Table of Contents
What is magnetite and its uses?
Magnetite’s greatest use is as an important iron ore for steel manufacture. Other applications are as a catalyst in the Haber process for making ammonia, as a pigment for paints and ceramics, and as magnetic micro- and nanoparticles for a variety of processes and materials.
What is magnetite also known as?
magnetite, also called lodestone, or magnetic iron ore, iron oxide mineral (FeFe2O4, or Fe3O4) that is the chief member of one of the series of the spinel (q.v.) group.
What is the difference between iron ore and magnetite?
If a mineral deposit is composed of a metal that can be extracted using existing technological methods, then it is called an ore. Magnetite and hematite are two forms of iron ores from which iron can be extracted. Magnetite contains iron in the form of Fe3O4.
What is the source of magnetite?
Magnetite is a common natural phase, occurring in various geological environments, ranging from igneous (e.g., layered ultrabasic rocks, basalts) to sedimentary (e.g., banded iron formations, beach sands) rocks, and to high-grade metamorphic rocks (e.g., schists, skarns), where it can be produced through a multitude of …
What is magnetite iron ore used for?
Types of iron ore: Magnetite ore As a result, this type of iron ore ore must be concentrated before it can be used to produce steel.
Are all iron ore magnetic?
Iron ores are divided into two different groups according to their magnetic susceptibility, that is, strongly magnetic iron ore such as magnetite and weakly magnetic iron ores (oxidized iron ores) including martite, hematite, specularite, limonite, and siderite.
Is magnetite an iron ore?
What is Magnetite? LKAB mines magnetite, a natural iron ore, in its mines in Northern Sweden. Most of the iron ore is upgraded to high-quality iron ore pellets and sold to steel production.
Which type of iron ore is best?
Magnetite
Magnetite. Magnetite is the finest ore among all the ores of Iron. Magnetite ore comprises of seventy per cent of iron. The magnetic properties in this ore are appreciable.
Why is magnetite The best ore of iron?
Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe3O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. It is the most magnetic of all the naturally occurring minerals on Earth.
Where does magnetite come from?
Magnetite is a common type of iron oxide (compound comprised of iron and oxygen). It occurs in almost all types of igneous and metamorphic rocks and in many sedimentary rocks as well. It can be found throughout the world, with large deposits of magnetite in Chile, Sweden, Australia and the US.
How is magnetite mined?
Magnetite is mined as part of the usual mining process at EHM as it makes up a large percentage of the existing orebody. EHM’s open pit mine is scheduled for completion in August 2011 and ore will be mined from the open pit using traditional drill and blast and truck and shovel methods until that time.
How is magnetite formed?
Magnetite often occurs in metamorphic rocks which formed from ferruginous sediments in both regional and contact metamorphic settings, the magnetite commonly forming by the reduction of hematite and ferric hydroxide minerals. Banded Precambrian iron formations commonly contain magnetite.
Why is magnetite magnetic?
The presence of di- and trivalent iron in the crystal lattice is the reason why magnetite is so strongly magnetic. Divalent (+2) and trivalent (+3) iron have unequal magnetic moments that are not balancing each other. Magnetite is the most magnetic mineral.