Ilgin Kursun

Investigation of recovery possibilities of rutile minerals from the feldspar tailings with gravity separation methods

In feldspar processing, flotation beneficiation tailings that containing high ratio of titanium minerals emerge at a considerable amount as a result of beneficiation of feldspar reserves with high TiO2 content due to required specifications by global feldspar market. Recovery of titanium minerals from these tailings which can be evaluated as alternative TiO2 resources is an important research topic as they have an important economic potential in terms of unexploited values. Within the scope of this study tailing samples have been taken from a privately owned flotation facility which is operating in Mugla Turkey in order to characterization and investigation of recovery possibilities of titanium minerals from feldspar tailings. Physical, chemical and mineralogical characterization studies and laboratory scaled beneficiation tests with gravity methods have been conducted on these samples. Effects of some parameters on efficiency of beneficiation have been investigated within the scope of beneficiation tests carried out with shaking table and multi gravity separator. As a result of characterization studies, it was determined that feed sample contains TiO2 at the rate of 1.90% and TiO2 content is associated to rutile mineral to a large extent. As a result of beneficiation tests; a concentrate that containing 11.26% TiO2 with a 50.43% rate of recovery were obtained in the shaking table tests and a concentrate that containing 17.11% TiO2 with a 89.33% rate of recovery were obtained in the MGS tests by using optimum conditions. In consideration of results obtained it is presented that gravity methods are able to be used as method of a pre-beneficiation in the recovery of titanium minerals from feldspar tailings.

Report for SWEMP2016/CAMI2016

‘16th International Symposium on Environmental Issues and Waste Management in Energy and Mineral Production (Swemp2016)’ and ‘6th International Conference on Computer Applications in the Minerals Industries (CAMI2016)’ symposiums were taken place in Istanbul, Turkey from 05–07 October 2016. Total of 93 delegates have attended to the symposiums which provided excellent international forum for sharing knowledge and expertise for students, researchers and industry. Total of 124 scientific papers (68 in SWEMP2016 and 56 in CAMI2016) were published in the symposium proceedings.

HCl leaching behaviour of a bastnasite ore in terms of thorium and rare earth elements

Today, nuclear energy is considered as one of the most important energy sources. Thorium (Th) is also very important for nuclear energy because it can exist in nature spontaneously just as uranium (U) without depending on presence of another radioactive element. As plutonium and other trans-uranium elements are produced in lesser amounts compared to U in Th fuel cycle, Th is considered as the cleanest nuclear plant fuel. Bastnasite is one of the minerals which Th can be economically obtained. Bastnasite (Ce, La)FCO3, which is a rare earth fluorocarbonate, contains approximately 0.2–0.3% Th and 75% rare earth oxides. Within the scope of this study, dissolution behaviour of Th and rare earth element (REE) contents present in the bastnasite ores which is obtained from Eskisehir region of Turkey, with HCl leaching method was examined. In this context, the effects of different leaching parameters such as leaching time, HCl concentration and pulp temperature on Th and REE (Ce, Nd, La) dissolution efficiency and the best results have been obtained in the conditions of 5.48 M of HCl dosage, 220 min. of leach time and 70°C pulp temperature. In these optimum conditions, Th, Ce, Nd and La were obtained with dissolution efficiencies of 80.12, 77.12, 70.12 and 71.13%, respectively.