TITLE:
Monazite Recovery by Magnetic and Gravity Separation of Medium Grade Zircon Concentrate from Senegalese Heavy Mineral Sands Deposit
AUTHORS:
Moumar Dieye, Mohamadou Moustapha Thiam, Anthony Geneyton, Mamadou Gueye
KEYWORDS:
Monazite, Heavy Mineral Sands, Separation, Gravity, Magnetic
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering,
Vol.9 No.6,
November
10,
2021
ABSTRACT: Gravity, magnetic and electrostatic separation methods allowed to obtain different titanium oxide concentrates (ilmenite, leucoxene, rutile) and different varieties of zircon concentrates (premium zircon, standard zircon, medium grade zircon standard) from Senegal’s heavy mineral sands. During mining separation, monazite, which is a paramagnetic mineral, was found in a non-negligible concentration of 0.57 wt% on average in the medium grade zircon standard which also contains 37.96 wt% zircon and 44.46 wt% titanium oxides. Magnetic and gravity separation tests were carried out on the Medium grade zircon standard (MGZS) to produce a monazite concentrate at Eramet Ideas laboratory. Magnetic separation at 1.5 teslas intensity resulted in the recovery of 94.8% of the monazite from the MGZS. Gravity separation also recovered 76.6% of the monazite from the MGZS. The combination of these two treatment methods can thus produce three concentrates from MGZS (a monazite concentrate, a zircon concentrate, and a titanium oxide concentrate).