is in the form of particles of awaruite which are intimately associated with other materials including the fibrous chrysotile asbestos and serpentine rock. Small quantities of magnetite are also usually found in the ore.
The awaruite is magnetic and can, like the magnetite, be magnetically concentrated from the screen undersize material resulting from milling asbestos ore. However, much serpentine rock remains with the magnetically separated material, which precludes successful smelting operations and economical chemical recovery methods.
In the past, efforts were made to develop processes to recover the nickel from asbestos tailings, but the residual asbestos fiber and the large amount of serpentine rock associated with the awaruite in the tailings has prevented the inexpensive concentration of the nickel. No process has previously been developed that has proved commercially feasible.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION A principal object of the present invention is to provide a commercially practicable process for recovering nickel from asbestos ore tailings, that is a process which produces nickel having a value greater than the cost incurred in practicing the process.
It is another object of the invention to provide a process that produces a highly concentrated nickel'containing product that can be readily used in steelmaking processes.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an economical mechanical process for concentrating the awaruite present in asbestos ore.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows or will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides a process for concentrating the nickel alloy awaruite found in asbestos ore tailings. Asbestos ore tailings, preferably granular mill fractions having a major portion of the asbestos fiber removed, are magnetically separated to obtain a magnetically attracted, nickel-enriched fraction and a waste fraction. The nickel-enriched fraction is The process of the invention permits efficient recovery of nickel from asbestos ore tailings. It has been known for years that certain asbestos ore tailings contain nickel but the problems in economically recovering the nickel have previously been thought to be insurmountable. The present invention offers the first economically feasible process for recovering nickel from asbestos ore tailings. While the percentage of nickel present in the asbestos ore tailings is small, the commercial utilization of the process will permit recovery of large amounts of nickel per year, since vast quantities of asbestos ore tailings are readily available every year.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The drawing is a photmicicrograph of awaruite particles which have been separated from asbestos ore tailings in accordance with the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION The process of this invention is useful for concentrating particles of awaruite (FeNi found in asbestos ore, and in the tailings resulting from asbestos ore-milling procedures. While the process can be used to concentrate awaruite from extremely low percentages of awaruite in the starting material, it
is desirable to select asbestos ore tailings that possess as high a percentage of nickel as is readily available. Generally, in selecting the desirable asbestos ore tailings for use as starting materials, granular fractions are preferred because they pos sess somewhat higher nickel contents than fibrous materials and sifter undersizes.
Preferably, the starting materials comprise tailings obtained after asbestos ore has been fiberized and screened. Preferably, only the undersize material from the screening operation is utilized, but sometimes it may be advantageous to further crush and process oversize fractions also.
If the starting material for the process contains a significant amount of asbestos fiber, it is desirable to fiberize this material and remove it before proceeding to the magnetic separation step described below. Magnetic separation is hindered by the presence of fibrous material which tends to bind the awaruite and serpentine particles together, or to trap small magnetic particles. A screening with aspirating step, in some instances combined with air separation, aids in putting the feed in the optimum granular, fiber-free condition. Preferably, the feed particle size is between 10 and mesh prior to the magnetic separation step and the feed contains a minimum of fiber.
In accordance with the invention, the finely divided asbestos tailings are magnetically separated to obtain a magnetically attracted, nickel-enriched fraction. This magnetic separation can be accomplished by commercially available equipment such as discussed on pages 109]1093 ofChemical Engineering Handbook, by John H. Perry, third Edition, Mc- Graw-Hill. Typical of such equipment is an enclosed belt-type magnetic separator manufacture by Eriez Manufacturing Co. and a high-intensity induced roll magnetic separator manufactured by Carpco Manufacturing, Inc.
In one test, the awaruite content in the nickel-enriched frac' tion was found to be highest in +l00-mesh particles.
In accordance with the invention, the nickel-enriched fraction is subjected to mechanical impact to increase the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles and to fracture the remaining materials, mainly serpentine rock, into smaller particles. It has been discovered that the awaruite is more malleable than the other major components of the nickel-enriched fraction, serpentine and magnetite, and that the softer awaruite particles do not accumulate an undesirable amount of small-gauge particles during the procedure. When mechanically impacted, such as during ball-milling, the awaruite flattens and thereby enlarges in two dimensions. At the same time, the magnetite andserpentine tend to shatter intosmaller pieces, with the small pieces of magnetite and serpentine tending to form particles that are physically distinct from the awaruite particles.
Typically, a large portion of the awaruite particles is over 325-mesh in size after completion of the mechanical impacting step, while almost all of the physically distinct particles of magnetite and serpentine are smaller than 325-mesh.
Preferably, the nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically im- 5 pacted by ball or pebble-milling. The presence of fiber in the nickel-enriched fraction tends to decrease the efficiency of the milling by becoming more voluminous during processing and thus contributing a cushioning action which damps the impact of the milling process on the serpentine or magnetite and is so undesirable that a dry-processing step to remove fiber is advantageous if such an operation was not performed prior to effecting the magnetic separation.
The exact milling procedure to be used for any given nickelenriched fraction, depends on the particle sizes present in the charge, and the amount of fiber present in the nickel-enriched fraction. While ball or pebble-milling produces presently preferred results, other procedures can be used to mechanically impact the nickel-enriched fraction including hammer 2O milling and centrifugal impact milling.
In accordance with the invention, the increased dimension awaruite particles are separated from the smaller particles of magnetite and serpentine by a size separation procedure, such as screening, or air-separation, or a combination of air-separa- 2 5 tion and screening. Preferably, because of the large quantities of material which usually must be size-separated, it is desirable to perform an air separation step to reduce the quantity of material to be subjected to the final size-separation operation. The air-separation can be carried out on a large scale at highfeed rates.
It has been found that air separators which rely on cyclones to make the cut are successful. For example, in one test procedure a heavy fraction wasrecovered which contained 60 percent by weight of the material charged to the air separator and 90 percent by weight of the nickel. The light or dust fraction was found to contain almost no recoverable nickel, that is nickel that would be recovered in an efficient final wet-screening step.
The preferred final size separation step comprises wet screening on a very fine mesh screen, for example, a 65 to 400 mesh screen, with a 325-mesh screen presently considered op timum. This wet-screening step removes most of the serpentine and magnetite and leaves the awaruite particles as the oversize fraction. Dry-screening and airjet-sieving procedures 4 can be utilized in the final separation step, but possess problems because the material tends to agglomerate.
For a clearer understanding of the invention, specific examples of it are set forth below. These examples are illustrative and are not to be understood as limiting the scope and underlying principles of the invention in any way.
All percentages listed in the specification and claims are weight percentages unless otherwise noted. All screen sizes are US. Standard unless otherwise noted.
EXAMPLE I The undersized material (0.23% Ni) from an ore screening operation using a screen of 28 mesh in a Quebec Chrysotile asbestos mill is passed through a magnetic separator. A mag- 60 netic concentrate containing 0.42 percent by weight of nickel is recovered. Analysis of the materials resulting from the magnetic separation operation is shown below in Table I:
The magnetic separation concentrated 30 percent of the nickel originally present into a nickel-enriched fraction com prising 17 percent by weight of the original sample. The
nickel-enriched fraction is then passed through a centrifugal impact mill manufactured by Entoleter, Inc. to subdivide or open the residual fiber bundles, making them more bulky and easier to subsequently separate and remove.
After this operation the nickel-enriched portion is subjected to a screening and aspirating operation to simulate standard asbestos recovery techniques in which the bulky fiber tends to stratify above the granular material on a shaking screen where it can be removed by suction.
The screening and aspirating procedure produces a more concentrated fraction containing 0.70 percent by weight nickel. This 0.70 percent nickel fraction is ball milled in a small mill for 16 hours to produce flat, platelike particles of awaruite and to fracture the magnetite and serpentine rock remaining in the processed material. The ball-milling operation is carried out dry.
After the ball-milling operation, the milled material is sent to a mechanical air separator which separates the material into a heavy fraction that amounts to 15 percent by weight of the material charged to the separator and contains 95 percent of the recoverable nickel. Subsequently, the air-separated material is subjected to a wet-screening operation using a 325- mesh screen. About 1 pound of material per ton of charged feed is recovered and this material contains about 50 percent nickel. The awaruite particles present in the product of this example are in the form of substantially flat shiny platelets, and have the general shape illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings.
EXAMPLE ll Asbestos ore tailings comprising 28-mesh screen undersized materials are magnetically concentrated to contain about 0.35% Ni and 50 percent serpentine rock. Further concentration of the nickel is accomplished by micropulverizing the material to liberate more awaruite particles and then screening the material on a nest of increasing mesh screens.
The magnetite and awaruite seem to concentrate in the finer fractions produced by micropulverizing. A nickel-enriched portion of 200-mesh concentrate is obtained by magnetically separating the pan fraction from the screening operation.
The serpentine content of the magnetically attracted frac tion is reduced to about 30 percent by the magnetic separation and the nickel percentage is raised to about 3.5 percent.
This material containing 3.5 percent by weight of nickel is ball-milled while dry for about 72 hours and subsequently wetscreened through a 325-mesh screen. Microscopic examination of the plus fraction showed that the particles are platelike and silver-colored, and have the general shape shown in FIG. 1. Spectographic analysis confirms that the particles are almost completely awaruite. The actual nickel content of this plus fraction is percent, and the calculated composition is 79 percent awaruite, 8 percent magnetite, and 8 percent serpentine. This procedure produced a recovery of 0.4 percent of the original 28-mesh tailings.
It is believed that the particles present in the plus fraction are all basically awaruite particles. A small amount of fine gangue is apparently driven into the soft awaruite particles, however, to give a slightly impure product.
EXAMPLE III In this example, 66-mesh undersize asbestos ore tailings which would have had any large, heavy, awaruite particles already screened out, is used as the feed material. It is more fibrous and has a lower magnetic content that the feed material of Examples I and II. This material is processed in accordance with the procedure of Example 1 except that no air v separation step is utilized between the ball-milling and the wet-screening. The ground concentrate is directly wetscreened to give an awaruite recovery amounting to 0.07 lbs. per ton of charged feed (about 0.04 lbs. nickel per ton of charged feed).
EXAMPLE IV Granular screen undersize feed as used in Example I is fiberized in a hammer mill and then passed through a mechanical air separator to remove fiber and fines. The coarse fraction from the separator is then magnetically separated to produce an enriched nickel and magnetite concentrate.
This concentrate is ball-milled dry in 100 pound quantities in a 2 foot diameter mill containing 1 inch and one-halfinch balls for three hours. The ground material is wet-screened to produce a 325-mesh oversize fraction that contains percent awaruite, 62% Fe O and 18 percent remainder, the major constituent of which remainder is serpentine. The nickel produced is in the order of 15 percent of the fraction, or in other words, 75 percent of the awaruite.
EXAMPLE V The procedure of Example IV including the original screen ing, tiberization, air-separation, and magnetic separation is used to prepare a feed material for the mechanical impact procedure.
In this example, the magnetic concentrate is wet-processed in IOO-pound quantities in the ball-mill described in Example IV for 1% hours, and then wet-screened to obtain 325-mesh oversize fraction that contains an estimated 30 percent Ni.
lclaim:
l. A process for concentrating the nickel alloy awaruite found in asbestos ore tailings comprising:
a. magnetically separating the asbestos ore tailings to obtain a magnetically attracted, nickel-enriched fraction, and a waste fraction;
b. mechanically impacting the nickel-enriched fraction to increase the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles and to fracture the remaining materials into smaller particles; and
c. separating the increased-dimension awaruite particles from the smaller particles of unwanted materials to recover an awaruite-rich product.
2. The process of claim 1 in which the asbestos ore tailings consist of particles that pass a lO-mesh screen.
3. f l:he process of claim 1 in which the nickel-enriched frag- 6 tion is mechanically impacted by ball-milling to produce sub stantially flat, platelike particles of awaruite. g g
4. The process of claim 2 in which the nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted by ball-milling to produce flat, platelike particles of awaruite.
5. The process of claim 3 in which the increased dimension awaruite particles are separated from unwanted materials by a procedure which includes wet screening.
6. A process for concentrating the nickel alloy awaruite found along with asbestos fiber, serpentine rock and magnetite in asbestos ore tailings comprising:
a. magnetically separating the asbestos ore tailings to obtain a magnetically attracted nickel-enriched fraction, and a waste fraction;
b. fiberizing asbestos remaining in the nickel-enriched frac' tion;
c. removing asbestos fiber from the nickel-enriched fraction;
d. mechanically impacting the nickel-enriched fraction to increase the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles and to fracture the remaining materials into smaller particles; and
e. size separating the increased dimension awaruite particles from the small particles of unwanted materials to recover an awaruite-rich product.
7. The process of claim 6 including a step in which asbestos in the asbestos ore tailings is fiberized and separated from the tailings prior to the tailings being magnetically separated to increase the efficiency of the magnetic separation step.
8. The process of claim 6 in which the nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted to produce substantially flat, platelike particles of awaruite.
9. The process of claim 6 in which the size-separating step includes wet-screening the increased dimension awaruite particles from unwanted materials.
10. The process of claim 6 in which a dry nickeLenriched fraction is mechanically impacted by ball-milling.
Claims (9)
- 2. The process of claim 1 in which the asbestos ore tailings consist of particles that pass a 10-mesh screen.
- 3. The process of claim 1 in which the nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted by ball-milling to produce substantially flat, platelike particles of awaruite.
- 4. The process of claim 2 in which the nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted by ball-milling to produce flat, platelike particles of awaruite.
- 5. The process of claim 3 in which the increased dimension awaruite particles are separated from unwanted materials by a procedure which includes wet screening.
- 6. A process for concentrating the nickel alloy awaruite found along with asbestos fiber, serpentine rock and magnetite in asbestos ore tailings comprising: a. magnetically separating the asbestos ore tailings to obtain a magnetically attracted nickel-enriched fraction, and a waste fraction; b. fiberizing asbestos remaining in the nickel-enriched fraction; c. removing asbestos fiber from the nickel-enriched fraction; d. mechanically impacting the nickel-enriched fraction to Increase the maximum dimension of the awaruite particles and to fracture the remaining materials into smaller particles; and e. size separating the increased dimension awaruite particles from the small particles of unwanted materials to recover an awaruite-rich product.
- 7. The process of claim 6 including a step in which asbestos in the asbestos ore tailings is fiberized and separated from the tailings prior to the tailings being magnetically separated to increase the efficiency of the magnetic separation step.
- 8. The process of claim 6 in which the nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted to produce substantially flat, platelike particles of awaruite.
- 9. The process of claim 6 in which the size-separating step includes wet-screening the increased dimension awaruite particles from unwanted materials.
- 10. The process of claim 6 in which a dry nickel-enriched fraction is mechanically impacted by ball-milling.
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US (1) | US3645454A (en) |
CA (1) | CA932701A (en) |
Cited By (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4281799A (en) * | 1976-09-27 | 1981-08-04 | J. M. Huber Corporation | Process for improved magnetic beneficiation of clays |
US20030159647A1 (en) * | 2002-02-20 | 2003-08-28 | Arvidson Arvid Neil | Flowable chips and methods for the preparation and use of same, and apparatus for use in the methods |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2500154A (en) * | 1946-09-28 | 1950-03-14 | Brassert & Co | Recovery of asbestos from asbestos tailings |
US2723029A (en) * | 1951-04-24 | 1955-11-08 | Int Minerals & Chem Corp | Ore beneficiation method |
US3022956A (en) * | 1958-04-14 | 1962-02-27 | Int Minerals & Chem Corp | Beneficiation of ores |
US3372803A (en) * | 1964-07-30 | 1968-03-12 | Chembestos Corp | Means and method for removing iron from asbestos ore |
-
1970
- 1970-08-31 US US68443A patent/US3645454A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1971
- 1971-03-18 CA CA108118A patent/CA932701A/en not_active Expired
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2500154A (en) * | 1946-09-28 | 1950-03-14 | Brassert & Co | Recovery of asbestos from asbestos tailings |
US2723029A (en) * | 1951-04-24 | 1955-11-08 | Int Minerals & Chem Corp | Ore beneficiation method |
US3022956A (en) * | 1958-04-14 | 1962-02-27 | Int Minerals & Chem Corp | Beneficiation of ores |
US3372803A (en) * | 1964-07-30 | 1968-03-12 | Chembestos Corp | Means and method for removing iron from asbestos ore |
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4281799A (en) * | 1976-09-27 | 1981-08-04 | J. M. Huber Corporation | Process for improved magnetic beneficiation of clays |
US20030159647A1 (en) * | 2002-02-20 | 2003-08-28 | Arvidson Arvid Neil | Flowable chips and methods for the preparation and use of same, and apparatus for use in the methods |
US8021483B2 (en) | 2002-02-20 | 2011-09-20 | Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation | Flowable chips and methods for the preparation and use of same, and apparatus for use in the methods |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CA932701A (en) | 1973-08-28 |
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