Mineralogical justification for potentiality of producing marketable hematite products

Hematite quartzites are a product of weathering of magnetite quartzites, which make up the ferruginous horizons of deposits of the Precambrian banded-iron formation. They occur all over the planet. The largest deposits are found in the iron-producing areas and basins of Central Kazakhstan, the Kursk magnetic anomaly, the Karelian-Kola region, Western Australia, Southeastern India, Brazil, the United States, and Canada. The geological and mineralogical issues of hematite quartzites as raw materials for producing concentrate and sinter ore have been studied most deeply and comprehensively for the deposits of the Kryvyi Rih basin and Central Kazakhstan. However, when developing an effective scheme for producing high-quality metallurgical raw materials, the mineralogical features of hematite ores have been taken into account insufficiently. The aim of the authors of the present work was to study the localization, structure of deposits and mineral composition of hematite quartzites as raw materials for sinter ore and concentrate production. Data from geological observations and mineralogical studies were used as source material. Proven geological, mineralogical, petrochemical methods were used. In accordance with the obtained results, the hematite quartzites are composed of ore-forming (quartz, hematite) and secondary (relict and newly formed) minerals. The total content of the hematite and quartz exceeds 90 mass %. The peculiarity of Ushkatyn III deposit ores is the high content of manganese oxides. The depth of distribution of the weathering crust composed of hematite quartzites varies from 200 to 1000 m. The hematite quartzites’ bodies are characterized by a zonal structure. Their central parts are represented by martite-micaceous hematite, micaceous hematite- martite quartzites; intermediate ones by martite quartzites; peripheral parts – by dispersed hematite-martite, kaolinite-martite-dispersed hematite quartzites. The horizons differ in the quantitative ratio of these varieties. The quantitative ratio of mineral varieties of hematite quartzites, morphology of individuals and aggregates of ore-forming and secondary minerals, their chemical composition and physical properties must be taken into account when developing the optimal technology for the production of high-quality hematite concentrate.