Sintering of manganese ore tailings under an argon atmosphere.

Abstract

Manganese is a chemical element widely used in Metallurgy. In Brazil, the ore’s beneficiation processes discharge the tailings (fraction size 0.106mm) with considerable Mn content. It would be interesting to recover this material. The aim of this work was to obtain and characterize the sinters from the manganese ore tailings at the Morro da Mina Mine. The fines (37 μm) were calcinated at 800°C for 3600s, and afterwards, homogenized with activated charcoal (7 and 10%) and CaO (5 and 10%). The sintering were carried out at 1135, 1140 and 1145°C during 7200 and 14400s under an argon atmosphere. The sintered products were characterized by BET surface area, apparent density, X-ray diffraction, MO and SEM/EDS. The presence of potassium from the alkalis justified the low melting point of the tailings (1145°C). Due to the chemical complexity of the tailings, several phases were identified in the products: pores, silicates with a high content of manganese in the matrix, as well as other silicates with different proportions of Al, Mn, Mg and Ca, pure Fe, and SiO2, etc.