Reprocessing of Bukuru Cassiterite Tailings to Recover Titanium Oxide and Iron Contents for Metallurgical Applications

Akindele U. M, Abubakar H. U and Jibril I. B.

Department of Mineral & Petroleum Resources Engineering, Kaduna Polytechnic

Keywords: Reprocessing, tailing, value addition, cassiterite, magnetic separation.

Abstract

In mineral processing, complete separation of valuable minerals is not always attainable; hence the tailings most often contain valuables in them. Reprocessing of such tailings are desirable and may lead to economic results with enhanced techniques. The sample used in this work was sourced from Bukuru, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State. The sample prepared and analysed as the head sample revealed the constituents of 27.10%TiO,, 32.31% Fe 0, 25.1%SiO, 1.29% Nb,0, and 1.83% MnO with others in traces such as CuO, ZnO, Ta O,, V.O,, PbO etc. Therefore, beneficiation using magnetic separation technique the iron ore and titanium oxide were upgraded to 47.51% Fe 0,, recovery of 87.7% and 46.17%TiO, recovery of 69% respectively. The results indicated tailings to contain sufficiently high grade of iron ore for the production of pellets that could be utilized for iron and steel making. Titanium on the other hand has inherent properties as well as on the development of new alloys, possess resistance to corrosion. It is therefore recommended that value addition be extended to tailings by exploring its potentials for more economic gain. Keywords: Reprocessing, tailings, value addition, cassiterite, magnetic separation.