Product Description

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Description

Iron ore is the primary raw material used in the production of steel. Iron ore is categorised by dint of where it is produced and priced, and by its ferrous content, expressed as a percentage. The most merchantable grades lie between *8% and *5%, with key markers at *8%, *2%, *2.5%, *3.5% and *5%. There is a degree of correlation between prices in the *8% to *5% range, but the most linear pricing and consuming relationships lies between *0% and *3.5% ferrous content. A simple way to look at iron ore is that it starts as fines (heavy grains, like sand), is turned into pig iron, which in combination with coking (metallurgical) coal, and energy can then produce crude (liquid) steel, which is finished (rolled) into either in long (e.g. Rebar) or flat (Hot Rolled Coil) form. Steel comes in many hundreds of specifications depending upon the requirements for the finished product. It is an alloy, or a combination of metals whereas iron ore is a mineral.

Types of Iron Ore

Hematite - Fe2O3 – Fe *0%

Magnetite - Fe3O4 – Fe *2%

Limonite - Fe2O3 + H2O – Fe *0% to *6%

Siderite - FeCO3 – Fe *8%

Hematite deposits are mostly sedimentary in origin, such as the banded iron formations (BIFs). BIFs consist of alternating layers of chert (a variety of the mineral quartz), hematite and magnetite. They are found throughout the world and are the most important iron ore in the world today. Their formation is not fully understood, though it is known that they formed by the chemical precipitation of iron from shallow seas about 1.**1.6 billion years ago, during the Proterozoic period.

Magnetite is also mostly found in Banded iron formations (BIF). They are fine-grained metamorphosed sedimentary rocks composed predominantly of magnetite and silica. Mining and processing of BIF formations involves coarse crushing and screening. Magnetite is beneficiated by crushing and then separating the magnetite from the gangue minerals with a magnet. This is usually so efficient that lower grade ore can be treated when it is magnetite than a comparable grade of hematite ore, especially when the magnetite is quite coarse.

Magnetic separation and flotation are the most widely accepted technologies for the upgrading of iron ore particles, but these processes result in iron concentrate with high amounts of very fine and/or interlocked silica particles.

Most of the mined out Iron ore contains lot of impurities that needs beneficiation prior to use. Inferior sources of iron ore generally required beneficiation. Research on utilization of low grade Iron ore to produce quality raw material would play a key role in future which is a fact acknowledged by the Iron and Steel industry.

Grades of Iron Ore

High grade (more than *5% Fe)

Medium grade (between *2% and *5% Fe)

Low grade (less than *2% Fe)

Typically, the Integrated Steel Plants (ISPs) use medium and high grade Iron Ore whereas the Sponge Iron Plants require only high grade Iron Ore, preferably, with greater than *7% Fe.

Forms of Iron Ore

Lumpy/Fine Ore: Iron Ore is traded in lumps (i.e. sized ore) or in fines.

Natural Pellet: Term coined by producers in some Asian counties, to designate sized iron ore used directly in Sponge Iron Plants.

Blue Dust: Name given to naturally occurring, extremely friable, high-grade Haematite Iron Ore powder.