Descriptive Process Mineralogy to Evaluate Physical Enrich-ment Potential of Malatya/Kuluncak Rare Earth Ore through MLA
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Date
2023-09-12
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MDPI
Abstract
Rare Earth Elements (REE) are indispensable parts of magnetic, phosphor, metal alloys, catalysts, ceramics, glass, pol-ishing, and defense systems industries due to their unique physical and chemical properties. Currently, China is the largest sup-plier in the world with a production of more than 95% of the world’s Rare Earth Oxides (REO). To reduce the influence of China on the REE market, the countries have started to develop their national strategies for the production and use of REE-bearing resources. Within the scope of this study, particle size, chemical, MLA, XRD, and SEM-EDS analysis were performed for material characterization, and shaking table, centrifugal, and magnetic separations were carried out for the beneficiation of Mala-tya/Kuluncak rare earth ore. The XRD analysis indicated that the representative sample consists of major minerals such as albite, calcite, montmorillonite, muscovite, titanite, kaolinite, clinochlore, and aegirine. Parisite, bastnaesite, Zr-REE-Silicate, Fe-REE-Oxide, and Ca-Ti-Nb-REE-Oxide were detected as REE-bearing minerals by MLA. The chemical analysis resulted in a ∑REO grade of 3,628 g/t and the ore consists of mostly light REE. According to the result of the gravity separation for the coars-est fraction, about 11.3% by weight of the total feed was concentrated as a heavy product assaying 6,437 g/t ∑REO. As a result of magnetic separation, magnetic products with 5,561 g/t and 6,013 g/t ∑REO were obtained at coarse and fine fractions, respective-ly. Finally, the characterization studies and enrichment results were correlated, and very important and meaningful indications about the behavior of REE-bearing minerals were obtained.
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Keywords
rare earth elements, : characterization, physical separation, MLA