Modern microscopes of all kinds (optical, electron, scanning probe) are controlled by software and have digital image acquisition. This setup allows many integrated tasks to be run under the control of automation routines like, for instance, specimen scanning and automatic focusing. Additionally, some microscopes can be fully automated. Thus, it is possible to integrate specimen scanning, image...

A Microsoft Excel macro is described that enables rapid recognition of common opaque minerals. The program uses ore mineralogical features such as reflectance, anisotropy, bireflectance, Vickers Hardness and morphological features (bladed crystals, zoning and twinning) to identify possible candidates from a database of 200 common ore minerals. Reflectance can be estimated from the uncorrected l...

Iron ore pellets are made from refined and ground ore that is balled into spheroids and then heat treated. Pellet properties are measured through standardized physical, chemical and metallurgical tests to guarantee a high quality end product. However to better understand the oxidation and sintering of iron ore pellets one has to study the microstructures. This paper provides a proof of concept ...

We present a first paragenetic study of the Wuyier, Wuyisan, Wuyiyi and Shihongtan sandstone-hosted roll-front uranium deposits, northwest China. The mineralization is hosted by Lower–Middle Jurassic coarseto medium-grained sandstones, which are dark-gray to black due to a mixture of ore minerals and carbonaceous debris. The sandstone is alluvial fan-braided river facies. Minerals associated wi...

This study investigated the optimum conditions for the leaching of manganese-rich iron ore for subsequent beneficiation studies in laboratory scale. The experiments were carried out by varying the concentration of H2 SO4 solution and the leaching temperature. The properties of the iron ore was characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)...

Iron ore concentrate is enriched by flotation prior to form iron ore green pellets in order to reduce phosphorus content in the ore concentrate. A flotation reagent is used in this process and it is known to incorporate air bubbles and eventually deteriorate the strength of the pellets. These bubbles were therefore characterized both qualitatively and quantitatively by cryogenic scanning electr...

Chromite ores are basically classified on basis of Cr2O3 content and Cr to Fe ratio in a sample. The higher content of Cr increases the value of the ore but this is greatly affected by the presence of impurities in form of silicates, oxides or hydroxides. The present study was performed to analyze the impurities of chromite ore collected from Prangghar (Mohmand agency), Pakistan. From x-ray dif...

Heap leaching accounts for a fifth of global copper production, sourced primarily from porphyry ores, yet metal recoveries are often not optimal. Gangue, and its interaction with acid, plays an important role in such processes. Thus, a proper understanding of gangue minerals present in the ore, their textural relationships relative to particle size distribution, reactivity with acid under diffe...

Graphite ore collected from Hunan province, south China was characterized by chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction, and optical microscopy. Rougher and multi-stage flotation tests using a mechanical flotation cell and a flotation column containing an additional centrifugal force field were carried out to promote its grade and economic value. In rougher flotation, both the mechanical flotation ce...