Jaduguda, Bhatin, Turmadih (Turamdih), Banduhurang, Bagjata and Narwapahar  Jharkhand, India

Main commodities: U REE 

The Jaduguda, Bhatin, Turmadih (Turamdih), Banduhurang, Bagjata and Narwapahar (Naroapahar) uranium mines   are   distributed   over   an   interval   of   ~100   km   along   the   generally   NW­SE­trending   curvilinear Singhbhum shear zone in Jharkhand state, in the vicinity of the city of Jamshedpur in northeastern India. The copper deposits of the Mosaboni Copper Belt are located within this same interval,  with uranium being recovered from the copper tailings from some of these mines. 

The Singhbhum shear zone, which is over 160 km long and 1 to 10 km wide, marks the boundary between the Archaean Singhbhum cratonic  nucleus   to   the   south  and   the Proterozoic   fold  belt   to   the  north.  The Singhbhum craton is an Archaean granite­greenstone terrain comprising: (i) extensive, composite granite­tonalite batholiths known as Singhbhum granite complex and (ii) the metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of  the Iron Ore Group (that  include banded iron formations hosting major iron ore deposits),  and associated mafic sills and dykes. 

Several  Proterozoic volcano­sedimentary basins also overlie  the cratonic nucleus,   including the Dhanjori Group immediately to the southwest of the Singhbhum shear zone in the vicinity of the copper and uranium mineralised sections of the structure. The Proterozoic rocks of the adjoining North Singhbhum Fold Belt, immediately   to   the   north   of   the   shear   zone,   are   predominantly   composed   of   siliciclastic   rocks   of   the Singhbhum Group and Proterozoic  volcanosedimentary   rocks  of   the  generally  east­west­trending  Dalma volcanic belt.

The Singhbhum shear zone cuts across the rocks of the Archaean Iron Ore and Singhbhum Group, and the Proterozoic Dhanjori Group. The metamorphosed/sheared rocks within the shear zone comprise chlorite, biotite,   sericite,   kyanite­quartzite   or   kyanite­sericite   schists,   metaconglomerate,   tourmalinite,   and   'soda granite' or feldspathic schist. 

A characteristic example of the Singhbhum group of uranium deposits, Bagjata,  is  located 25 km SE of Jaduguda, within the shear zone, close to the boundary between the Singhbhum Group and the southeastern fringe  of   the  Dhanjori  Group.  The  host   assemblage   includes  quartzites   and  meta­volcanic   rocks  of   the Dhanjori   Group,   feldspathic   schist   ('soda   granite'),   garnetiferous   muscovite   schist,   and   kyanite­bearing quartzite   or   kyanite­sericite   schist   and   brecciated   quartz­albite­biotite   rock.   The   meta­volcanics   are represented   by   chlorite   and   amphibole   schists   with   minor   epidote   and   apatite,   and   albite­oligoclase porphyroblasts adjacent to contacts with feldspathic schist. The feldspathic schist comprises quartz and albite with varying amounts of biotite, chlorite, and muscovite, with common accessory epidote, tourmaline and apatite.   The   muscovite   schist   is   predominantly   composed   of   quartz   and   muscovite   with   garnet porphyroblasts,  while   the  kyanite­quartzite   and  kyanite­sericite/muscovite   schist  occurs   as   bands  and/or pockets, generally along the north­northeastern boundary of the shear zone. 

Uranium and copper­bearing minerals in the Bagjata uranium deposit are mostly restricted to the chlorite and biotite   schists,  although  low­grade  uranium mineralisation   is  also  found  in   the  garnetiferous  muscovite­sericite schist. Uraninite is the main uranium ore mineral, along with some Ti­U complexes (brannerite) and unidentified U silicates. The REE bearing minerals include monazite, epidote­allanite and unidentified REE oxides and/or carbonates. Although allanite occurs both in biotite schist and chlorite schist, the former is the main host to allanite. 

The Pb­Pb dating of uraninite and sulphide provides ages of ~1.6 to 1.5 and ~1.77 Ga respectively, although multiple events of hydrothermal fluid flux and mineral growth are evident, with the earliest REE possibly having been introduced at 1.88 Ga, with a late REE rimming on pre­existing epidote­allanite at ~1 Ga. 

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At  Jaduguda,   there   are   two prominent,  parallel  ore   lenses  within   sheared  Proterozoic   sediments  of   the Singhbhum shear zone, the Footwall and Hangingwall Lodes. These lodes both dip at ~40° NE, extend to down­dip for >880 m, and are separated by a 100 m wide barren zone. The Footwall lode, which is the better mineralised, extends over a NW­SE oriented length of ~600 m, while the Hangingwall Lode has a strike length of ~250 m. 

The Bhatin mine is located ~4 km NW of Jaduguda, separated by a major north­south strike­slip fault which offsets the Singhbhum shear zone. Ore occurs within a 2 to 10 m thick lens that dips at 35° in a similar setting to that at Jaduguda. 

The Narwapahar mine is located 12 km NW of Jaduguda. Several ore lenses extending over a strike length of ~2.1   km   are   known,   with   uranium   minerals   occurring   as   discrete   grains   within   chlorite­quartz   schist associated with magnetite. These lenses are have thicknesses of 2.5 to 20 m and dip at 30 to 40°. 

The Turamdih deposit is 12 km NW of Narwapahar. A number of erratically distributed lenses occur within feldspathic­chlorite schists containing discrete uraninite grains. 

The   Banduhurang   deposit   represents   the   western   extension   of   the   Turamdih   ore   lenses   and   has   been developed   as   a   large   open   pit,   unlike   all   of   the   others   which   are   underground   operations  

Estimated 'reserves' within this group of deposits (Pal et al., 2011) amounts to ~215 Mt of ore containing 66 000 tonnes of recoverable U3O8. This would suggest an average grade of ~0.3 kg/t U3O8. The highest grades of 0.67 kg/t U3O8 are from the Jadaguda deposit, with 80% of the reserve being at grades of 0.15 to 0.49 kg/t U3O8. Approximately 27% of the low grade reserve (0.15 to 0.2 kg/t U3O8 is recoverable from the tailings of the Mosaboni, Surda, Rakha and Tamapahar copper mines.

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Indian Rare Earths Limited

• The Department of  Atomic Energy's (DAE) public sector endeavor,  Indian Rare Earth Limited (IREL),   is engaged in the mining and processing of mineral sands containing titanium, zirconium, thorium, and other elements. IREL was incorporated in 1950 under the joint ownership of Travancore and the Government of India.  In 1963, the entire company was nationalized under the DAE. IREL's three mineral  sand separation plants at Manvalkurichi (Tamil Nadu), Chavara (Kerala), and OSCOM­Chhatrapur (Orissa) produce "industrial metals, namely ilmenite, rutile, monazite, zircon, sillimanite, and garnet." These industrial metals are further processed yielding elements  used  in the  nuclear  fuel  cycle.  Zircon is  processed  into zirconium for  India's nuclear  program, eventually used as a neutron absorber   in nuclear  reactors.  Ilmenite  and rutile both yield titanium, while monazite contains thorium and cerium. IREL also manufactures other rare earth products such as rare earth chloride and thorium hydroxide. A value addition plant at the OSCOM site produces synthetic rutile, and the Microzir Plant at Chavara produces fine zircon powder used in the ceramic industry. At IREL's Manavalakurichi  Plant,   "zircon   is  chemically   treated   to  zircon   frit  which   is   supplied   to   the  Nuclear  Fuel Complex at Hyderabad for further processing."

At the Alwaye facility, the Rare Earths plant produces earth chlorides, while the Rare Earths Division (RED) of IREL processes monazite for the separation of thorium concentrate among others. Following the monazite separation process, some of the thorium concentrate produced by RED is sent to the Thorium Plant of OSCOM for production of mantle grade   thorium nitrate.  Thorium Hydroxide,  which can  be  used  as   fuel   for  a   future  generation of   thorium nuclear reactors, is also produced by IREL Thorium; it can be irradiated to form U­233, a fissile material almost as good as plutonium. Almost 100,000Mt of thorium is present in the monazite­rich sands of Kerala state, which the Rare Earths Plant in Alwaye converts into thorium cake. A "PRYNCE Plant" was established by RED at Alwaye for the production of "very pure neodymium oxide for making industrial magnets."

• On August 18, 1950, Indian Rare Earths Limited(IREL) was incorporated as a private limited company ­jointly owned by the Government  of India and Government of  Travancore,  Cochin with the primary intention of taking up commercial scale processing of monazite sand at its first unit namely Rare Earths Division(RED), Aluva, Kerala for the recovery of thorium.

•* After becoming a full fledged Central Government Undertaking in 1963 under the administrative control of Department of Atomic Energy(DAE), IREL took over a number of private companies engaged in mining and separation of beach sand minerals in southern part of the country and established two more Divisions one at Chavara, Kerala and the other at Manavalakurichi(MK), Tamil Nadu.

•*   After   a   gap   of   about   20   years,   IREL   commissioned   its   largest   Division   called   Orissa   Sand Complex(OSCOM) at  Chatrapur,  Orissa.  Today   IREL operates   these   four  units  with  Corporate  Office   in Mumbai and produces/sells six heavy minerals namely ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, sillimanite and garnet as well as various value added products. IREL is making profit since 1997­98 with its sales turnover reaching a peak exceeding Rs. 3600 million in 2006­07, with export component of above Rs. 1000 million.

Unit Profile

CHAVARA MINERAL DIVISION: Shri V GOPALAKRISHNA PRASAD, Head (Chavra ) Tel. No: +91 476 268 0701 ­ 05 E­mail: cgm­ch@irel.gov.in

Located 10 Km north of Kollam, 85 Km from Thiruvananthapuram capital of Kerala and 135 Km by road from Kochi is 

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perhaps blessed with the best mineral sand deposit of the country.The plant operates on a mining area containing as high as 40% heavy minerals and extending over a length of 23 Km in the belt of Neendakara and Kayamkulam. The deposit is quite rich with respect to ilmenite, rutile and zircon and the mineral­ilmenite happens to be of weathered variety analyzing 60% TiO2. The present annual production capacity of Chavara unit engaged in dry as well as wet (dredging/ up­gradation) mining and mineral  separation stands at 1,54,000t of ilmenite, 9,500t of rutile, 14,000t of zircon and 7,000t of sillimanite. In addition the plant has facilities for annual production of ground zircon called zirflor (­45 micron) and microzir (1­3 micron) of the order of 6,000t and 500t respectively.  

MANAVALAKURICHI (MK) MINERAL DIVISION: A K Mohapatra, Head & General ManagerTel. No: +91 4651 237 255­ 57 E­mail: iremk@dataone.in , headmk@irel.gov.in 

Plant is situated 25 Kms north of Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin), the southern most tip of the Indian sub­continent. All weather major seaport Tuticorin and the nearest airport at Thiruvananthapuram are equidistant, about 65 kms from the plant  site.  Nagercoil  at  a distance of about 18 kms from the plant,  is  the closest major Railway station. MK plant annually produces about 90,000t ilmenite of 55%. TiO2 grade, 3500t rutile and 10,000t zircon in addition to 3000t monazite and 10,000t garnet based primarily on beach washing supplied by fishermen of surrounding five villages. IREL has also mining lease of mineral rich areas wherein raw sand can be made available in large quantities through dredging operation. In addition to mining and minerals separation, the unit has a chemical plant to add value to zircon in the form of zircon frit and other zirconium based chemicals in limited quantities. 

ORISSA SANDS COMPLEX (OSCOM): Shri D Mohanty, Head OSCOM Tel. No: +91 6811  257 890 ­ 95 E­mail: headireo@sancharnet.in, head­ireo@irel.gov.inOSCOM was commissioned at a place called Chatrapur about 150 Kms from the Capital of Orissa ­ Bhubaneswar and about 320 Km from all weather seaport­Visakhapatanam to exploit the huge placer deposit across a mining area of 24.64sq.km. to produce 2,20,000 ton ilmenite having 50% TiO2 content and associated minerals like rutile, zircon, sillimanite, garnet, etc. The facility was quite unique in the sense that for the first time IREL ventured into dredging and concentration operationat OSCOM. It is quite efficietly engaged in dredging of the raw sand, it's upgradation, drying and finally separation plant. Ilmenite is primarily exported to customers engaged in production of slag and sulphatable TiO2 pigment.A Thorium plant is in operation since 1992 at OSCOM to produce 240 ton per annum mantle grade Thorium Nitrate.

RARE EARTHS DIVISION (RED) Aluva: Shri FRANCY VERGHESE , Head REDTel. No: +91 484 254 5062 ­ 65 E­mail: irered@vsnl.com, head­red@irel.gov.in Unlike the three units of IREL as described earlier, RED is an exclusively value adding chemical plant wherein the mineral monazite produced by MK, is chemically treated to separate thorium as hydroxide upgrade and rare earths in its composite chloride form. It is located on the banks of river Periyar at a distance of 12 Km by road from Kochi. This  plant was made operational way back in 1952 to take on processing of 1400t of monazite every year. However over the years, the capacity of the plant was gradually augmented to treat about 3600t of monazite. Elaborate solvent extraction and ion exchange facilities were built up to produce individual R.E. oxides, like oxides of Ce, Nd, Pr and La in adequate purities. Today RED has built up large stock pile of impure thorium hydroxide upgrade associated with rare earths and unreacted materials. Henceforth, RED proposes to treat this hydroxide upgrade rather than fresh monazite to convert thorium into pure oxalate and rare earth as two major fractions namely Ce oxide and Ce oxide free rare earth chloride. 

 Indian Rare Earth Research Centre (IRERC): Shri P P Mohapatra, Head (Corporate Research and Safety)Tel. No: +91 474 2742739

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E­mail: irerc@irel.gov.in, irerc@dataone.in 

Corporate Research Centre is located at Kollam, Kerala and carries out research in the field of value added products from beach sand minerals, undertakes consultancy projects on mineral separation and flow sheet development, carrying out mineral analysis and caters to the needs of internal and external customers.  It is engaged in various R&D activities such as processing of Monazite by alternate route, processing of nano rare earth materials and other value addition on minerals with the ultimate objective of commercialization. Research centre also coordinates the research activities of RED, Aluva and Technical Services Division at OSCOM, Chatrapur, Orissa.  This Research Centre was earlier known as Mineral Research and Development Centre since 1991 and later renamed as Indian Rare Earths Research Centre from July 2003.  This Centre is also certified with ISO 9001. 

With the objective of promoting Industrial scale R&D that would be beneficial to its overall program in terms of nuclear and related materials, Indian Rare Earths Limited Technology Development Council (IRELTDC) was constituted in 2006 by the Secretary, DAE with members from BARC, IGCAR, CSIR and other leading Institutions. The Chairperson of this Council is the Scientific Advisor to Director, BARC and Co­Chairperson is the CMD of IREL.   The Head, IRERC is its Member Secretary. 

The   Research   Centre   is   equipped   with   various   equipments   and   instruments   like   magnetic,   gravity,   electrostatic separators, floatation cells, grinding mills, vacuum filters, mixer settlers, ion exchange columns, particle size analyzer, XRD/XRF, thermal analyzer, ICP atomic absorption spectrometers, UV spectrometers, petrological microscopes, etc. for various analytical and research purposes.  

The annual safety audit of all the operating units is carried out every year with the objective of improving the overall safety   standards   and   increasing   the   safety   awareness   among   the   employees.   The  Audit  Committee,   consisting  of External experts, Heads of safety from all the units and the Head of the Corporate Safety, recommends for the CMD’s Shield in various categories; Safety, Housekeeping, Environment & Energy

Research & Development Facility

In the context of changing technologies on the areas of mineral processing and product development and the never-ending face for technological supremacy in the global scenario, the need for providing infrastructure support for research and development and maintain a high level of productivity without sacrificing on standards of safety and employee welfare is very relevant. R & D centres of IREL are located at Mineral Research and Development Centre(MRDC), Kollam, Technical Service Division(TSD), OSCOM, Chatrapur and Rare Earths Division (RED), Aluva. MRDC undertakes constancy projects on mineral separation i.e. sand beneficiation, etc., along with mineral separation investigation to improve yield and products. The facilities include various magnetic, gravity, hydraulic and electrostatic separators, floatation cells, grinding mills, vacuum filters, microscopes and analytical instruments i.e.ICP, UV spectrometer, etc. TSD, OSCOM is equipped with analytical instruments i.e. X-ray diffractrometer, thermal analyser, atomic absorption spectrometer, UV spectrometers, particle size analysers, etc. for study and development of processes for manufacturing synthetic rutile, stabilised and partially stabilised zirconia, gem grade zirconia, etc. RED, Aluva develops solvent extraction and ion exchange-based processes for presentation of pure rare earth chemicals.

Mining & Minerals

Mining of raw beach sand containing the six heavy minerals and separation of the later in adequate purities happen to be the common activity of all the three Mineral Division namely Chavara, MK and OSCOM. As per as mining practice is concerned, they do differ from one division to other. For example at MK, all the raw sand required to operate the plant at its full capacity is collected by the fisherman of surrounding villages from near by beaches and supplied to the unit at a cost. At Chavara also beach washing is available but not in adequate quantity to meet the full requirement of the plant.

The unit therefore adopt wet mining operation involving use of Dredge and Wet Concentrator(DWC) to exploit the inland deposits away from the beaches. For example Chavara operate two DWC s of about 100 t/hr capacities to generate sand feed analyzing about 85% heavy mineral concentration.

The mineral free sand coming out of the concentrator is pumped back to the pond for the operation of DWC. In the case of OSCOM, the entire mining operations involves dredging of the mineral deposits on much larger scale (500 t/hr) augmented by smaller sized (~100) supplementary.

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The heavy mineral rich sand feed either in the form of beach washings or dredge concentrate is subjected to final concentration in a facility provided with a host of spirals to enrich the feed with 97-98% heavy minerals. Such upgraded material is next dried in a fluid bed drier to take on the separation of individual minerals/ores by taking advantage of the difference in their electrical, magnetic properties as well as specific gravity.

Strategic Value Addition

Recovery from thorium value Chemical processing of monazite to separate the contained thorium value (~8% ThO2) in the form of thorium hydroxide concentrate happen to be the most fundamental value addition activity of the company carried out for last 50 years or so. In the recent time thorium is separated as its pure oxalate form. A part of it is taken to OSCOM for its further processing by solvent extraction to produce about 150-200 TPA of its thorium nitrate for its mantle application. A small part of the purified thorium nitrate is covered to nuclear grade thorium oxide powder to meet the requirement of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) for developing thorium based fuel for our nuclear reactors. Recovery of Uranium value.

Recovery of Uranium value.

In recent time IREL has got engaged through its Rare Earths Division, in activity involving recovery of uranium value present in Indian monazite in the form of Nuclear grade ammonium diuranate (ADU) to supplement the indigenous supply scenario for uranium as required in the Indian Nuclear Power programme. In addition to monazite, RED has developed facilities for recovering uranium value from other secondary resource as well.

Non Strategic Value Addition

The first non-strategic value addition activities of IREL in tonnage quantities was concerned with production of composite rare earth chloride, oxide and fluoride to start and later separation of 99.9% pure oxide of individual rare earths like Ce, La, Nd and Pr by multi-stage solvent extraction and fractional precipitation techniques. Oxides of these metal in higher purities are also prepared by RED in kilo gramme quantities using ion exchange technology.

Besides chemical processing of monazite both zircon and ilmenite were found worth value addition from commercial angle.

A dry grindin mill working on the principal of self attrition was commissioned by Chavara in the year 1970 to grind the as separation zircon sand to about 4.5m size(called zirflour) for its application in the ceramic industries. Much later a wet mill with silica as grinding media was commissioned at Chavara to introduced yet another value added material called micro-zir having mesh size in the range of 1 to 3 mm finding specialized application as opacifier. In addition to such physical value addition, the MK unit had set up a small chemical plant to produce zircon frit, zirconium chloride etc. The plant, however, is limited in size and meant primarily for making supply of zircon firt to Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hydrabad. In yet another effort on value addition to zircon, a pilot plant(capacity-3.5 TPA) was set up OSCOM to produce a whole range of zirconia stabilized with CaO, MgO and rare earths.

The most talked about value addition activity of IREL is setting up of a Chemical plant at OSCOM consisting of a Synthetic Rutile Production unit an Acid Regeneration Unit. The SR ficility is equipped with two roasters, two calciners, sixteen digestors for carrying out reduction of ilmenite, leaching of reduced ilmenite with concentrated hydrocloric acid. The leached liquor is treated in the AR unit to regenerate 20% grade HCl for its recycle and reject iron as fine iron oxide powder. The SR unit was stopped in 1997 as it was not financially viable. The company now intends to use the roasters and calciners for the production of partially value added materials like reduced and metallized ilmenite.

BROWN ILMENITE(LEUCOXENE)

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS (TYPICAL) % TiO2 79.3 %

SiO2 2.2 %

ZrO2 0.25 %

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FeO 1.3 % Fe2O3 12.10 %

ILMENITE 'MK' GRADE

GUARANTEED : TiO2 55.00% (Min)

TYPICAL : TiO2 55.50%

Fe2O3 20.30% FeO 19.45%

Al2O3 1.00%

Cr2O3 0.07%

V2O5 0.10% MgO 0.90% P2O5 0.09%

SiO2 1.50% Rare Earths 0.12% U 12 ppm Th 190 ppm

SIEVE ANALYSIS: MESH(TYLER SCR.) SIEVE OPENING MICRONS CUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED 40 420 0.0 - 2.0 50 300 3.0 - 7.0 70 212 20.0 - 50.0 100 150 62.0 - 82.0 140 105 96.0 - 99.0 200 75 98.0 - 100.0

SPECIFIC GRAVITY

: 4.45 -4.54

BULK DENSITY

: 2,600 - 2,850

Kg/m3

HARDNESS (MOH's)

: 5..5 - 6.0

ILMENITE 'OR' GRADE

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS :

GUARANTEED : TiO2 50.25%(Min) Th 75 ppm (Max) U 10 ppm (Max)

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TYPICAL : TiO2 50.50% FeO 34.04% Fe2O3 12.43%

Al2O3 0.45%

SiO2 0.71%

Cr2O3 0.048% MnO 0.51% P2O5 0.022%

V2O5 0.23% CaO 0.04% MgO 0.64% Th 43 ppm U < 6 ppm

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

MESH(TYLER SCR.)SIEVE OPENING MICRONS

CUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED

35 425 Nil 48 300 1.7 65 212 19.7 100 150 34.3 150 106 34.5 170 90 5.4 200 75 3.7 -200 -75 0.7

SPECIFIC GRAVITY : 4.54

BULK DENSITY : 2,600 - 2,850 Kg/m3

HARDNESS (MOH's) : 5..5 - 6.0

ILMENITE 'Q' GRADE

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS :

GUARANTEED : TiO2 58.00% (Min) TYPICAL : TiO2 60.10%

Fe2O3 26.30% FeO 10.50%

Al2O3 0.70% MnO 0.40% Cr2O3 0.13%

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V2O5 0.15% MgO 0.40% P2O5 0.14%

ZrO2 0.20%

SiO2 0.75% Rare Earths Trace U 10 ppm Th 160 ppm

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

MESH(TYLER SCR.)

SIEVE OPENING MICRONS CUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED

35 425 Nil 48 300 0.80 - 2.00 65 212 3.50 - 6.50 100 150 50.00 - 65.00 150 106 90.00 - 96.50 200 75 98.50 - 99.50 -200 -75 0.50 - 1.00

SPECIFIC GRAVITY :

4.45 -4.54

BULK DENSITY:

2,600 - 2,630 Kg/m3

GARNET 'MK' GRADE (NORMAL)

TYPICAL MINERALOGICAL ANALYSIS: Ilmenite 1.0% - 2.5% Garnet 97.3 % - 98.9 %

Mineral purity of garnet

97.0 % (Min)

Quartz 0.1 - 0.3 %

Non-magnetic other than quartz

0.4% - 0.7 %

TYPICAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS:

SiO2 40.0%

Al2O3 21.0 % FeO 26.0 %

Fe2O3 2.9 %

TiO2 1.0 %

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MnO 0.5 % CaO 0.9 % MgO 6.8 % P2O5 0.03 %

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

MESH(ASTM SCR.)

SIEVE OPENING MICRONS

CUM. WEIGHT % RETAINED

35 425 0.0 - 5.0 48 300 10.0 - 30.0 65 212 74.0 - 90.0 100 150 94.0 - 99.0 150 106 99.5 - 100

SPECIFIC GRAVITY

: 4.1 BULK DENSITY : 2,200 - 2,300 Kg/m3

GARNET 'OR' GRADE

GUARANTEED: Garnet 93.5 % Min.

TYPICAL MINERALOGICAL ANALYSIS: Garnet 94.0% Ilmenite 2.3 % Monazite 0.3 % Rutile 0.2 % Zircon 0.2 % Sillimanite 0.4 % Quartz 0.2% Others 2.4 %

TYPICAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS:

Al2O3 19.8 %

FeO 27.9 %

Fe2O3 3.5 %

SiO2 36.3 %

TiO2 1.3 %

CaO 2.8 % MgO 6.8 %

Cr2O3 0.02%

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

SIEVE OPENING MICRONSCUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED

+300 2.8

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-300 +212 17.1 -212 +150 40.5 -150 +106 32.7 -106 +90 2.2 -90 +75 4.0 -75 0.7

SPECIFIC GRAVITY : 4.11 gm/cc

BULK DENSITY : 2,255 Kg/M3 HARDNESS (MOH's) : 6.5 to 7.5

MONAZITE 'MK' GRADE

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS:

GUARANTEED: REO 55.0% (Min)

TYPICAL (%): Total Oxide (REO+ThO2) 66.2 %

ThO2 9.2 %

P2O5 29.2% Acid insoluble 4.0%

TYPICAL RARE EARTHS COMPOSITION (INGREDIENTS):

CeO2/REO 48.5 %

La2O3/REO 22.5%

Nd2O3/REO 18.5 %

Pr6O11/REO 5.6 %

Sm2O3/REO 2.7 %

Gd2O3 /REO 1.2 % Others/REO 1.0 %

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

Mesh(Tyler Scr.)SIEVE OPENING MICRONS

CUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED

48 300 0.0 - 1.0 65 212 8.0 -18.0

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100 150 35.0 -57.0 150 106 93.0 -95.0 200 75 94.0 -100

SPECIFIC GRAVITY : 5.22

BULK DENSITY : 3,200 - 3,300 Kg/m3

RUTILE 'MK' GRADE

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS:

GUARANTEED: TiO2 94.00% (Min)

TYPICAL (%):TiO2 94.40%

Fe2O3 1.90%P2O5 0.05%ZrO2 1.80%

SiO2 1.80% U 66 ppm Th 94 ppm

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

Mesh(Tyler Scr.)SIEVE OPENING MICRONS

CUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED

48 300 0.0 - 1.5 65 212 14.0 -29.0 100 150 50.0 -66.0 150 106 95.5 -98.5 200 75 99.0 -100.0

SPECIFIC GRAVITY : 4.18 - 4.25

BULK DENSITY : 2,500 - 2,800 Kg/m3

HARDNESS (Moh's) : 6.0 - 6.5

RUTILE 'OR' GRADE

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS:

GUARANTEED: TiO2 94.25% (Min)

TYPICAL (%): TiO2 94.50%

SiO2 0.90%

ZrO2 0.90%

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Fe2O3 1.10%

P2O5 0.08%

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

Mesh(Tyler Scr.)SIEVE OPENING MICRONS

CUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED

35 425 Nil 48 300 1.2 65 212 16.7 100 150 47.8 150 106 30.7 170 90 1.5 200 75 2.0 -200 -75 0.1

SILLIMANITE 'OR' GRADE

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS:

GUARANTEED: Al2O3 56.50%(Min)

TYPICAL (%): Al2O3 56.60%

SiO2 38.00%

ZrO2 2.20%

TiO2 0.25%

Fe2O3 0.40%

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

Mesh(Tyler Scr.)SIEVE OPENING MICRONS

CUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED

35 425 Nil 48 300 0.7 65 212 11.3 100 150 55.8 150 106 29.6 170 90 0.9 200 75 1.5 -200 -75 0.2

ZIRCON SAND 'MK' GRADE

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS:

GUARANTEED: ZrO2(+HfO2) 65.00 % (Min)

TYPICAL (%): ZrO2(+HfO2) 65.80 %

SiO2 32.50 %

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TiO2 0.25 %

Fe2O3 0.10 %

Al2O3 1.20 %

SIEVE ANALYSIS:

Mesh(Tyler Scr.) SIEVE OPENING MICRONS CUM.WEIGHT % RETAINED 48 300 1.0 - 5.0 65 212 7.0 -34.0 100 150 33.0 -63.0 150 106 90.0 -97.5 200 75 97.0 -100.0

SPECIFIC GRAVITY

: 4.6 - 4.7

BULK DENSITY

: 2,800 - 3,000 Kg/m3

HARDNESS (Moh's)

: 7.5

CERIUM HYDRATE (DRY)

Rare Earths Oxide(TREO) > 80% CeO2 > 68%

CeO2/TREO > 85% Cr < 25 ppm

Mn <50 ppm Co <25 ppm Ni <25 ppm Cu <25 ppm Zn <25 ppm Pb <50 ppm Fe <0.1 %

CERIUM OXIDE (CeO2)

Molecular weight : 172.13 Colour and appearance : Light yellow powder Melting Point : About 2600oC Solubility : Insoluble in water. Soluble in HCl, HNO3 and H2SO4

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PRODUCT USES ILMENITE Manufacturing of TiO2 pigment, synthetic rutile and titanium slag.

RUTILE Fluxes for welding electrode.

ZIRCON SAND Ceramics, refractories and foundries.

ZIRCON FLOUR(-325 Tyler Mesh) Ceramics and foundries.

MICROZIR(1.2 micron) Opacifier in ceramics.

SILLIMANITE Refractories.

GARNET Abrasive for sand blasting, water jet cutting and glass polishing.

MONAZITE Raw material for production of Rare Earth compounds.

COMPOSITE RE CHLORIDE Catalyst, Paint Driers, Basic raw material for Misch metal which used as lighter frint & additives to iron steel.

COMPOSIT RE FLOUORIDE Cinema are carbon, Flux for welding rods

LANTHANUM OXIDE Speciality lens in camera, Heating element (as LaCrO3), Semi conductors, Phophors

LANTHANUM METAL NiMh batteries

CERIUM OXIDE Auto exhaust catalyst, Optical glasses, TV polishing powder, Glass decolouriser, Paint driers, High temperature paints/insulations

Pr OXIDE Cerium pigment, Glass colouring

Nd OXIDE Special glass making, Laser

Nd METAL Nd-Fe-B Permanent magnet

Sm METAL Sm-Co Permanent magnet

Eu Oxide Phosphors, Medical diagnostics system

Gd OXIDE Thermal Stabilizer of glass, Burnable poison in nuclear reactor

Tb METAL Magntostrictive material, Photomagnetic Disc

Dy METAL Permanent magnet, Magnetic Refrigeration.

YTTRIUM OXIDE Basic material for phosphor, Stabilizer for artificial diamond, High temperature nozzles, Oxygen sensor

THORIUM NITRATE Gas mantles

THORIUM OXIDE Starters of fluorescent tubes.

TRI-SODIUM PHOSPHATE Detergents and as general purpose cleaning agent.

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