The iron ore, coal and gas sectors

2017

The Australian Research Council has recently established an Industrial Transformation Research Hub in the area of iron ore, focussed on iron ore characterisation, beneficiation, materials handling and end-use functionality. The research hubs are part of a new initiative aimed at building stronger relationships between industry and universities, while addressing issues of national significance. "The ARC Research Hub for Advanced Technologies for Australian Iron Ore" will focus its attention on developing innovative approaches for creating enhanced value across the full value chain, through characterisation of different ore types, beneficiation, and materials handling and transport. This hub brings together five industrial organisations and a research team formed from well-established research groups based at the Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER). These groups have a record of working closely with industry, creating opportunities. Examples include new beneficiation technologies such as the Reflux Classifier for achieving gravity separation, the expertise of TUNRA Bulk Solids in materials handling, and the Iron Making Centre at Newcastle, a capability maintained by BHP Billiton since the closure of its Technology Centre in 2009. The purpose of this paper is to provide an outline of the research hub, and its objectives, while providing some background on the research groups which now form the hub, and the strategy adopted for developing and implementing new technologies. The paper then describes a range of novel technologies that have the potential to be developed and applied to iron ore beneficiation.

Economic Geology, 1968

The Lake Superior-type iron ore deposits, which now place Australia as the fourth largest iron producing country in the world, occur largely in Western Australia and to a lesser extent in South Australia and Queensland. They are confined to the jaspilites or banded-iron formations of Proterozoic and Archeozoic age and bear a striking similarity to known deposits in Precambrian banded-iron formations throughout the world. Their mode of formation probably followed the same processes as these others. It is postulated that iron and silica hydrosols were cyclically deposited within the carbonated waters of still, shallow marine basins. These were later lithified and subjected to varying degrees of metamorphism. Leaching of silica and redeposition of the iron probably resulted in the formation of the orebodies within the formations. The jaspilites within the Archeozoic have been subjected to a high grade of metamorphism but those in the Proterozoic are not metamorphosed.

International Journal of Coal Geology, 2017

Coal is a resource primarily used for electric power generation, and currently supplies 41% of global electricity needs. Coal can also be considered as an economic source of strategically important elements, such as Ge, Ga, U, V, Se, rare earth elements, Y, Sc, Nb, Au, Ag, and Re, as well as base metals Al and Mg. The extraction and utilization of these critical elements from coal could result in a number of benefits, which will make this source an economically and environmentally attractive option especially for China, the U.S., Russia, India, and other countries that will remain major coal users for the foreseeable future.

The Iron Glen tenement is located in Northeast Queensland, Australia. The key elements of I2M's assessment are: A preliminary drilling program was completed in October, 2010, indicating that a magnetite unit occurs at depth over an area larger than an existing pit. The magnetite encountered is of sufficient thickness and quality to be of potential interest commercially and is located in proximity to local infrastructure that would support a rapid start-up of mining operations. Section 6.2 of this CPR sets out the description of the asset (tenement) suggested in the AIM Guidance Notes for Mining Companies for Appendix 1. I2M concurs with the determination offered by Terra Search recently that additional drilling and diamond coring are merited to determine the available resources and reserves present in the steeply dipping and faulted magnetite body. As suggested in the AIM Guidance Notes for Mining Companies for Appendix 2 and 3, Section 18.1 and Section 19.0 of this CPR indicate that this project just completed the preliminary drilling stage and that there are insufficient drilling data at this date to estimate resources and reserves. It calls for additional drilling for the purpose of supporting a feasibility study for establishing the available resources and reserves in the near future. I2M also concurs that the base-metal anomalies indicated from the recent drilling also should be investigated further. I2M also concludes that the skarn-related, base-metal anomalies should be pursued at depth throughout the Iron Glen tenement beyond the magnetite association. Two types of exploration targets are now apparent at the Iron Glen tenement. One is the magnetite; the other is an assemblage of minerals containing anomalous copper, zinc, and silver. The massive types of iron mineralization typically offer a superior grade of magnetite, favorable beneficiation characteristics (good separation and low phosphorous, aluminum, and titanium). In general, the massive magnetite zones are assigned to 40% plus iron or 60% plus magnetite. The magnetite bodies remain open down dip, and along strike to the north and south, but faulting is evident in those areas. Anomalous copper, lead, zinc, and silver (and vanadium) have been encountered, both within the magnetite zone and within associated zones. Copper in the high-grade magnetite ranges from 0.02% copper in the north to over 0.25% copper in the south, with selected rock chips of highly sulphidic material from the pit returning 2% to 3% copper. Of particular note, high zinc and silver analyses were reported in drilling samples within and away from the massive magnetite zones, and Hole IGRC002 returned 28 m @ 59.2 g/t silver from a downhole depth of 48 m to 76 m. This 28 m zone included a 2 m sample assaying 7 ozs silver, copper at 1% and anomalous gold and bismuth. I2M concurs that the base-metal anomalies indicated from the recent drilling also should be investigated further by: a) mapping structural relationships in the area to evaluate faulting and geological associations, b) assessing the various skarn models available from world-class deposits, and c) developing guides to future drilling and coring targets of opportunity developed as a result of these evaluations.

International Journal of Coal Geology, 2012

The modes of occurrence of the trace elements in six Australian coals are reported, together with the nature and percentages of the minerals present. The trace elements studied were As,

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 2018

A novel approach for the complete utilization of a low-grade banded hematite jasper ore assaying ~ 47% Fe has been taken in order to address the issue of rapid consumption of high-grade iron ores and the rising concerns of waste disposal. The process includes the enrichment of Fe through reduction roasting followed by magnetic separation, and smelting of the non-magnetic fraction to produce ferrosilicon alloy. The optimum values of iron grade of ~ 66% Fe and recovery of ~ 72% as determined by the Taguchi-based statistical design of experiments have been achieved at a temperature of 900 °C, time of 90 min, coal-to-feed ratio of 0.15, coal of size − 3.35 + 1 mm and ore of size − 1 mm. The ore and the roasted products have been subjected to characterization techniques such as optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction that reveal the phase transformation under different conditions. Further, the smelting of the silica-rich non-magnetic part in a laboratory-scale electric arc furnace has resulted in a ferrosilicon alloy with ~ 20% Si as indicated by scanning electron microscopic studies. This innovative approach of recovering the maximum iron values using reduction roasting and exploiting the non-magnetic reject as a silica source for ferrosilicon production has the potential to reduce industry's reliance on high-grade iron as well as silica resources.

2018

IDDRI and Climate Strategies encourage reproduction and communication of their copyrighted materials to the public, with proper credit (bibliographical reference and/or corresponding URL), for personal, corporate or public policy research, or educational purposes. However, IDDRI and Climate Strategies copyrighted materials are not for commercial use or dissemination (print or electronic). Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in the materials are those of the various authors and are not necessarily those of IDDRI's board or Climate Strategies Board/Secretariat.

Transactions of The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy Section B-applied Earth Science, 2003

International Journal of Coal Geology, 2019

Coal is a complex geologic material composed mainly of organic matter and mineral matter, the latter including minerals, poorly crystalline mineraloids, and elements associated with nonmineral inorganics. Among mineral matter, minerals play the most significant role in affecting the utilization of coal, although, in low rank coals, the non-mineral elements may also be significant. Minerals in coal are often regarded as a nuisance being responsible for most of the problems arising during coal utilization, but the minerals are also seen as a potentially valuable source of critical metals and may also, in some cases, have a beneficial effect in coal gasification and liquefaction. With a few exceptions, minerals are the major hosts of the vast majority of elements present in coal. In this review paper, we list more than 200 minerals that have been identified in coal and its low temperature ash, although the validity of some of these minerals has not been confirmed. Base on chemical compositions, minerals found in coal can be classified into silicate, sulfide and selenide, phosphate, carbonate, sulfate, oxide and hydroxide, and others. On the basis of their abundance, they can be classified into common, uncommon, and rare. Elements associated with silicates are largely benign, but many of those associated with sulfides and selenides are toxic to the environment and human health (e.g., S, As, Hg, Tl, Se, and Pb). Critical elements, e.g., rare earth elements and Y, Ga, and Al, are mostly associated with clays, phosphate, and carbonate minerals. There are many unusual mineral phases, such as native W, Au, Ag, and various Pt phases, which may have economic and geochemical significance in 2 coal. Although the modes of mineral occurrence of a number of elements have been widely investigated, there are some elements whose associations, and, in particular, association mechanism with minerals are, to a degree, uncertain or even largely unknown and deserve further attention.

Due to the abundance of the non-coking coal and limitations as well as the high costs of the natural gas, the present study examined the direct reduction of hematite (iron oxide) ore in the temperature range of 800-1000 °C by the non-coking coal volatiles. Approximately, 74.9% of the total amounts of volatiles and gases exit the coal up to 800°C. The onset temperature to exit volatiles from the non-coking coal was approximately 525°C. The SEM micrographs and XRD results indicated the non-uniform layered reduction of the hematite layer. As temperature was increased, the reduction of hematite ore was increased. At a constant temperature of 1000°C, the reduction rate of the hematite layer reached a maximum after 30 min and then it was decreased. Adding various amounts of calcium carbonate to the non-coking coal in optimal reduction conditions increased the reduction rate of the hematite ore. The optimal concentration of this catalyst was 5 wt% (relative to the coal).