Republic Mine’s Hot Flotation Technique Now Handling Two Million Tons of Iron Ore Annually

In the face of a highly competitive iron ore market, the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. developed a process now being practiced at the company's Republic mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. By this process, a specular hematite crude ore is being beneficiated to produce a high iron-low silica concentrate with a suitable size structure for the production of a high quality pellet. This process involves crushing, primary grinding and primary flotation, followed by regrinding, heating and refloating the primary flotation concentrate. The ores consist predominantly of specular hematite with relatively minor amounts of magnetite and martite in a recrystallized chert gangue. A wide variety of silicates have been identified, particularly in association with intrusives of various description. The more abundant of these are sericite, talc, grunerite and chlorite with some carbonates, primarily calcite.