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05/6/2008 -
Iron Ore Conference 2007 (2006)
ISBN 978-1-920806-68-2. The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Carlton South, Vic., Australia. 2007. CD-ROM. 434 pages. $100.00.
While gold rushes make headlines, “iron rushes” tend to be less dramatic. However, the increase in demand that has driven the search for new sources of most metals has had just as significant an impact on exploration and development of new iron-ore resources. This symposium, organized by the Australasian Institution of Mining and Metallurgy last summer in Perth, reflects the current frenzy and provides a very broad snapshot of the state of the art in prospecting, mine development and operation, minerals processing, and pellet and sinter production.
Australia is a current center of development for new iron-ore mines, largely due to increased demand from China. As a result, several of the papers in these proceedings deal with Australian projects. However, the search for new ores is a global one, which is reflected in the geographic diversity of the presenters. There are papers on resource development in China, Brazil, Ghana, India, Iran—even the U.S.! The proceedings are divided into three sections: a six–paper plenary session, 23 presentations on geology and ore characterization, and 33 entries in mining and processing. The plenary papers are something of a disappointment; a true plenary presentation describing the overall status of global iron-ore supply and demand would have been useful. Most of the presentations are from industry sources, and most deal with production issues, rather than research results.
Because this symposium is product–specific rather than focused on one type of unit processing, the variety of presentations in the volume is impressive. Every aspect of iron-ore production and processing seems to have made its way onto the CD-ROM. There are presentations on community relations (Aloi), project management (Barfoot), dump-body design (Gibson et al.), and waste scheduling (Wang and Butler). Even a physical metallurgy paper found its way into this symposium (Morrison et al. discussing fatigue life in stockyard machines).
Because of the variety of papers, there are few common themes to be found in this volume. One concern that is mentioned more than once is that of dealing with low-grade banded hematite ores, which have become viable at current ore values. Zou’s plenary presentation and three papers from India discuss the beneficiation of these ores, which has been enhanced by the introduction of high-intensity magnetic separation, magnetically assisted flotation, and reverse flotation to remove the silica. A second common theme is the use of automated analytical tools and procedures throughout the exploration, mining, and the processing of iron ores. Cottle’s brief paper discussing on-line elemental analysis echoes previous efforts made in non-ferrous ore processing. Resource estimation is also the subject of several higher-quality presentations, in particular papers by De-Vitry et al. and by Osterholt and Dimitrakopoulos.
The number of papers in the volume specifically dealing with the chemical metallurgy of iron-ore processing is somewhat limited. Presentations by Firth and Boucher and by Gourde et al. on magnetite oxidation during pellet hardening are worth reading, as are two papers by Khosa and co-workers discussing studies of sintering conditions. Outside of this, extractive metallurgists may find these proceedings of lesser interest than those produced at AIST meetings. However, for those with a broad view of the iron-ore industry, these proceedings will be worth the trouble of looking at.
For more on Iron Ore Conference 2007, visit the AusIMM web site. |
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