New Breakthroughs in Ultrafine-grained Ilmenite Recovery Technology

New breakthroughs in ultrafine-grained ilmenite recovery technology

With the development of vanadium-titanium magnetite resources in Panzhihua County and the entry of deep mining, the particle size of useful mineral inlays has become thinner, and it needs to be finely ground to obtain qualified iron and titanium concentrates, resulting in an increase in the amount of ultra-fine-grained ilmenite in the process year by year. In actual production, due to the limitations of the existing strong magnetic + flotation process, the recovery effect of ultra-fine-grained ilmenite is poor. The investigation showed that the distribution rate of granular titanium less than 38µm in the tailings was 65%, and the distribution rate of granular titanium less than 19µm was 46%, which caused a great waste of titanium resources.

Ultrafine-grained mineral recovery has always been a world-class problem in the field of mineral processing. In order to improve the recovery rate of titanium resources and focus on overcoming the technical field of “stuck neck”, mining companies regard scientific and technological self-reliance as the strategic support for national development. Since 2012, together with domestic scientific research institutes, they have carried out joint research on ultra-fine-grained ilmenite recovery technology. On the basis of consulting a large number of research literature, they have carried out the development and testing of new processes, new equipment, and new medicines.

The research team experimented repeatedly, analyzed the data, looked for clues, and discussed the best process plan. After hundreds of technical researches, a new ultra-fine-grained ilmenite recovery process with high efficiency and energy saving has been successfully developed. Proposed and formed three national invention patent authorizations such as "Mineral processing Method of Ultrafine-grained Ilmenite". As an important support project for ultrafine-grained ilmenite recovery, the "Research on Efficient Separation Technology and Industrial Application Demonstration of Associated Resources in Vanadium-titanium Magnetite in Panxi Area" has been listed as a key R&D project in Sichuan Province in 2021.

In order to transform scientific and technological achievements into product advantages as soon as possible and lay the foundation for industrialization, the mining company built a 10,000-ton industrial test line in 2021. The industrial test has achieved good results. The new technology and new agents have good adaptability to the recovery of granular ilmenite less than 38µm. The overall recovery rate is more than 50%, and the recovery rate of granular ilmenite less than 19µm is more than 90%. The recovery rate of ultra-fine-grained ilmenite has achieved a major breakthrough.

Ultrafine-grained ilmenite recovery

In April, the groundbreaking ceremony of the first phase of the construction project of the ultra-fine-grained ilmenite high-efficiency recovery demonstration line of the mining company was held in Xingmao Company. This marks the entry of the industrialization of ultra-fine-grained ilmenite mineral processing technology into a substantial stage, and a new breakthrough in ultra-fine-grained ilmenite recovery technology has been realized. After the demonstration line is completed and put into operation, more than 100,000 tons of ultra-fine-grained titanium concentrate will be recovered every year, with economic benefits of 150 million yuan. It will not only solve the worldwide problem of industrial recovery of ultra-fine-grained ilmenite, but also promote the in-depth development of vanadium-titanium magnetite resources in Panxi region, and will also have a good demonstration effect on the efficient industrial recovery of ultra-fine-grained ilmenite throughout the country and even the world.