R.G. Woolery, E.J. Markiewicz, F.A. Mumpton

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1 eae.n MCCOOL 00

2 ' PRELIMINARY BENEFICIATION STUD MERRELL ASBESTOS PROPERTY OF ONTARIO, CANADA 3 R.G. Woolery, E.J. Markewcz, F.A. Mumpton SUMMARY The Merrell Property Asbestos ore body as represented by core samples submtted by Mr. A. E. Buller has been found to contan approxmately 25"^ fber n an ore that averages 9-5^ magnette. It has been shown to be amenable to both dry and wet processng technques. The recommended processng route s by a combnaton of these processes. The frst stage would nvolve grndng the ore to -28 mesh n a two-stage operaton and ar-aspratng the +00 mesh fber from the szed feed to obtan the longer fber fractons. It s estmated that a 9^ yeld could be obtaned n Grades 7R and better. Somethng less than 2^, o f the total weght has been estmated to be Grade 6 wth no Grade 5 present. The fne fracton (-00 mesh) would subsequently be treated by ether of two wet processes, to gve an addtonal yeld of 3^ of Grade 7R or less. Upgradng by wet methods would result n hgher yelds (up to wth no provson for recoverng the long fber products. The ar aspraton route would result n lower fber yelds and less selectvty n benefcaton, Product qualty of the wet processed product would be equvalent to our present Standard Grade by the evaluaton technques used. No effort was made to determne ts effectveness n end-use products. The dry asprated fber, by the same evaluaton technques, compared favorably wth smlar fber grades. The brghtness and cleanlness of the products, however, are lower than those obtaned from Coalnga but probably better than most Canadan deposts. INTRODUCTION Mneralogcal examnaton of a two-foot secton of drll core from the Merrell Asbestos Property n Northern Ontaro ndcated that the ore contaned approxmately 25-30^ recoverable fber, wth product reflectances of about 75^o. These data suggested that although only short-fber asbestos was present, t was consderably hgher grade than most Canadan-type asbestos ores, and appeared to be amenable to the wet-processng technques recently developed by Unon Carbde Corporaton, for ther asbestos ores n Calforna. A large representatve sample of the Merrell ore was, therefore, obtaned and a prelmnary benefcaton study was made of the ore, usng both conventonal, dry -lftng technques, as well as two types of wet processng technques. The purpose of ths prelmnary evaluaton was to determne the types of upgradng procedures whch mght be employed wth the Merrell ore, and to ascertan the total product yelds whch mght be obtaned by the varous technques. It was further ntended to develop a method whch mght yeld products comparable wth our current Coalnga asbestos products, as well as products whch would be equvalent to the standard - ; Canadan Grade 7R.

3 ^STARTING MATERIAL The ore used n ths nvestgaton v;as composted from about pounds of drll core from Hole No. 2/63} located near the center of the Merrell Property. Accordng to geologcal reports, ths hole passed through about 25 feet of sand overburden before passng through about 370 feet of serpentnte. The cores ncluded n ths study were taken from the nterval 25-U2 feet. The Merrell asbestos core conssts of thn venlets of crossfber chrysotle, varyng between /6 and /V thck, separated by bands of dark, greensh-black serpentnte rock. Magnette s not only scattered throughout the core, but s also found as bands, up to /2" thck. The entre sample was composted and crushed to -/2". Representatve samples were taken, and the fber content determned to be approxmately 25^. DISCUSSION Three approaches toward benefcaton of the Merrell asbestos ore were evaluated n ths nvestgaton, ncludng (l) dry, ar-asprated concentraton, (2) wet benefcaton by two separate processes, and (3) a combnaton of the dry and wet processes. Dry Processng Two methods of dry processng were employed wth separate objectves. The frst approach was desgned to obtan a rougher concentrate, representng a low-grade, hgh-yeld product, whle the second approach was ntended to produce a relatvely clean, hgh-grade concentrate of lower yeld. Hgh Yeld Approach In ths approach, the crushed ore, contanng about 35^ of the weght as -0 mesh materal, was passed over a vbratory feeder and the fber was asprated from the rock by means of a converted vacuum cleaner. apparatus. Ths was followed by a cleanng step on the crushed, +0 mesh fracton, reground to -0 mesh. The results of these tests are summarzed below: jo of Total Ore Prmary Product 6.0, Prmary Tals 29.6 Scavenger Product* 7.2 Scavenger Tals* Total Product -: 3.2# * = Orgnal +0 mesh materal, reground to -0 mesh. From nspecton, the product obtaned by ths test appeared to be of low qualty. Typcal physcal property data, lsted below, support ths concluson.

4 f.. '.../3 r- Dry Bulk Wet Bulk Densty Densty Magnetcs Reflectance Lb.7ft.3 ml./250 ml. Wt.fo f0 Unfberzed Product l Fberzed Product* *Prepared by one pass through a Laboratory Mkro-pulverzer Standard.027" screen. These values represent a product slghtly lower n qualty than Canadan 7R. In order to produce a better grade product, a cleaner crcut for the rougher concentrate would be requred. Because ths approach dd not seem practcal, no attempt was made to mprove the product n ths manner, Hgh Qualty Approach It was apparent that the low-qualty products of the frst approach were the result of nadequate aspraton equpment avalable n ths laboratory, -and to the lack of proper treatment of the classfed feed. ' A second approach was, therefore, made usng hand aspraton on szed fractons of the ore. Ths resulted n much cleaner products but a very poor yeld, as shown n the followng tabulaton. o of Total Ore Screen Fracton Fber Product Rejects 4-28 mesh 0.5 5^. 28 x 48 mesh x 00 mesh x 200 mesh mesh These results show ncreasng yelds wth decreasng partcle sze. Ths s due, n part, to the tendency of asbestos fbers to concentrate n the fner sze fractons, and more sgnfcantly, to the lack of selectvty of the ar aspraton on the fner partcle szes. The lmt of the dry process appears to be n the 48 x 00 mesh range. Wet Processng Wet benefcaton was carred out on ore whch had been crushed to nomnal -0 mesh. Tests usng wet processng technque A were run n duplcate wth the followng results: Product jo of Total Ore Concentrate.5, 0.5 Mddlngs 28.4, 24.3 Tals 60., /4

5 f /"'-s,.../h V In any -commercal operaton, the mddlng fracton would be recycled and some porton would report to the concentrate. By vsual nspecton, t was estmated that only about 2 "f0 of the total veght could be recovered n ths manner. Thus, wet processng by technque A could be expected to yeld a concentrate representng about 3^ of the total startng ore. Subsequent laboratory evaluaton of ths product gave the followng results: Dry Bulk Wet Bulk Densty Densty Magnetcs Reflectance Lb./ft. 3 ml./250 ml. j j Unfberzed Product U Fberzed Product* x Prepared by one pass through a laboratory Mkro-pulverzer, Standard.027" screen. Superor physcal propertes of the wet-processed product, compared wth the dry-processed product, can be seen from the above data, despte the relatvely low yeld of the wet process. By vsual examnaton, however, the product appeared to be of lower qualty than our own Kng Cty standard grade product. A second attempt at wet processng, usng technque A was made on ore whch had been ground to nomnal -35 mesh, wth the followng results: Fber Wt.-^ of Magnetcs Reflectance Content Total Ore J0 j cjo V'V- ' Product 38.8 If Mddlngs 9-3 ^ Tals As expected, fner grndng produced a sgnfcantly hgher yeld than the prevous test made on -0 mesh ore. The reflectance and fber content of the product are comparable wth Canadan shorts and wth some cleanng, an acceptable product could be prepared. The fber content of ths product ndcated that about 20-25^ of the startng ore has been concentrated nto the wet product. The product, furthermore, appears smlar n most respects to our Kng Cty standard grade materal. Combnaton Processng The experence ganed from the dry and wet processng technques dscussed above, ndcated that optmum results would be obtaned f a combnaton of technques were used. Ths combnaton process would nvolve a careful ar-aspraton of +00 mesh fracton, followed by wet processng of the -00 mesh materal. *.../p

6 n Dry Porton - Combnaton Processng The dry porton of ths combnaton process was conducted as dscussed above on a sample of the whole ore crushed to -0 mesh n two stages. A scavenger operaton was also carred out on the +2Q mesh materal whch was reground to -28 mesh. The results of these treatments are lsted below: Dry Processng on -0 Mesh Ore Fber Untreated Magnetcs Reflect. Content Mesh Sze Yeld fa Rejects ^ fy ^ # ^ 4-28 mesh ' 28 x 48 mesh x 00 mesh x 200 mesh mesh Scavenger Treatment of *28 mesh ore reground to -28 mesh +2S mesh x 48 mesh x 00 mesh x 200 mesh mesh From these data, t s evdent that grndng to -28 mesh s necessary for optmum fber lberaton. By reducng the ore to ths sze, the +00 mesh ar-asprated product has been ncreased to 9*0^ of the total weght. By vsual examnaton, ths product was the best made by any of the technques employed, and would be graded as 7R or better. In addton, a total of 28.*^ of the ore remans as -00 mesh materal, sutable for subsequent wet processng. As would be expected, the addtonal grndng resulted n an ncrease n the magnette content of the product, from 2.4^ to 4.8^. However, even ths value s not hgh compared wth many Canadan-type asbestos products. Wet Porton - Combnaton Processng The -00 mesh materal remanng from the dry processng dscussed above was treated by wet technque A, wth results smlar to those dscussed above. A second treatment, wet technque B, was also employed on the -00 mesh materal wth the followng results:

7 Wt.-f0 Wt.-^ o f Reflectance Magnetcs Fber Content of Feed Total Ore ^ ff....#,^..^. Product f? U. 79 Tals 53 *^0 Vsual examnaton of the product of wet technque B ndcated that ths product was a relatvely clean, short-fber materal. It appeared to contan less "grt" than the dry processed products, and to be slghtly cleaner than that prepared by wet technque A. The magnette analyses were partcularly low for ths type of materal and ndcate that a good separaton has been accomplshed. Brghtness values for ths nherently "low-brghtness" materal were even lower than expected and were lower than most products prepared n ths nvestgaton. By employng the combnaton processng approach, t was possble to acheve a total yeld of 22 clo, whch compares favorably wth the total fber content of 25^ for the startng ore. CONCLUSIONS Ths prelmnary evaluaton has ndcated that benefcaton of the Merrell asbestos ore s, ndeed, possble and can be accomplshed by varous dry and wet technques. The all-dry approach, nvolvng ar-aspraton, would, no doubt, have the lowest unt producton cost, and has the advantage of recoverng the largest quantty of longer fbers from the ore. Unfortunately, t also produces the least clean product. The total yeld by ths approach would be low, probably not more than 5^ of the total ore. It would also requre careful cleanng and szng operatons. The use of wet processng technques would ncrease the processng cost, and would requre large volumes of water. The total yeld would be as much as 35-40^ of a grade roughly equvalent to the UCC Standard Grade or Canadan 7R, as determned by fber content, bulk densty, and related propertes. A combnaton of dry and wet processng, however, appears to offer the optmum approach to processng ths ore. Satsfactory yelds of 20-25^ have been acheved, wth about 9^ of the product beng obtaned from the dry porton of the process and contanng essentally all of the "long" fber present. The remanng yeld would be obtaned from a wet treatment of the -00 mesh fracton of the crushed ore. Examnaton of the ore and of the several products obtaned durng ths nvestgaton ndcates that the total fber content s about 25^, wth less than 2^ by weght of the ore occurrng n lengths comparable wth the Canadan grade 6. There was no ndcaton that a grade 5 product would be obtaned or even the hgher end of grade 6 scale. RECOMMENDATIONS If these ntal benefcaton results, combned wth a market survey ndcate further nterest n the Merrell asbestos property, more samples, representatve of the entre property, should be examned and addtonal process.../l

8 .r, ' work should be carred out. If paper-grade products are to be obtaned from ths ore, further wet benefcaton studes are. requred, together wth extensve product evaluatons. Addtonal effort should also be undertaken to establsh the hghest possble grade obtanable from both the dry and wet technques, as well as ther respectve yelds. fcj^a^vw r-/,.. l. V NOTE: Ths report ncludes the mneralogcal studes of the Merrell chrysotle ore as well as an evaluaton of processng technques and potental products.

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10 D.D.H. Ax Core Collar 700' East of Post k, / O' South Clam 7^02. v^- 4

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