Minerals Engineering 15 (2002) 1121–1129

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Magnetic properties of ilmenite, hematite and oilsand minerals

after roasting
Z. Cui, Q. Liu *, T.H. Etsell
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada T6G 2G6
Received 31 August 2002; accepted 17 October 2002

Abstract
To recover heavy minerals from the Athabasca oil sands tailings, a roasting step is necessary to burn off the residual bitumen.
However, most of the previous researchers, using a roasting step, did not seem to be able to separate the Fe-bearing titanium
minerals (ilmenite and leucoxene) from the Fe-free titanium minerals (rutile and anatase). An investigation was therefore carried out
to study the changes in magnetic properties after roasting to the types of minerals contained in the oil sands tailings. Ilmenite,
hematite, and a rutile concentrate (LR Rutile) produced from the oil sands tailings (containing mainly leucoxene and rutile), were
used in the study. It was observed that the magnetic susceptibility of ilmenite increased after either oxidation or reduction roasting at
some intermediate temperatures and roasting time. For hematite, reduction roasting increased its magnetic susceptibility and oxi-
dation roasting did not seem to have any effect. Reduction roasting of the LR Rutile resulted in an increase in its magnetic sus-
ceptibility, and this increase was mainly due to the contaminating Fe-bearing minerals (leucoxene). Upgrading of the LR Rutile was
possible either by using low intensity magnetic separation following reduction roasting, or by using high intensity magnetic sepa-
ration directly.
Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Oil sands (A); Tailings (A); Magnetic separation (B); Roasting (C)

1. Introduction Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc., represent about 6% of the

The oil sands resources in Northern Alberta, Canada
contain an average of 0.35% TiO2 and 0.032% ZrO2 as
heavy minerals besides crude oil (McCosh, 1996). Cur-
rently, a commercial hot water extraction process is used
to extract the oil (bitumen) from the oil sands. During
this process, the heavy minerals are concentrated in the
bitumen froths and are left in the froth treatment tail-
ings, which on average contain about 10% TiO2 and
1.4% ZrO2 (Oxenford et al., 2001). At these grades, the
froth treatment tailings are the second richest titanium
resources in the world. Also, due to the large scale of the
oil sands operations, the heavy minerals that can po-
tentially be recovered from the oil sands tailings pro-
duced by the two current operators, Syncrude Canada
*
Corresponding author. Fax: +1-780-492-2881.
E-mail address: qi.liu@ualberta.ca (Q. Liu).
0892-6875/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 8 9 2 - 6 8 7 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 2 6 0 - 1
worldÕs consumption of TiO2 and about 9% of the
worldÕs production of zircon (Oxenford et al., 2001).
However, the minerals are not yet being recovered and
are discarded into tailings ponds.
Several metallurgical studies have been carried out
to separate the froth treatment tailings into titanium
and zirconium mineral concentrates (e.g., Trevoy and
Schutte, 1981; Balderson, 1982; Ityokumbul et al., 1987;
Owen, 1996; Oxenford et al., 2001). Roasting at 600–
700 °C, aiming at removing the residual bitumen present
in the tailings, was a common process step in all studies.
The rutile and zircon concentrates produced from these
studies were notably contaminated by different levels of
Fe. It was suspected that the roasting step may have
changed the magnetic properties of the Fe-bearing
minerals which contributed to their misplacement. A
study was therefore carried out to examine the magnetic
susceptibilities and magnetic separation behaviors of
some Fe-bearing minerals commonly found in the oil
sands tailings, under both the oxidation and reduction
roasting conditions.
1122 Z. Cui et al. / Minerals Engineering 15 (2002) 1121–1129
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Ilmenite (TiO2
FeO) and hematite (Fe2 O3 ) minerals
were used in the tests, together with a rutile concentrate
produced previously from the oil sands tailings by
Lakefield Research Ltd. The latter will be referred to as
LR Rutile in this paper. The ilmenite and hematite,
originating from St. Urbain, Quebec (Canada) and Hoyt
Lake, Michigan (USA), respectively, were purchased
from WardÕs Natural Sciences Ltd. Lumps of the
ilmenite and hematite were crushed with a laboratory
jaw crusher, followed by a Brinkmann pulverizer. The
180 þ 74 lm size fractions were screened out for the
roasting tests. X-ray diffraction spectra of the ilmenite
and hematite showed that these were high purity mine-
rals. The LR Rutile, on the other hand, assayed 75.5%
TiO2 , 18.7% Fe2 O3 , 1.03% Al2 O3 , and 1.94% SiO2 . A
mineralogical analysis indicated that it contained about
10–17% rutile (anatase), and the remaining titanium was
in the form of leucoxene (xFe2 O3
yTiO2 ). The LR Ru-
tile was used directly without size treatment since its
dominant particle size was about 120 lm, and its 80%
passing size was 145 lm.
Charcoal was used as a reducing agent in the reduc-
tion roasting tests. This was an Antelope Ranch char-
coal supplied by The Weight Products Co. The charcoal
was screened and the 850 þ 250 lm size fraction was
used. The use of coarse sized charcoal provided a simple
indicator for the maintenance of a reducing environment
during roasting since the un-reacted charcoal could be
screened out.
2.2. Procedures
The roasting tests were performed in a laboratory
muffle furnace. The furnace was heated to a predeter-
mined temperature before the samples were introduced.
A ceramic crucible, measuring 7.6 cm in diameter and
9.0 cm in depth, was used. Oxidation roasting was
conducted in the crucible open to air. Reduction roast-
ing was performed by heating a blend of 1 g charcoal
and 5 g mineral (i.e., a weight ratio of 1:5). This ratio
was used in most of the reduction roasting tests, al-
though a ratio of 1:10 was also used in some tests. The
mineral and charcoal mixture was placed at the bottom
of the crucible and was covered by a small ceramic
hemisphere. The crucible was not completely sealed.
The magnetic susceptibilities of the samples were
measured with a Frantz Isodynamic Separator. The
electric current in the magnetizing coil of the separator
could be adjusted from 0 to 1.9 A. The magnetic field
strength of the separator was measured with a DC
Magnetometer (supplied by AlphaLab Inc.) and the
maximum was found to be 1.2 T at the current setting of
1.9 A. The transverse slope ðhÞ of the separator was set
at 14.5°. The magnetic susceptibility v of a material
tested in the Frantz Isodynamic Separator is expressed
as (McAndrew, 1957):
sin h
v¼
KI 2
where K is a constant and I is the electric current that
results in a 50%:50% split of the test sample at the exit
chute of the separator. K was found to be 3:15  106
when using ferrous ammonium sulfate, Fe(NH4 )2 -
(SO4 )2
6H2 O (v ¼ 32:4  106 m3 /kg), and copper
sulfate, CuSO2
5H2 O (v ¼ 5:88  106 m3 /kg), as stan-
dards to calibrate the separator. To measure the mag-
netic susceptibility of a sample, the sample powder was
separated in the Frantz Isodynamic Separator at diffe-
rent applied electric currents. The recovery of the mag-
netic fraction was then plotted against the applied
current, from which the current corresponding to 50%
recovery was found. This was then used to calculate the
magnetic susceptibility v using the above equation.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of roasting on the magnetic properties of
ilmenite
Most of the ilmenite roasting studies reported in the
literature were carried out under a reducing atmosphere
and in the temperature range of 800–1400 °C. Nell
(2000) recently gave an overview of the phase chemistry
in the production of high-titanium slag from ilmenite
using reduction roasting. The roasting temperatures
were mostly above 800 °C. El-Guindy and Davenport
(1970) studied the kinetics and the mechanisms of
ilmenite reduction with graphite in the temperature
range up to 1400 °C. They observed that reactions were
initiated near 860 °C at the contact points between the
reactants. Up to 1020 °C, solid state reduction appeared
to be the main reaction mechanism, and above this
temperature the reaction mechanism was gaseous re-
duction of ilmenite by regenerated CO. Grey and Reid
(1974) studied the reaction sequences in the reduction of
ilmenite above 1000 °C. Pre-oxidation of ilmenite at
about 1000 °C leads to the formation of rutile plus a
Fe2 TiO5 –FeTi2 O5 –Mn2 TiO5 solid solution. The final
reduction product consists of a mixture of metallic iron,
reduced rutile and a Fe2 TiO5 –FeTi2 O2 –Ti3 O5 solid so-
lution. El-Tawil et al. (1996) reported the reduction
roasting of ilmenite ore with carbon in the presence of
sodium carbonate between 1000 and 1200 °C. They
observed that the addition of sodium carbonate of up to
30 wt.% of the ore enhanced the reduction efficiency.
The maximum metallization of iron obtained at 1200 °C
was about 85%, while the rest of the iron existed in the
form of sodium iron titanate.
 Z. Cui et al. / Minerals Engineering 15 (2002) 1121–1129 1123

There is little information on the roasting of ilmenite

below 800 °C except for WalpoleÕs patented process for
ilmenite recovery from mineral sands by a magnetizing
roast between 650 and 900 °C (Walpole, 1997). Simi-
larly, little is known about how an oxidation roasting
environment, such as the one that may be encountered
in oil sands tailings treatment, would affect the magnetic
properties and separation behavior of ilmenite. In this
study we attempted to address some of these issues.

3.1.1. Magnetic susceptibility of ilmenite

The ilmenite used in this study was a magnetic mine-
ral with a measured magnetic susceptibility of
2:18  106 m3 /kg. It was subjected to either oxidation
or reduction roasting to monitor changes in its magnetic
susceptibility and magnetic separation behavior.
Test results indicated that oxidation roasting of the
ilmenite could increase its magnetic susceptibility within
a certain temperature range. As can be seen from Figs. 1
and 2, at 500 °C, even extended heating (up to 2 h) did
not cause any change in the magnetic susceptibility of
the ilmenite. At higher temperatures (650 and 700 °C),
its magnetic susceptibility started to increase after about
30 min of roasting, and continued slightly increasing
with extended roasting time. At even higher tempe-
ratures (750–1000 °C), the magnetic susceptibility of the
ilmenite increased rapidly initially, reached a maximum
of about 5:5  105 m3 /kg, then dropped sharply and
eventually reached a value that was lower than the
original ilmenite, leveling off at about 4  107 m3 /kg.
The exact time period at which these changes occurred
varied with the temperature that was used. Finally,
when the temperature was above 1000 °C, the magnetic
susceptibility of the ilmenite did not increase with oxi-
dation roasting but decreased rapidly and quickly
reached the lowest value of about 4  107 m3 /kg.
One set of reduction roasting tests was also per-
formed on the ilmenite at a fixed roasting time of 30 min
Fig. 2. Oxidation roasting of ilmenite––magnetic susceptibility of il-
menite as a function of roasting temperature.
and a charcoal:ilmenite ratio of 1:10. The roasting
temperature was varied up to 800 °C. The results are
presented in Fig. 3, together with corresponding oxi-
dation roasting tests in which no charcoal was used. As
can be seen, both oxidation and reduction roasting re-
sulted in an increase in the magnetic susceptibility of
the ilmenite, and the increase was more significant under
a reducing environment. In fact, at 800 °C, reduc-
tion roasting caused the magnetic susceptibility of the
ilmenite to approach that of a magnetite sample, with
a measured magnetic susceptibility of 2  103 m3 /kg
(Fig. 3).
X-ray diffraction spectra were recorded on the il-
menite samples before and after roasting and the phases
present in the samples were identified using standard
spectra in the Jade database. It was found that, below
850 °C, oxidation roasting changed some of the ilmenite
phases into hematite, rutile and reduced rutile. Whereas
after roasting for 60 min at 1000 °C, almost all of the

Fig. 3. Magnetic susceptibility of ilmenite as a function of roasting

Fig. 1. Oxidation roasting of ilmenite––magnetic susceptibility of il- temperature. Roasting time was fixed at 30 min. For reduction roast-
menite as a function of roasting time. ing, charcoal was blended with ilmenite at a ratio of 1:10.
1124 Z. Cui et al. / Minerals Engineering 15 (2002) 1121–1129

ilmenite phase was converted into hematite, rutile, re-

duced rutile and Fe2 TiO5 .
To establish the relationship between the phase con-
versions and the changes in the magnetic susceptibility,
the latter was plotted against the ratio of the strongest
peak of hematite ð2h ¼ 32:2°Þ and that of ilmenite
ð2h ¼ 32:5°Þ, in Fig. 4. As can be seen, when the ratio is
between 1.5 and 3.5, the magnetic susceptibility of the
roasted ilmenite is much higher than that of the original
un-roasted ilmenite. This seems to indicate that when
some of the phases in ilmenite were converted to he-
matite (a-Fe2 O3 ), its magnetic susceptibility significantly
increased.
Interestingly, after reduction roasting, the FeO in
ilmenite was not reduced to lower valence states (such as Fig. 5. Yield of ilmenite into the magnetic product as a function of
elemental iron, etc.), as no peaks due to elemental iron roasting time. The magnetic separation was performed with a Frantz
Isodynamic Separator and the electric current was set at 0.15 A
were observed in the X-ray diffraction spectra. Rather, it
(magnetic field intensity: 0.12 T).
was converted into maghemite (c-Fe2 O3 ), causing a
significant increase in its magnetic susceptibility since c-
Fe2 O3 is strongly magnetic. The mechanism of such
conversion is yet to be studied.

3.1.2. Magnetic separation of roasted ilmenite

The roasted ilmenite was separated using the Frantz
Isodynamic Separator. Two electric current settings
were applied in the separator, 0.15 and 0.3 A, and the
corresponding magnetic field intensity was 0.12 and 0.24
T. The separation results are presented in Figs. 5–8.
When Fig. 5 is compared with Fig. 1, and Fig. 6
compared with Fig. 2, it is clear that at a magnetic field
intensity of 0.12 T, recovery of ilmenite into the mag-
netic products coincided well with its magnetic suscep-
tibility. Without the roasting treatment, only about 10%
of the ilmenite reported to the magnetic product at this
low magnetic field intensity (the magnetic susceptibility Fig. 6. Yield of ilmenite into the magnetic product as a function of
of the ilmenite is 2:18  106 m3 /kg). An increase in the roasting temperature. The magnetic separation was performed with a
Frantz Isodynamic Separator and the electric current was set at 0.15 A
magnetic susceptibility resulted in a significant increase
(magnetic field intensity: 0.12 T).
in the recovery. The maximum recovery reached 90% at

the maximum magnetic susceptibility of 5:5  105 m3 /kg.

Fig. 4. Magnetic susceptibility of oxidation roasted ilmenite as a
function of the peak intensity ratio between hematite and ilmenite.
Similarly, a decrease in the magnetic susceptibility re-
sulted in a sharp drop in the recovery. At the lowest
magnetic susceptibility of 4  107 m3 /kg, the recovery
was at the lowest point of about 2–5%.
However, when the electric current was set at 0.3 A
(the corresponding magnetic field intensity was 0.24 T),
the recovery of the un-roasted ilmenite into the magnetic
product increased to about 90%. An increase in the
magnetic susceptibility did not result in a further in-
crease in the recovery. However, when the magnetic
susceptibility decreased, the recovery dropped sharply
(Figs. 7 and 8).
Clearly, with a magnetic susceptibility of 2:18  106
m3 /kg, the ilmenite cannot be recovered by magnetic
concentrators at a field intensity of 0.12 T. Any increase
in its magnetic susceptibility is beneficial to its recovery
 Z. Cui et al. / Minerals Engineering 15 (2002) 1121–1129
Fig. 7. Yield of ilmenite into the magnetic product as a function of
roasting time. The magnetic separation was performed with a Frantz
Isodynamic Separator and the electric current was set at 0.3 A (mag-
netic field intensity: 0.24 T).
Fig. 8. Yield of ilmenite into the magnetic product as a function of
roasting temperature. The magnetic separation was performed with a
Frantz Isodynamic Separator and the electric current was set at 0.3 A
(magnetic field intensity: 0.24 T).
at this low field intensity. On the other hand, if the
magnetic field intensity increases to 0.24 T, the ilmenite
can be recovered, and any decrease in its magnetic sus-
ceptibility will sharply reduce the recovery.
3.2. Effect of roasting on the magnetic properties of
hematite
The magnetizing roast (reduction roast) of hematite
has been studied extensively. Uwadiale (1992) recently
gave a thorough review and concluded that although the
roles of temperature, particle size, coal/ore ratio, and
catalysts or inhibitors are well established, the mecha-
nism and kinetics of the magnetizing reduction process
remain unsolved due to the porous nature of the re-
duction products. There are two schools of thought: (1)
those that propose solid-state diffusion of iron ions
1125
through the oxide layers as the rate-determining step
(Edstrom, 1953; Edstrom and Bitsianes, 1955), and (2)
those that propose reductant gas diffusing through the
porous hematite and/or products as the rate-limiting
step (McKewan, 1958, 1960, 1962a,b; Warner, 1964,
Turkdogan and Vinters, 1971; Turkdogan et al., 1971).
Critical reviews on the mechanism of iron ore reduction
are given by Bradshaw (1970), Iwu (1977), and Iwasaki
and Prasad (1989).
The nature of the reduction products is dictated by
the roasting conditions. Bitsianes and Joseph (1953)
identified four phases (iron, wustite, magnetite and he-
matite) in samples partially reduced in hydrogen at 650
and 850 °C, and three phases (iron, magnetite, and he-
matite) in samples reduced at 500 °C. Stephens et al.
(1953) observed that if artificial magnetite was quenched
in air at temperatures above 500 °C, the magnetite was
re-oxidized to weakly magnetic hematite, but if the
temperature was below 500 °C the magnetic properties
remain unaffected. At the lower temperatures, the
magnetite was re-oxidized to c-Fe2 O3 , a highly magnetic
material called maghemite. Uwadiale and Whewell
(1988) reported that a hematite was progressively con-
verted into magnetite, wustite and metallic iron when
temperature was increased during reduction roasting.
Magnetite (Fe2 O3
FeO), the most magnetic mineral,
contains a blend of Fe2 O3 and FeO phases which may
have contributed to its high magnetic susceptibility. One
of the common constituents in the oil sands tailings of
Alberta, Canada, i.e., leucoxene (xFe2 O3
yTiO2 ), has
only the Fe2 O3 phases which may be the reason for its
relatively low magnetic susceptibility. If this is the case,
then reduction roasting of the oil sands tailings would
convert some of the Fe2 O3 phases in leucoxene into
FeO, making the leucoxene more magnetic and there-
fore easier to separate from rutile using magnetic sepa-
ration.
The magnetic susceptibility of the hematite (Fe2 O3 )
sample used in this work, measured at 0:95  106 m3 /
kg, is lower than that of the ilmenite sample (2:18  106
m3 /kg). Hematite contains ferric irons and cannot be
oxidized further. In fact, oxidation roasting of hematite
did not change its magnetic susceptibility. Therefore,
roasting of hematite was mostly performed in a reducing
atmosphere.
Figs. 9–13 show the magnetic susceptibility of he-
matite after being roasted for different time periods at
different temperatures and charcoal dosages. Similar to
ilmenite, a temperature of 500 °C seems to be a critical
value, below which the magnetic susceptibility of the
hematite only increased slightly even after prolonged
heating. At temperatures above 500 °C, the magnetic
susceptibility increased significantly, and reached that of
magnetite at 800 or 1000 °C, at both a low (1:10) and
high charcoal dosage (1:5) (Fig. 9). The difference in the
magnetic properties at the two charcoal dosages is that
1126 Z. Cui et al. / Minerals Engineering 15 (2002) 1121–1129
Fig. 9. Magnetic susceptibility of hematite as a function of roasting
time. Charcoal and hematite were blended at a ratio of 1:5.
Fig. 10. Magnetic susceptibility of hematite as a function of roasting
time. Charcoal and hematite were blended at a ratio of 1:10.
Fig. 11. Comparison of reduction roasting of hematite at different
charcoal dosages. Charcoal and hematite were blended at a ratio of
either 1:5 or 1:10.
the magnetic susceptibility of the hematite started to
drop after a long heating at the low dosage, whereas at
Fig. 12. Magnetic susceptibility of hematite as a function of roasting
temperature. Charcoal and hematite were blended at a ratio of 1:5.
Fig. 13. Magnetic susceptibility of hematite as a function of roasting
temperature. Charcoal and hematite were blended at a ratio of 1:10.
the high dosage it did not (Fig. 11). This seemed to in-
dicate that at the low dosage, the charcoal may have
been completely consumed after prolonged heating and
the partially reduced hematite started to re-oxidize. In
fact, during the tests, it was observed that there was no
charcoal left after more than 30 min of heating at the
low charcoal dosage of 1:10.
Figs. 12 and 13 show the magnetic susceptibility of
hematite as a function of roasting temperature. They
again indicate that the lower limit of temperature was
about 500 °C. X-ray diffraction analysis of the reduced
hematite shows that some of the hematite phases have
been changed into maghemite (c-Fe2 O3 ), resulting in
significant increase in magnetic susceptibility. In fact,
Fig. 14 shows that there is a good correlation between
the magnetic susceptibility of the roasted hematite and
the peak intensity ratio corresponding to maghemite and
hematite.
 Z. Cui et al. / Minerals Engineering 15 (2002) 1121–1129
Fig. 14. Magnetic susceptibility of reduction roasted hematite as a
function of peak intensity ratio between maghemite and hematite.
3.3. Effect of roasting on the separation of LR rutile
Since the LR Rutile contained large percentages of
leucoxene (xFe2 O3
yTiO2 ), with only a small amount of
rutile (anatase), it is expected that reduction roasting
should increase the magnetic susceptibility of the leu-
coxene and facilitate its removal by magnetic separation.
Table 1 shows the magnetic susceptibility of the LR
Rutile after either oxidation or reduction roasting. Both
were conducted at 800 °C for 30 min. In reduction
roasting, charcoal was blended with the LR Rutile at a
weight ratio of 1:10. As can been seen, the magnetic
susceptibility of the LR Rutile dropped from
0:46  106 m3 /kg to 0:13  106 m3 /kg after oxidation
roasting, and increased to 0:58  106 m3 /kg after re-
duction roasting.
The LR Rutile was also separated on the Frantz
Isodynamic Separator at 0.5 A (0.4 T), and the magnetic
susceptibility of both the magnetic fraction and the non-
magnetic fraction was measured. As can been seen from
Table 1, while the magnetic susceptibility of the non-
magnetic fraction was low and unchanged, that of the
magnetic fraction nearly doubled after reduction roast-
ing.
Separation of the LR Rutile (with or without roast-
ing) was performed with the Frantz Isodynamic Sepa-
rator in the current range of 0.3–1.9 A (0.22–1.2 T). The
Fe2 O3 and TiO2 content in the non-magnetic product
Table 1
Magnetic susceptibility of the LR Rutile
Treatment Condition
Original sample
Oxidation roasting 800 °C, 30 min
Reduction roasting 800 °C, 30 min, charcoal:rutile ¼ 1:10
1127
Fig. 15. Fe2 O3 and TiO2 content in the non-magnetic product as a
function of magnetic field intensity. The non-magnetic product was
obtained from separating the LR Rutile with a Frantz Isodynamic
Separator.
(which is the rutile concentrate) was assayed and ex-
pressed as a function of magnetic field intensity of the
separator. The results are shown in Fig. 15. Obviously,
reduction roasting of the LR Rutile (at 800 °C for 30
min with charcoal) produced a non-magnetic product
with low Fe2 O3 content and high TiO2 assays. However,
this beneficial effect was only observed in the low mag-
netic field intensity range of up to 0.67 T. When the
magnetic field intensity was above about 0.67 T, the
Fe2 O3 content in the non-magnetic product stayed low
at about 1%, and the TiO2 assay stayed at about 87%
whether the sample was roasted or not.
Fig. 16 shows that after grinding the LR Rutile so
that the percentage of particles passing 74 lm increased
from 3% to 59%, the Fe2 O3 content could not be sig-
nificantly reduced by magnetic separation. In fact, the
figure shows that the significant size reduction did not
benefit the Fe2 O3 removal as much as reduction roast-
ing. This suggests that the poor separation between ru-
tile and leucoxene in the LR Rutile concentrate is not a
problem of liberation but rather a problem of the low
magnetic susceptibility of the contaminating leucoxene.
The Athabasca oil sands are known to contain large
percentages of altered ilmenite (leucoxene) (Coward
and Oxenford, 1997). It is also known that the LR
Rutile had gone through a roasting process at 550 °C
(Oxenford et al., 2001) to remove the residual bitumen.
Magnetic susceptibility  106 m3 /kg
After treatment After separation at 0.4 T
Magnetic fraction Non-magnetic fraction
0.46 0.66 0.05
0.13 0.16 0.03
0.58 1.15 0.05
1128 Z. Cui et al. / Minerals Engineering 15 (2002) 1121–1129
µ
µ
Fig. 16. Fe2 O3 content in the non-magnetic product after different pre-
treatment of the LR Rutile.
However, it is not clear if the roasting process further
converted any remaining ferrous iron in the oil sands
tailings into ferric and lowered the magnetic suscepti-
bilities of the Fe-bearing minerals, or if the Fe-bearing
minerals in the oil sands had a low magnetic suscepti-
bility from the start. If the former is the case, then
possibility of removing the residual bitumen at tempe-
ratures lower than 500 °C can be studied since at these
temperatures the magnetic properties of the minerals
will not be affected. If, however, the Fe-bearing titanium
minerals in the original oil sands have low magnetic
susceptibilities, then either a low intensity magnetic
separation following reduction roasting, or a direct high
intensity magnetic separation, can be performed to
achieve the separation. Testwork along this line is cur-
rently being conducted in our laboratory on the original
oil sands tailings.
4. Conclusions
The magnetic properties and the magnetic separation
behavior of ilmenite, hematite and a rutile sample (LR
Rutile) produced from Athabasca oil sands tailings were
studied and the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Oxidation roasting increased the magnetic suscepti-
bility of ilmenite within the temperature range of
500–1000 °C. Below 500 °C, the magnetic suscepti-
bility was not affected by roasting. Above 1000 °C,
roasting caused a sharp reduction in its magnetic sus-
ceptibility.
2. Within the temperature range of 500–1000 °C, the
magnetic susceptibility of ilmenite usually increased
with the progress of oxidation roasting, reached a
maximum, then dropped sharply. The time period
to reach the maximum depended on the temperature,
and was shorter at higher temperatures.
3. X-ray diffraction analyses showed that hematite (a-
Fe2 O3 ) was the new phase formed during oxidation
roasting of ilmenite. The highest magnetic suscepti-
bility was obtained when the peak intensity ratio be-
tween hematite and ilmenite was between 1.5 and 3.5.
4. Reduction roasting of the ilmenite using charcoal as a
reducing agent at 800 °C increased its magnetic
susceptibility significantly, and the magnitude of the
increase was higher than oxidation roasting. X-ray
diffraction analyses show that some of the ilmenite
phases have been changed into strongly magnetic ma-
ghemite (c-Fe2 O3 ).
5. Oxidation roasting did not change the magnetic sus-
ceptibility of hematite, and reduction roasting signi-
ficantly increased its magnetic susceptibility. The
extent of the increase depended on the tempe-
rature, roasting time and charcoal dosages. At 800
or 1000 °C, the magnetic susceptibility of hematite
reached that of magnetite after 30 min of roasting
with a charcoal:hematite ratio of either 1:10 or 1:5.
X-ray diffraction analyses show that some of the he-
matite had transformed into maghemite.
6. Reduction roasting of the LR Rutile resulted in an in-
crease in its magnetic susceptibility. It was found that
the increase was mainly due to the presence of leucox-
ene, a dominant component in LR Rutile.
7. Upgrading of the LR Rutile was possible by using
magnetic separation. With a low intensity magnetic
separator (field intensity below 0.67 T), reduction
roasting of the sample improved the separation.
However, when a high intensity magnetic separator
was used, the separation could be achieved without
the need for reduction roasting. The separation
seemed to only depend on the magnetic field intensity
or the magnetic susceptibility, and liberation was not
a limiting factor.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the financial support
provided to this project by the Alberta Energy Research
Institute and by Syncrude Canada Ltd. We also appre-
ciate the valuable advice from and discussions with Mr.
John Oxenford and Mr. Julian Coward during the
course of this project.
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