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Preconcentration of Iron, Rare Earth, and Fluorite from Bayan Obo Ore Using Superconducting Magnetic Separation

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Abstract

Bayan Obo ore contains mainly bastnaesite, monazite and associated iron, fluorite, calcite, dolomite, barite, and trace amount of columbite. Due to its complex mineral compositions and similar mineral properties, it is difficult to separate and obtain rare earth and fluorite concentrates with high purity by conventional magnetic separation and flotation. In this paper, a stepwise magnetic separation process comprised of wet permanent magnetic separation (PMS), wet electromagnetic separation (EMS), and superconducting magnetic separation (SCMS) was proposed to pre-concentrate iron, rare earth, and fluorite minerals from Bayan Obo ore. The results showed that iron, rare earth, and fluorite preconcentrates with high purity and low impurity content could be achieved, which might be helpful to shorten the technological process and improve the separation efficiency for the subsequent flotation of iron, rare earth, and fluorite minerals.

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Acknowledgments

The study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51764045), Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Mineral Processing (BGRIMM-KJSKL-2020-23), Inner Mongolia Natural Science Foundation (2020LH05027, 2019MS05039), Inner Mongolia Young Science & Technology Talent Support Plan (NJYT-18-B08), Innovation Fund project of Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology (2019QDL-B18), and Inner Mongolia Major Basic Research Open Project (0406091701).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Integrated Exploitation of Bayan Obo Multi-Metal Resources, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, China

    Jieliang Wang, Peng Zu, Shiwen Yi & Zhao Cao

  2. Institute of Mining Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, China

    Jieliang Wang & Zhao Cao

  3. State Key Laboratory of Mineral Processing, Beijing, China

    Zhao Cao

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  1. Jieliang Wang
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  2. Peng Zu
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  3. Shiwen Yi
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  4. Zhao Cao
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Correspondence to Zhao Cao.

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Wang, J., Zu, P., Yi, S. et al. Preconcentration of Iron, Rare Earth, and Fluorite from Bayan Obo Ore Using Superconducting Magnetic Separation. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 38, 701–712 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00305-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00305-7

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