TITLE:
Enrichment of Cobalt Values by Dry Magnetic Separation from Low-Grade Manganese Ores of Bonai-Keonjhar Belt, Orissa
AUTHORS:
P. P. Mishra, B. K. Mohapatra, P. P. Singh
KEYWORDS:
Orissa Manganese ore, Magnetic separation, Cobalt.
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering,
Vol.8 No.4,
April
20,
2009
ABSTRACT: Resource potential of cobalt in India is practically negligible. Cobalt in marine manganese
nodule though known since long, its report from terrestrial manganese ore is least observed. This
paper reports the occurrence of cobalt in low-grade manganese ores of Bonai-Keonjhar belt,
Orissa, eastern India and describes methods for its possible enrichment. Cobalt is associated with
manganese minerals like lithiophorite (~CoO: 1.2%) and cryptomelane (~CoO: 0.2%). A feed of
low-grade siliceous manganese ore containing 26% Mn and 32% SiO2 and 0.08% Co was subjected to physical beneficiation. By processing the low-grade siliceous ore on a dry belt
magnetic separator, a product with 47% Mn at 60% recovery could be obtained. It was observed
that along with manganese the cobalt value gets enriched (~Co: 0.38%) more than four times in
comparison to the feed. Some other traces like Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Li etc. also get enriched in the
magnetic product. Thus, through simple dry magnetic separation a low-valued material cannot
only be converted to usable product but two valuable metals can also be recovered from it.