Author(s)

N. Babu, N. Vasumathi, R. Bhima Rao

Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR) Bhubaneswar 751 013, India.
Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR)Bhubaneswar 751 013, India.
National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR), Trivandrum – 695019, India.

The red sand which is known as Teri sand in Tamil Nadu consists of 5.5% Total Heavy Minerals (THM) out of which 3.7% is ilmenite. The other minerals, zircon, sillimanite and garnet are in the order of abundance identified. On processing this feed to recover ilmenite by using spirals followed by dry high intensity magnetic separator and high tension separator, the ilmenite concentrate obtained contains 99.1% ilmenite with 3.5% yield and 94% recovery. The other heavy minerals, including zircon (53.3%) and sillimanite (31.7%), could be further processed for recovery of individual mineral of zircon and sillimanite by judicious combination of gravity and flotation processes.

Teri sand, ilmenite, zircon, sillimanite, spiral concentration, high tension separation, tabling, total heavy minerals.

N. Babu, N. Vasumathi and R. Rao, "Recovery of Ilmenite and Other Heavy Minerals from Teri Sands (Red Sands) of Tamil Nadu, India," Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2009, pp. 149-159. doi: 10.4236/jmmce.2009.82013.