Minerals properties

The raw ROM (run of mine) ore is reduced in size from boulders of up to 100 cm in diameter to about 0.5 cm using jaw cmshers as weU as cone, gyratory, or roU-type equipment. The cmshed product is further pulverized using rod mills and ball mills, bringing particle sizes to finer than about 65 mesh (230 p.m). These size reduction (qv) procedures are collectively known as comminution processes. Their primary objective is to generate mineral grains that are discrete and Hberated from one another (11). Liberation is essential for the exploitation of individual mineral properties in the separation process. At the same time, particles at such fine sizes can be more readily buoyed to the top of the flotation ceU by air bubbles that adhere to them. 

Fig. 8. Particle size ranges for concentrating equipment based on mineral properties (6).

Bentonite has expected sihca content of 0.5 weight percent (F is 0.005). Silica density (A ) is 2.4 gm per cii cm, and bentonite (Ag) is 2.6. The calculation requires knowledge of mineral properties described by the factor (fghd ). Value of the factor can be estabhshed from fundamental data (Gy) or be derived from previous experience. In this example, data from testing a shipment of bentonite of 10 mesh top-size screen analysis determined value of the mineral factor to be 0.28. This value is scaled by the cube of diameter to ys-in screen size of the example shipment. The mineral factor is scaled from 0.28 to 52 by multiplying 0.28 with the ratio of cubed 9.4 mm (ys-in screen top-size of the shipment to be tested) and cubed 1.65 mm (equivalent to 10 mesh). 

Fig. 1. Location of the Shiko Lake mineral property in western Canada.

Property acquisitions represent an alternative to the risks associated with traditional exploration, and available to companies and countries with sufficient cash-on-hand or with joint-venture partners. Because many mineral properties are substantially undervalued, acquisitions represent an economically-favorable manner of securing future mineral resources, allowing companies and state entities to prepare for the next upswing in mineral commodity demand in addition, acquiring future resources provides some measure of economic security in that a source of minerals commodities is essentially guaranteed. 

The decreased value of holdings in minerals properties has meant that even large mining companies are considered to be available as potential sources of metal resources - via takeover - by both well-funded companies and as-yet well-funded... 

Although a particular mineral property may be due to iron impurities, it is generally easier to show this dependance by preparing synthetic samples of variable iron concentration and extrapolating back to the impurity levels of interest in a particular mineral. For example, the iron impurities in blue beryl are at so low a concentration that only weak Mossbauer signals can be obtained. 

RICH (C. I.) and OBERSHAIN (S.S.), 1955. Chemical and clay mineral properties of a red-yellow podzolic soil derived from a muscovite schist. Soil Sci. Ame. Proc. jL9, 334-9. 

C OAL is AN extremely complex, heterogeneous material that is difficult to characterize. It is a rock formed by geological processes and composed of a number of distinct organic substances called macerals and of lesser amounts of inorganic entities called minerals. Each coal maceral and mineral has a unique set of physical and chemical properties that contributes to the overall behavior of coal. Although much is known about the mineral properties of coal, surprisingly little is known about the properties of the individual macerals. 

Natural carbonate minerals do not form from pure solutions where the only components are water, calcium, and the carbonic acid system species. Because of the general phenomenon known as coprecipitation, at least trace amounts of all components present in the solution from which a carbonate mineral forms can be incorporated into the solid. Natural carbonates contain such coprecipitates in concentrations ranging from trace (e.g., heavy metals), to minor (e.g., Sr), to major (e.g., Mg). When the concentration of the coprecipitate reaches major (>1%) concentrations, it can significantly alter the chemical properties of the carbonate mineral, such as its solubility. The most important example of this mineral property in marine sediments is the magnesian calcites, which commonly contain in excess of 12 mole % Mg. The fact that natural carbonate minerals contain coprecipitates whose concentrations reflect the composition of the solution and conditions, such as temperature, under which their formation took place, means that there is potentially a large amount of information which can be obtained from the study of carbonate mineral composition. This type of information allied with stable isotope ratio data, which are influenced by many of the same environmental factors, has become a major area of study in carbonate geochemistry. 

During this century there has been considerable interest in the application of thermoluminescence studies to the recent history of meteorites. Natural TL provides a means of exploring radiation history and thermal environment in a manner which is complementary to isotopic methods, and the measurement of natural TL is now routine for the numerous meteorites being returned each year from the Antarctic (3,4). However, induced TL measurements have also proved of considerable interest, because the measurements have implications for the earliest history of meteorites. Essentially, the induced TL properties of meteorites are determined, with a few notable exceptions, by the amount and the nature of the feldspar in them, and feldspar is very sensitive to the major processes experienced by meteorites. In the present paper, we describe our recent work on the induced TL properties of meteorites and briefly discuss how these data relate to early meteorite history. We emphasize the relationship between the TL data and mineral properties. We also present here detailed descriptions of the cathodoluminescence properties of primitive meteorites, as these provide new insights into mineralogical controls on TL properties. 

J. Arends, J. Schuthof, W.L. Jongeblood, Mineral properties of the outer tooth surface. Dental Plaque and Surface Interactons, 1979. 

These materials are rocks (mixtures of minerals). Refractive index, hardness and density for these materials are for the most common or principle constituent mineral. Properties of individual specimens may vary widely from these values. 

The bonding mechanism in most phosphate minerals is partly ionic and partly covalent, and depending on which bond is dominant, the mineral properties vary. Thus, the minerals with more covalent bonds, such as anhydrous phosphates are less soluble in water and are thermally stable. 

Guthrie GD. 1997. Mineral properties and their contributions to particle toxicity. Environ Health Perspect Suppl 5 1003-1 OIL... 

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