Objective and Scope and Importance of Mineral

Beneficiation with special reference to India.

Mineral beneficiation is a process by which valuable constituents of an ore are
concentrated by means of a physical separation process. The most common mineral
beneficiation processes include: sample preparation, comminution, size classification, and
concentration.
Sample Preparation drying, dewatering, and mixing of samples
Comminution rock size reduction by crushing and grinding
Size Classification screening, de-sliming, cycloning
Gravity Concentration separation exploiting the differences in specific gravity
of minerals via the use of centrifugal concentrators, shaking tables, and spirals
Froth Flotation bulk flotation, differential flotation, etc.
Magnetic separation
Optical Sorting using advanced optical sorting technology
Beneficiation of minerals, also called mineral processing, implies processing of
mineral resources to enhance its potential value to the benefit of the humankind

Importance of mineral beneficiation is:1. Zero waste technology- It means that the waste generated from any mineral
based industry should be 100% utilised. For example,
Slag generated from iron and steel industry is used for producing slag
cement, rail road ballast, road making etc.
Red mud generated from aluminium production can be used in land
reclamation, as a raw material in the manufacture of bricks etc.
2. To obtain desired size, grade, quality of minerals- . The mineral resources
mined, or raw ores, are not uniform in their composition of constituents, may
be too coarse or unstable in size consist, and furthermore, in many cases, too
poor in grade to be utilized for sustaining our modern life. So various processes
are needed to obtain the ore of desired size, grade and quality and hence, we
have to spend extra cost and energy to recover only a small amount of refined
metals from them.
3. Grinding and agglomeration are the techniques for obtaining the mineral of
desired size- Grinding is a process of size reduction and comes under
comminution whereas agglomeration is a process of increase in the size of ores.

4. Utilisation of lean grade ore- Let us take the example of a copper ore whose
grade, or copper content, is only 1% by weight. Let us assume that the single
copper mineral species in this ore be chalcopyrite, whose chemical formula is
CuFeS2 Calculating from the atomic weights of these constituent elements, one
part of copper entails 3.46 parts of chalcopyrite. Physical means of processing
without chemical decomposition of chalcopyrite enables us to attain the copper
concentrate whose ultimate copper grade is 1/3.46 = 0.29 = 29%. For a range of
practical reasons to be discussed below, this ultimate grade of copper concentrate
cannot be attained.
5. Separating harmful or undesired minerals As beneficiation of minerals, also
called mineral processing, implies processing of mineral resources to enhance its
potential value to the benefit of the humankind. Hence due to environmental
concern removal of harmful minerals from ores became necessary.
These mineral based industries possess great threat to the environment these are

Deforestation
Degradation of land
Groundwater pollution
Pollution of rivers
Generation of dust
Air pollution
Noise pollution
Radiation
Acid rain

Due to these impacts of Mineral based industries, National mineral policies are made. The
two aspects of Mineral policies are
1. Social aspects - To minimise or protect the environment from harmful effects of
mining.
2. Economic aspects Mineral beneficiation should be economical and profitable
and avoiding exploitation of minerals.

Objective of Mineral beneficiation is the

environmental management
This environmental management can be achieved by
Sustainable development To use the resources in such a way that it should sustain for the
future generation. This sustainable development can be achieved by keeping some of the
following points

1. Minimum utilisation of resources Resources are limited in nature and most

of the resources are non- recyclable in nature.
2. Use alternate sources or non-conventional sources of energy - Since
resources are limited, so we have to rely mostly on alternate or nonconventional sources of energy.
3. Reuse and recycle Using that resource which we can reuse and recycle. For
example, steel is 100% recyclable and is a better option than plastic.
4. Zero waste technology - It means that the waste generated from any mineral
based industry should be 100% utilised. For example,
Slag generated from iron and steel industry is used for producing slag
cement, rail road ballast, road making etc.
Red mud generated from aluminium production can be used in land
reclamation, as a raw material in the manufacture of bricks etc.
Scope of Mineral Beneficiation
Now a day with the improvements in the mineral beneficiation techniques, it is now possible
to mine increasingly lower grade ores. In a general way, the scope of mineral beneficiation is
twofold, its object being to eliminate either

Unwanted chemical species.

Particles of unsuitable size or structure.

The first of these objects is commonly considered to be the extent of ore dressing, and indeed
the more important of the two.
The principal steps involved in the preparation of mineral particles from a chemical
standpoint are:Liberation of dissimilar particles from each other.
Separation of chemically dissimilar particles.
The principal steps involved in the preparation of mineral products valued for their physical
structures are:Reduction in size.
Separation of particles of dissimilar physical character
Thus it will appear that in every instance mineral beneficiation involves a size reducing or
liberating operation or group of operations as a first step and a separating operation or group
of operations as a second step.

The above statement is not generalised as there are instances in which liberation and
separation stages are made to alternate in order to accomplish the desired ends most
advantageously.