Which ore contains iron

IMX Resources in drilled their Tomahawk prospect, and confirmed the source of the magnetic anomaly as a magnetite-bearing BIF. The Ooldea prospect lies on a magnetic anomaly associated with the Karari Fault Zone. The magnetic signature of the Karari Fault persists discontinuously for km to the northeast. Braemar ironstone facies occurs as a stratigraphic package of magnetite-rich ironstone associated with diamictite and is located in the Nackara Arc region of the Adelaide Geosyncline.

The rock has been described as 'Rapitan'-type BIF i. Its iron ore potential was assessed in the early s at the Razorback Ridge prospect. Since then several companies have entered into exploration for iron ore in the region including that part of the Braemar over the border in NSW , with most ground now held under tenure. Considerable exploration and resource drilling has been completed.

In September five companies had identified resources of 7. There are exploration targets for an additional 3 billion tonne, with potential for significant additional resources. Truly the Braemar Iron Ore province is one of the most significant iron ore resources to emerge in recent times. In the Mount Woods Inlier large accumulations of magnetite-rich metasomatite are evident, and beneath a moderate thickness of cover sediment from a few metres to maximum m.

Resource drilling by them identified a further resource of Mtonne at Indeed the Mount Woods Inlier — Hawks Nest regions have emerged as a major iron ore province in their own right, with potential for considerable addition to defined resources, and with as yet untapped potential in the neighbouring Coober Pedy Ridge region to the west, and also south at Giffen Well and other resources near Tarcoola.

The Agery prospect has intervals of massive black magnetite were reported below a deeply weathered basement. The polymetallic nature of these rocks, i.

There is a zone extending for some km along the eastern margin of the Gawler Craton, which includes large accumulations of iron oxide generally accepted to be of hydrothermal origin. The most well known example is Olympic Dam, which contains significant volumes of hematite-rich rock. The iron-rich rocks are not considered to be an economic resource. About us Initiatives Contact us Petroleum Geothermal. Minerals home Invest Minerals industry value chain Key industry indicators Industry news Mineral commodities.

Updated Mining Acts and Regulations Legislation and guidance Best practice regulation Tenement information Exploration data releases Exploration licensing Exploration activities Exploration reporting Forms and lodgement Fees and calculators Public notices Mineral exploration in South Australia Fossicking. The immense iron range in the Labrador peninsula about miles in length has begun to produce high grade hematite from open pits, and in time will rival the famous Mesabi range in Minnesota.

At Steep Rock Lake in northwestern Ontario hematite of similarly high grade is being mined from deposits that stand vertical, having been formed by replacement of the rock along a contact of volcanics with crystalline limestone. Iron formation consists of iron ore such as siderite, magnetite, and hematite, with silica in the form of chert, jasper, etc.

The bands of iron ore are at times high-grade, but are often mixed with a good deal of silica, the whole making an ore too lean for use without concentration.

Iron formation is believed to be of sedimentary origin. In Ontario three epochs of deposition are known:. There are some expressions in common use in discussing these formations which it will be well to define:.

The ore-bodies, consisting of hematite and limonite, with sometimes a little magnetite, have been formed by two distinct processes:. Only one deposit of the second kind has so far been found in Ontario, that at Loon Lake, east of Port Arthur.

In the United States, they have been found mostly in hilly regions and toward the bottom of the slopes. Another common condition is a tight trough, or basin, formed by the iron formation and an intruding dike.

Important ore-bodies have been found that were completely without, or almost without, outcrop, in some cases being covered by slate.

The hematite is sometimes mixed with enough magnetite to make possible a discovery by means of a magnetic survey. As a general rule metals are extracted from mineral ores. In many cases these are not present as pure metal, but in the form of compounds which contain both the metal sought and a range of other chemical elements.

One example is copper. It can be observed that most of the ores have S contents that are within the acceptable levels for the commercial ores. According to the obtained results of chemical analysis, it should be pointed out that the S and P contents in iron ores from the Muko deposit are significantly lower compared to those of the other ores.

This includes the high-grade iron ores from Brazil. Thus, Muko ores are within the general acceptable levels for commercial iron ores. It can thus serve well as a raw material for iron production. According to the comparison analysis, the quality of most iron ores from Muko deposit is comparable with the best iron ores from Brazil and corresponds to the world high-grade ores which can be profitably exported. The microstructures and the distribution of the impurities within the matrix of iron ores from the six hills of Muko deposit were investigated and analysed by using light optical microscopy LOM and scanning electron microscopy SEM.

Optical examination of microstructures of iron ores show generally crystalline platy structure with fibres and granular structure. The grey hematite matrix structure contains dark inclusions which are believed to be concentrations of the impurities in the ore. Although the chemical composition of iron ores from most hills is similar, the observed microstructures of these ore samples have significant differences.

Typical micrographs of the samples and qualitative evaluation of the structure in the different Muko iron ores are given in Table 4.

The various shapes of microstructure were classified into six categories. It can be observed in Table 4 that the Type 1 microstructure is almost pure grey hematite matrix with small amounts of small size dark inclusions. Type 2 has mainly a grey crystalline platy structure with some area of fibrous texture. The dark impurity inclusions are located between crystalline plates and have a chaotic arrangement in the ore matrix. The microstructure of Type 3 also contains the grey crystalline platy structure.

However, the length of plates on average is significantly smaller in comparison with those found in the Type 2 microstructure.

Moreover, the neighbouring crystalline plates have approximately the same direction in the matrix. In this case, Type 3 looks as a very fine structure.

In addition, Types 4 and 5 microstructures contain mainly the granular structure. The dark impurity inclusions are located at the grain boundaries and within grains. It should be pointed out that the Muko iron ores contain different microstructure types in varying amounts.

The iron ores from the different hills have differing shapes of microstructure. As follows from Table 4 , the ore samples Ug3 c and Ug4 e exhibit generally the Types 1 and 2 microstructure, respectively, with a relatively low number of impurity inclusions. It is interesting to note that these samples have the highest content of total Fe The microstructure of Ug 1 sample a consists mostly of a fine structure Types 3 and 4.

The sample Ug2 b has various shapes of structures, which includes mainly the larger grains of hematite with dark inclusions Type 5 and fine crystalline platy structures Type 3. The ore samples Ug5 f and Ug6 d have a relatively large area with large irregular Type 5 and layer-shaped Type 6 dark inclusions within the structure.

These samples, particularly Ug6 sample from Kashenyi hill, have the highest gangue content as observed from the chemical analysis. The differences in the microstructure of the ore samples from the different hills of Muko deposit may be explained by the different natural conditions that prevailed during the formation of the ore [ 19 ].

To determine the composition of the main observed phases, a quantitative point analysis of the different zones in various types of microstructures was made in samples Ug2 b , Ug5 f , and Ug6 d.

The different phases that appear in these samples were identified in all the six iron ores. The location of the analysed zones and determined content of basic elements are shown in Table 5. The discovered impuritiy elements were Si, Al, and K.

Although the structure of Zones 1 to 3 are different, the point analysis of these grain zones shows practically a pure Fe matrix with a very low content of Si 0. The contents of Si and Al increase in the boundary between the matrix grains Zone 5 up to 2. Zones 4, 6, and 7 correlate with the largest dark impurity inclusions observed in Types 6 and 5 microstructures, respectively.

These spots appear darker than the other phases. Finally, it can be concluded that the results obtained from investigation of different microstructures and composition analysis of the various phases in iron ores of Muko deposit agree very well with the data of chemical compositions of these ores. The typical results of X-ray diffraction analysis of iron ores from the different hills of Muko deposit are shown in Figure 4.

According to obtained results of X-ray diffraction analysis, it can be safely suggested that all ore samples from Muko deposit were observed to be mainly of a hematitic nature.

Moreover, most hematite deposits require little beneficiation and can be direct-shippable ore DSO. The chemical composition and microstructure of raw iron ore from the six hills of Muko deposit Uganda were investigated. According to the obtained results of X-ray diffraction analysis, it can be concluded that all ore samples from Muko deposit were found to be mainly of a hematitic nature.

It was also found that although the chemical composition of these ores is almost the same, the microstructures have significant differences. More specifically, they depend on the various natural conditions that prevailed during the formation of these ores. The results obtained from the investigations of area fractions of different microstructures and from composition analysis of various phases in iron ores of Muko deposit agree well with the data of chemical compositions of these ores.

Iron ore from five hills contains more than This is regarded as high-grade iron ore and compares well with other iron ores from the main iron ore producing nations. The silica and alumina contents of these ores are also below 1.