MME 351

Principles of Ore Dressing and

Extractive Metallurgy
Lecture 1
20.10.09

Introduction to ore dressing and

Extractive Metallurgy
Sources of metals

 Natural occurrence

 Earths crust
 Sea waters and beds

 Recycling of waste metals

Primary metals: Metals extracted from ores or sea water

Secondary metals: Metals extracted from scrap
Earths crust

Earth’s crust refers to the outer

siliceous shell of our globe – a shell
about 16 kilometers thick.

Metals have accumulated, by the

geological processes, in some
regions of the earth’s crust.

These accumulations are known as

ore deposits.
 Average Concentration of Some Elements in
the Earth’s Crust

Element Percent Element Percent

Oxygen 46.7 Vanadium 0.014
Silicon 27.7 Chromium 0.01

Aluminium 8.1 Copper 0.01

Nickel 0.008
Iron 5.0
Zinc 0.004
Calcium 3.6
Lead 0.002
Potassium 2.6
Silver 0.000001
Sodium 2.8
Platinum 0.0000001
Magnesium 2.1
Gold 0.0000001

8 elements are more abundant than 1% and together they

account for 98.5 percent of all the material in the crust.
 Concentration of Some Elements in
Solution in Sea Water

They cover nearly 70% of earth’s surface and contain, 3.5% dissolved
solids. Sea water can be considered a dilute solution containing
valuable minerals. About 70 elements have been discovered in sea
waters.
Element Concentration
Element Concentration (g/ton)
(g/ton)
Aluminium 0.16 – 1.9
Sodium 10 500
Iron 0.002 – 0.02
Magnesium 1270
Zinc 0.005 – 0.014
Calcium 400
Copper 0.001 – 0.09
Potassium 300
Manganese 0.001 – 0.01
Lead 0.004 – 0.005
Tin 0.003
Gold 0.000005
Mangansese Nodules on the Floor of the Ocean

Approximately one and a half

trillion tons of nodules are
scattered across the floor of
the Pacific ocean alone.

Nodules form at the rate of 10

million tons a year.

The nodule reserves have an

advantage over land reserves
in that they are constantly
renewed whereas land
deposits are constantly being
depleted.
Reserve of Some Metals in Pacific Ocean Nodules

Amount of Element
Element Weight (percent) 109 tons

Cobalt 0.35 5.2

Manganese 23.86 358
Nickel 0.98 14.7
Aluminium 2.86 43
Copper 0.52 7.9
Zinc 0.46 0.7
Iron 13.80 207
Silver 0.0001 0.001
 Recycling of waste metals

Scrap .. already in the metallic state and needs only purifying

(refining) and in the most favourable cases only melting.
Fewer and simpler processing operations, using less total energy
and producing less pollution.
Advantages of Recycled materials

 While providing cheaper metal for the producer, recycling can

satisfy certain social objectives; these include the conservation
of resources and the protection of the environment from
pollution.

 By using recycled metal the need to mine new ore deposits is

reduced.

 Although the total amount of metal in the earth’s crust is very

large, the deposits of high grade ore are limited.
Sources of Scrap Metals

Metal from broken or obsolete objects.

In terms of availability there are three forms of scrap metal: (i) home scrap,
(ii) prompt industrial scrap and (iii) obsolete scrap.

 Home scrap is defined as scrap generated during the production of

either primary or secondary metal.

 Prompt industrial scrap is generated during the manufacturing of metal

articles.

 Obsolete scrap is obtained from manufactured products which are no

longer useful, and includes such items as old railway lines, old industrial
machinery and equipment and automobiles.
Sources of scrap metals…continued

Principal sources of obsolete scrap

Automobile graveyard [ iron mine above ground]

In 2003 the automotive recycling industry alone in U.S. recycled
nearly 13 million vehicles

Ship-breaking
In Bangladesh, in 2005, about 2 million tons of steel and steel
products were made and 75 percent (about 1.5 m tons) of scrap used
as raw material was ship scrap.
 Minerals and Ores

 Metals and their compounds are found in earth as natural

elements known as minerals.

 Ores are minerals from which metals are extracted profitably

and conveniently. Ores contain metal compounds with a lower
percentage of impurities.

All the ores are minerals, but all minerals are not necessarily ores.
 Types of ores

Oxides Carbonates Halides Sulphides Sulphates

Zincite (ZnO) Marble or Fluorspar Zinc blende Anglesite
limestone (CaF2) (ZnS) (PbSO4)
(CaCO3) Galena (PbS)
Haematite Calamine Cryolite Iron pyrites Baryl (BaSO4)
(Fe2O3.xH2O)Ma(ZnCO3) (Na3AlF6) (FeS2)
gnetite (Fe3O4)

Bauxite Siderite Horn Silver Cinnabar (HgS) Gypsum

(Al2O3.2H2O) (FeCO3) (AgCl) (CaSO4.2H2O)
Cuprite (Cu2O) Magnesite Rock salt (NaCl) Epsom salt
(MgCO3) (MgSO4.7H2O)
 Ore Dressing: Definition

 Metal ores are concentrates of metal compounds [Value

minerals] and other unwanted minerals [ gangue]

 Ore dressing is a combination of processes ..to remove

gangue minerals from ore

 Traditionally..physical operations
 Recently include..some chemical processing operations
also
Ore dressing operations

Size Reduction
[Crushing]

Particle Selection
Ore dressing operations

Magnetic separation
Ore dressing operations

Gravity method
Ore dressing operations

Hydraulic classifier
Ore dressing operations

Froth flotation
  The benefits of ore dressing

 Saving in freight because the waste is discarded

by the dressing operations.

 Reduction in total extraction cost because of the

reduction in tonnage to be treated.
 Extractive metallurgy

Once the metal bearing component and gangue have been

separated the concentrate produced are subjected to the
extraction process

 Pyrometallurgy
 Hydrometallurgy
 Electrometallurgy
 Pyrometallurgical Processes

Thermal treatment of ores to bring about physical and chemical

transformations in the materials to enable recovery of valuable
metals

 Drying
 Calcining
 Roasting
 Smelting
 Hydrometallurgical Processes

The use of aqueous chemistry for the recovery of metals from ores

Hydrometallurgy is typically divided into three general areas:

 Leaching

 Solution concentration and purification

 Metal recovery
 Electrometallurgical Processes

All metallurgical processes which utilise electricity and electrical

effects

Electrowinning
Electrorefining