Mining Industry Profile: Iron
1-14

Beneficiation Methods
"Beneficiation," defined by 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 261.4, means the following as
applied to iron ore: milling (crushing and grinding); washing; filtration; sorting; sizing; gravity
concentration; magnetic separation; flotation; and agglomeration (pelletizing, sintering, briquetting, or
nodulizing). Although the literature suggests that all these methods have been used to beneficiate iron
ore, information provided by members of the American Iron Ore Association indicates that milling and
magnetic separation are the most common methods used. Gravity concentration is seldom used at
existing U.S. facilities. Flotation is primarily used to upgrade concentrates from magnetic separation
by reducing the silica content of the concentrate.
Most beneficiation operations will result in the production of three materials: a concentrate; a middling
or very low-grade concentrate, which is either reprocessed (in modern plants) or stockpiled; and a
tailing (waste), which is discarded. Table 1-4 compares the percentage of total domestic ore treated by
each iron ore beneficiation method in 1990 (Ryan 1991). A more detailed description of each follows


i already posted table 1-4