Zirconium-titanium ore is a significant non-metallic mineral resource. It finds applications across various sectors including ceramics, glass, foundry, electronics, and chemical industries. The zirconium-titanium ore resources in Mozambique are primarily located along its eastern coastal regions. Following years of exploitation, it has emerged as a crucial supplier of zirconium-titanium ore resources to nations like China. However, enhancing the beneficiation efficiency and resource utilization of zirconium-titanium ore, while mitigating environmental pollution, remains a pressing challenge in the mining sector.
Mozambique's zirconium titanium ore resources are renowned for their high grade and stable supply. According to research, the content of TiO2 and ZrO2 in Mozambique's zirconium titanium ore can reach 0.76% and 0.11% respectively, with a rare earth ore content of 0.024%. The particle size of these resources is mainly concentrated in the range of 0.10 to 0.50 mm, providing a good foundation for subsequent mineral processing technology.
It is essential to conduct detailed mineralogical research on the ore before designing the beneficiation process. Through testing methods such as chemical analysis, XRF analysis, phase analysis, MI.A (mineral quantification automatic detection system), and SEM (scanning electron microscope), researchers have conducted in-depth research on the chemical elements, mineral composition, production characteristics, and dissociation degree of Mozambique zirconium titanium ore. Research has found that ilmenite, zircon, hematite, and monazite are the main valuable minerals in this ore, and these minerals mainly exist in monomeric form with high dissociation degree, providing favorable conditions for subsequent beneficiation processes.
The beneficiation process is the key to improving the utilization rate of zirconium titanium ore resources. In the beneficiation experiment of zirconium titanium ore in Mozambique, researchers adopted a combined process of gravity separation, magnetic separation, and electrostatic separation. Successfully achieved effective recovery of ilmenite, zircon, rutile, and monazite.
The primary product zirconium titanium mixed coarse concentrate is obtained through spiral chute reselection, and then further separated into high-grade titanium concentrate, zirconium concentrate, rutile concentrate, and monazite concentrate through a combination of magnetic separation, shaker reselection, electric selection, and magnetic separation processes.
Spiral chute, as an efficient re-election equipment, plays an important role in the pre enrichment concentration of zirconium titanium ore. The experimental results show that after the spiral chute reselection of the raw sand, zircon and ilmenite mixed coarse concentrates with TiO2 and ZrO2 contents of 45.03% and 5.68%, respectively, can be obtained. The recovery rates of TiO2 and ZrO2 reach 84.03% and 86.04%, respectively.
The magnetic difference between ilmenite and zircon in mixed coarse concentrates provides the possibility for zirconium titanium separation. The separation of zircon and ilmenite was successfully achieved by first extracting strong magnetic minerals with weak magnetism and then separating ilmenite with medium magnetism. The experimental results show that the TiO2 content of ilmenite concentrate is 50.57%, and the ZrO2 content of zirconium concentrate is 51.60%.
The ZrO2 and TiO2 contents in the shaking table zirconium concentrate are 51.60% and 5.33%, respectively, mainly containing zircon and rutile. Zirconium concentrates with operating yields of 58.80% and 19.07% were obtained through magnetic and electrical separation processes, respectively. The ZrO2 content in the zirconium concentrates was 65.12% and 60.62%.
The ZrO2 and TiO2 contents in the mineral products of the shaking table zirconium are 20.12% and 21.22%, respectively. Through the process of magnetic separation electric separation magnetic separation, high titanium ore and rutile concentrate were obtained, with TiO2 contents as high as 85.05% and 90.04%, respectively.
Through particle size analysis, chemical analysis, and radiometric analysis of titanium concentrate and zirconium concentrate, researchers found that the content of ilmenite in titanium concentrate was as high as 94.79%, and the content of zircon in zirconium concentrate was as high as 98.72%. These high-quality products not only meet the needs of industrial production, but also reduce resource waste.
