Mineralogical and petrographic analysis on the flake graphite ore from Saba Boru area in Ethiopia

The mineralogy and petrography of natural graphite in Saba Boru of Ethiopia indicate that there exists flake graphite with a slightly oval structured fine size according to our study on thin and polished sections. Herein, for estimating the carbon content in graphite, the ASTM-C561, the test method for ash in a graphite sample, was used. For characterizing graphite, x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were also used. Chemical analysis of ore samples determined that the average compositions are 63.35% SiO2, 15.45%... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Allah D. Jara
Girma Woldetinsae
Amha Betemariam
Jung Yong Kim
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Reihe/Periodikum: International Journal of Mining Science and Technology, Vol 30, Iss 5, Pp 715-721 (2020)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Elsevier
Schlagwörter: Mineralogy / Petrography / Flake graphite / Flotation / Saba Boru / Ethiopia / Mining engineering. Metallurgy / TN1-997
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28819878
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2020.05.025

The mineralogy and petrography of natural graphite in Saba Boru of Ethiopia indicate that there exists flake graphite with a slightly oval structured fine size according to our study on thin and polished sections. Herein, for estimating the carbon content in graphite, the ASTM-C561, the test method for ash in a graphite sample, was used. For characterizing graphite, x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were also used. Chemical analysis of ore samples determined that the average compositions are 63.35% SiO2, 15.45% Al2O3, 2.36% Fe2O3, 2.07% K2O, less than1% others, and loss-on-ignition (LOI) in the range of ~4.74%–37.42%. The total carbon content of graphitic ore ranged from 4.11% to 33.14%. Importantly, when graphite is concentrated through floatation, its average purity and recovery are 92.97% and 90.82%, respectively. Furthermore, once the graphite concentrates are treated with hydrofluoric acid, the average value attains a high grade of 96.48% C. Moreover, the average ash content is 81.93% (pre-flotation) and 3.1% (post-flotation), respectively. Finally, after beneficiation, a silica is identified as a major gangue (85.88%), usable as a raw material for other purposes such as cement. Hence, these graphite-bearing rocks seem to be worth exploring for commercialization opportunities.