BENEFICIATION OF MAGAMI FERRUGINOUS MANGANESE ORE, ZAMFARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This work was carried out to beneficiate Magami ferruginous manganese ore via sample collection, sample preparation, chemical and particle size analyses, and concentration tests. The collected materials from the site were prepared in the laboratory to obtain a representative sample by coning and quartering. The elemental composition of manganese in the sample was established as 13.1 % Mn. Sieve analysis revealed that there was no over grinding or under grinding to yield finer or coarser particles respectively; as 87.85 % of the comminuted material passed through the coarsest sieve of 355 µm, 15.99 % highest percentage of particles retained on 63 µm, over 59% was less than 180 µm and just 17.41% was collected at the pan. The separation processes attained enrichment of 38.71 % Mn at a recovery of 29.1 % from 125 µm size using shaking table, while, 24.90 % Mn enrichment at a recovery of 69.44 % was obtained from magnetic separation. Therefore, the concentrates in either of the processes is typically suitable for manganese alloy or manganese pig-iron production by direct smelting.