Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation

Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Merkle, R.K.W. (Roland Karl Willi), 1954-
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613581535608832
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Merkle, R.K.W. (Roland Karl Willi), 1954-
author_browse Merkle, R.K.W. (Roland Karl Willi), 1954-
author_facet Merkle, R.K.W. (Roland Karl Willi), 1954-
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/27360
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:38:25.653Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/27360 Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation Merkle, R.K.W. (Roland Karl Willi), 1954- lanie@gam.co.za Gryffenberg, Lelanie Nepheline syenite franspoort Crusher sand Cullinan South africa UCTD Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. Mamelodi Quarries, which currently mine the Franspoort nepheline syenite, produces aggregate and crusher sand for the local building industry. The mine is located northeast of Pretoria, South Africa on the road to Cullinan. The aim of this study is to investigate the use of the Franspoort nepheline syenite as an alumina and alkali resource for the glass and ceramics industry at Mamelodi Quarries, and to evaluate the production of a concentrate of zircon and rare earth elements as economic by-products. International standards require a nepheline product with a ferric oxide content of less than 0.35 weight percent. The Franspoort nepheline syenite contains 3.37 weight percent of ferric oxide. The iron-containing minerals present are aegirine, aegirine-augite, magnetite, ilmenite and pyrite. The removal of iron-bearing minerals was attempted by high-intensity wet magnetic separation, low-intensity dry magnetic separation, spiral gravity separation, and heavy liquid separation to produce a saleable nepheline product. This product is the cleaned final concentrate, of the different separation tests, which contains the lowest iron concentration for application in the glass and ceramic industry. The mineral assemblage was determined with a petrographic study as well as X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analyses. Material from the different separation tests was analysed with X-ray fluorescence to obtain the chemical composition and to evaluate the final iron content of the nepheline product. The dry magnetic separation method produced the best results. The nepheline product has a ferric oxide content of 0.68 weight percent compared to the starting concentration of 3.37 weight percent. The ferric oxide concentration is, however, above the accepted levels for the glass and ceramics industry. The ferric oxide content is attributed to small iron-rich mineral inclusions, which are locked in feldspar and nepheline. The final nepheline product is not suitable for the use in the glass and ceramic industry. Zircon was concentrated the best by the use of heavy liquid separation. Zircon is in most cases locked in the minerals albite, microcline, and nepheline. The rare earth elements are mostly associated with zircon and fluorite and therefore it will not be viable to produce it as a by-product. Copyright Geology unrestricted 2013-09-07T11:16:10Z 2010-08-18 2013-09-07T11:16:10Z 2010-04-16 2010-08-18 2010-08-18 Dissertation Gryffenberg, L 2010, Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation, MSc dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27360 > E10/422/gm http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27360 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-08182010-124548/ © 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Nepheline syenite franspoort
Crusher sand
Cullinan
South africa
UCTD
Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation
title Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation
title_full Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation
title_fullStr Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation
title_full_unstemmed Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation
title_short Mineralogical investigation of the Nepheline syenite Franspoort, South Africa for beneficiation
title_sort mineralogical investigation of the nepheline syenite franspoort south africa for beneficiation
topic Nepheline syenite franspoort
Crusher sand
Cullinan
South africa
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27360
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-08182010-124548/