Dear All
I have been doing the petrography of spoil and in situ material from an IA
iron mine in the Alps but have been asked to comment on the suitability of
the ore for iron manufacture- there is a smelting site associated with the
mines so they must have been ore.
Anyway the main mineralogy is very simple, limonite (40 -60wt % Fe2O3) plus
barite (1-16+ wt % BaO) but also 1 -2 wt % ZnO, as
smithsonite/hydrozincite;
<1 wt % Pb as cerussite/galena;
0.5 wt % As2O3,(The Gods knows where) a few % silica -no Cao, MnO almost
no MgO.
The ore is a gossan from a zinc-lead sulphide occurrence in dolomitic
carbonates.
Would the high S be a problem? Or could they beneficiate out the barite-
some of the limonite is pretty free of barite and baryte occurs in thin
veins and knots. Is the As or Zn a problem?
Any comments would help I only want a short paragraph. Any similar ores
that
you know of worked in the late IA??
Cheers
Rob. ixer
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