PL EN
New approach for the ores add-value. Case study: the physical beneficiation of white sand in El-Harra area, Bahariya Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt
 
More details
Hide details
1
Nuclear Materials Authority
 
 
Corresponding author
Mona Mohamed Fawzy   

Nuclear Materials Authority
 
 
Mining Science 2023;30:183-208
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Integration of the remote sensing techniques including the thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER) thermal infrared (TIR) data, and the silica index (SI) algorithms have enabled the discovery of a previously unknown white sand deposit in the El-Harra region of the Bahariya Oasis. Characterization of El-Harra sand was achieved using the binocular microscope, X-Ray Diffraction , X-Ray Fluorescence and Scanning Electron Microscopy . The sample was beneficiated using attrition scrubbing, gravity and magnetic separation. The chemical and size analysis before and after physical treatment pointed to clear enhancing in both the chemical and size specifications, where the oxide ratios of SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3 and CaO moved from 96.87, 0.82, 0.13 and 1.27% to 99.53, 0.05, 0.05 and 0.13% respectively. On the other hand, the ratio of grain size (- 0.5/ + 0.125 mm) was raised from 79.48% to 82.04% from the total sample weight. Comparing these data with their corresponding in both British and American Standard Specifications of White Sand confirmed the validity of the physical beneficiation in raising the grade from low valuable ore to the globally highest one which means higher marketing prices and availability to use the treated white sand in a wide spectrum of technological applications. Furthermore, the heavy minerals content and species is another add value, where their content was assigned as 0.3 mass% from the head sample including ilmenite, rutile, zircon, leucoxene and green silicates. This simply means each 1000 tons of beneficiated white sand yield 3 tons of the heavy minerals.
 
REFERENCES (30)
1.
ABOUELRESH M.O., EL-NADY H., EL-SHAZLY M., 2007, Sequence stratigraphy and paleogeographic significance of the Bahariya Formation, El-Harra area, northern Western Desert, Egypt, Journal of African Earth Sciences, 48 (1), 34–47.
 
2.
AFIFY A.M., SANZ-MONTERO M.E., CALVO J.P., WANAS H.A., 2015, Diagenetic origin of iron-stone crusts in the Lower Cenomanian Bahariya Formation, Bahariya Depression, Western De-sert, Egypt, Journal of African Earth Sciences, 101, 333–349.
 
3.
AHMED A., 2011, Mineralogy and geochemistry of the barite-bearing deposits in the Alem El-Shellef area, Bahariya Oasis, Egypt, Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 4 (5–6), 853–860.
 
4.
ALI H.F., GHONEIM S.M., 2022, Satellite-based silica mapping as an essential mineral for clean energy transition: Remote sensing mineral exploration as a climate change adaptation approach, Journal of African Earth Sciences, Vol. 196, p. 104683.
 
5.
AY N., ARICA E., 2000, Refining Istanbul’s silica sand, www.Ceramicbulletin.org, August 06.
 
6.
BHATTACHARYA S., DAS S., 1994, Beneficiation of Glass Sand – A Review, Transactions of the Indian Ceramic Society, 53, 2, 25–32, DOI: 10.1080/0371750X.1994.10804626.
 
7.
BOUSSAA S., KHELOUFI A., ZAOURAR N., 2018, Sand Dune Characterization for Preparing Metallurgical Grade Silicon, Open Chem., 16, 1227–1232.
 
8.
British Standard Institution, 1988, Specification for sand for making colorless glasses, BS 2975, UK.
 
9.
EL AGAMI N.L., ABD EL WAHED A.A., HAROUN Y.E., 2005, Mineralogy, geochemistry and origin of aluminum phosphate-sulfate minerals in G. El Hefuf, Baharyia Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt. The 4th International Conference on the Geology of Africa, Vol. 2, 269–292.
 
10.
EL AKKAD S.E., ISSAWI B., 1963, Geology and iron ore deposits of Bahariya Oasis, Geol. Surv. Egypt, 18, 300 p.
 
11.
EL SHARKAWI M.A., EL FIQUI A., EL ALFY M.A., 2006, Mineralogy and geochemistry of the Bahariya iron ores, Western Desert, Egypt, Asian Journal of Earth Sciences, 29 (4), 465–474.
 
12.
EL-ARABY H.A., EL-METWALLY A.I., ABDEL-RAOUF M.M., 2007, Reservoir characterization of Middle-Late Cretaceous Bahariya Formation, northern Western Desert, Egypt, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 56 (1), 36–52.
 
13.
EL-ZALAKY M.A., ESMAIL E.M., EL ARAFY R.A., 2018, Assessment of Band Ratios and Feature-oriented principal component selection (FPCS) Techniques for iron oxides mapping with relation to radioactivity using Landsat 8 at Bahariya Oasis, Egypt, Researcher, 10 (4).
 
14.
FARMER A.D., COLLINGS A.F., JAMESON G.J., 2000, The application of power ultrasound to the surface cleaning of silica and heavy mineral sands, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 7, 243–247.
 
15.
HAROUN Y.S., RASLAN M.F., 2010, Occurrence of barite mineralization in Bahariya Depression, Western Desert, Egypt, Physicochem. Probl. Miner. Process., 41–52.
 
16.
HASSAN M.A., 2004, Dinosaur discoveries in the Bahariya Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt, Münchner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. Reihe A: Geologie und Paläontologie, 47, 135–149.
 
17.
IBRAHIM N., SERENO P.C., DAL SASSO C., MAGANUCO S., FABBRI M., MARTILL D.M., ZOUHRI S., 2014, Semiaquatic adaptations in a giant predatory dinosaur, Science, 345 (6204), 1613–1616.
 
18.
MORSY M.A., 1987, Geology and radioactivity of Late Cretaceous–Tertiary sediments in the North-ern Western Desert, Egypt, PhD Thesis, Fac. Sci., Mansoura Univ., Egypt, 351.
 
19.
NINOMIYA Y., FU B., CUDAHY T.J., 2005, Detecting lithology with Advanced Spaceborne Ther-mal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) multispectral thermal infrared “radiance-at-sensor” data, Remote Sensing of Environment, 99, 127–139.
 
20.
NICHOLSON K., SHARDLOW M., 2017, Industrial minerals of the United States, US Geological Survey.
 
21.
NIGUSSIE A., DEMISSE T., GETANEH W., 2023, Industrial properties and uses of silica sand from Blue Nile Basin, Central Ethiopia, Arab. J. Geosci. 16, 213, http://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-....
 
22.
NORTON F.H., 1957, Elements of ceramics, Addision-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., Reading, Massa-chusetts.
 
23.
ODEWALE I.O., AJALA L.O., TSE D.T., 2013, Characterizaton of Unwana Beach Silica Sand and its Industrial Applications, IJSID, 3 (1), 93–100.
 
24.
POPA F., MARINCA T.F., NEAMT U.B.V., GABOR M., CHICINA S.I., 2022, Structural, Chemical and Magnetic Characterization of Quartz Sand from Cluj Area, Romania for Future Beneficiation in the Glass Industry, Materials, 15, 9026, https://doi.org/10.3390/ma1524....
 
25.
ROCKWELL B.W., HOFSTRA A.H., 2008, Identification of quartz and carbonate minerals across northern Nevada using ASTER thermal infrared emissivity data – Implications for geologic map-ping and mineral resource investigations in well-studied and frontier areas, Geosphere, Vol. 4, No. 1, 218–246.
 
26.
SAID R., ISSAWI B., 1964, Geology of the northern plateau, Bahariya Oasis, Egypt, Ann. Geol. Surv. Egypt, 29, 41.
 
27.
SALLAM H.M., SEIFFERT E.R., DAHIA I.S., AMER E.S., EL-DAWOUDI I.A., 2018, New Egyptian sauropod reveals Late Cretaceous dinosaur dispersal between Europe and Africa, Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2 (3), 445–451.
 
28.
SALLAM H.M., GORSCAK E., O’CONNOR P.M., EL-DAWOUDI I., EL-SAYED S., SABER S., GINGERICH P.D., 2020, A new deinonychosaurian track from the Bahariya Formation (Early Cenomanian) of Egypt, Journal of African Earth Sciences, 166, 103898.
 
29.
TAXIARCHAOU M., PANIAS D., DOUNI I., PASPALIARIS I., KONTOPOULOS A., 1997, Removal of iron from silica sand by leaching with oxalic acid, Hydrometallurgy, 46, pp. 215–227.
 
30.
WILLS B.A., 2016, Mineral processing technology, Pergamon Press, New York.
 
eISSN:2353-5423
ISSN:2300-9586
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top