Metallic Materials: Mineral Processing (Module 1-4) Flashcards
The natural form of metals are generally in what form?
Combined Form
Metals are found in the Earth’s crust, concentrated at certain regions. These regions are also called _____.
Ore Body
What main activity is done to extract metals from the earth’s crust?
Mining
The product of mining operations are practically large chunks of rocks (in the order of a meter). These large chunks of rocks contain ____ and a large part of ____.
These large chunks of rocks contain valuable mineral and a large part of gangue.
T/F: Our valuable minerals are still embedded and we need to free them up from as-mined (or run-of-mine) ore.
True
It is the liberation of valuable minerals from the ores by crushing and grinding and their separation by physical methods.
Mineral Processing
T/F: Mineral processing is also called mineral dressing, gangue processing, and mineral beneficiation.
False. Mineral processing is also called mineral dressing, ore processing, and mineral beneficiation.
Mineral processing is a branch in the field of ____.
Extractive Metallurgy
What are the four principal types of mineral processing operations?
A. Comminution
B. Sizing
C. Concentration
D. Dewatering
Comminution, sizing, concentration, and dewatering (CSCD) are what we call ____, which are the basic steps in mineral processing. These are not isolated activities, but parts of a large process.
Unit Operations
It is the reduction of the ore to smaller sizes. The whole operation of reducing the crude ore to the fineness necessary for mechanical separation or metallurgical treatment. It can be performed wet or dry.
Comminution
What are the goals of comminution?
a. Liberation
b. Production of particles of the required size and shape
c. Increase of the surface area for chemical reaction
[mnemonic: LSS-SA (liberation, size and shape, surface area)]
What are the two sub-operations under comminution?
a. Crushing
b. Grinding
What is the difference between primary (course) grinding and secondary (fine) crushing?
Primary grinding is the reduction of the ore-as-mined to ~100 mm using Jaw Crushers and Gyratory Crushers.
Secondary grinding is the reduction of the ore-as-mined to ~10 mm uding Cone Crushers and Roll Crushers
[mnemonic: Primary schooler gets a 100 jaw spins. Secondary schooler gets 10 cones of ice cream rolls.]
It is the breaking down of relatively coarse materials to the ultimate fineness using Ball Mills and Rod Mills.
Grinding
[mnemonic: Grinding with my ball and rod rawr.]
It is the separation of a material into various size forms. The separation only involves size, not the valuable minerals from the gangue.
Sizing
What are the two basic operations under sizing?
a. Screening or sieving
b. Classification
Under this operation of sizing, particles are subjected to pass through an aperture of particular size and shape (sieves or screens). It is also generally placed in between communition steps to control the sizes of particles entering a particula crusher or grinder.
Screening or Sieving
T/F: There are various mesh configurations depending on the size of the ore.
False. There are various mesh configurations depending on the nature of the ore.
Under this operation of sizing, the separation depends on the settling velocity of particles in a fluid (either air or water). It is usually conducted for particles in the range of 1 mm to 50 microns.
Classification
T/F: Particles of various sizes and densities settle with different velocities.
True
What are the five factors affecting the settling of particles? (Sizing > Classification)
a. Specific Gravity of Particles
b. Shape of Particles
c. Size of Particles
d. Density of Fluids
e. Viscosity of Fluids
What do we call the equipment that are used to classify crushed and ground materials?
Classifiers
[more specific: Spiral Classifier]
It is the separation and collection of most of the valuable minerals in a small bulk.
Concentration
