Geometallurgical characterisation of Mn ores

ABSTRACT This article details two geometallurgical case studies using classification schemes developed for Mn fine and lump ores. For the first, the relative abundance of 15 material types was compared to chemistry by size fraction. Positive correlations were evident between the proportion of aluminosilicate-bearing ore groups and Al2O3 content, the ratio of Mn oxide/Fe oxide ore groups and the Mn/Fe content, the proportion of cryptomelane-bearing groups and the K2O and BaO contents, and the ratio of hard to moderately hard + friable particles and the K2O + Ba + Na content. For the second, agreement was observed between the types of predominant material types in the two different ores and their mass distributions, major and trace element chemistries. Different material types had clear variances in their envelope and apparent particle densities. These two case studies support the expanded use of particle-based ore classification schemes for the characterisation of Mn ores to better predict their downstream processing performance.