The present invention relates to a process for the production of iron ore fines agglomerate, resistant to handling, transport, and contact with water. The process consists of mixing iron ore fines with sodium silicate, nanomaterials, catalyst, fluxes and plasticizer; adjusting the moisture of the mixture; agglomerating the mixture by pelletizing, briquetting or extrusion; performing curing at room temperature. The process does not require energy input for heat treatment and allows obtaining an agglomerated product with high physical and metallurgical performance to replace metallic load, including sinter, in reduction furnaces, without the emission of harmful gases such as CO.sub.2, dioxins, furans, and SO.sub.x.

A process for pelletizing particles of a fine mineral ore, the process comprises the steps of a) mixing the particles of a fine mineral ore with a binder composition to obtain a pellet feed, b) forming the pellet feed into balls, c) drying the balls to form dried balls, d) preheating the dried balls at 60 to 105° C. until constant weight to form preheated balls, e) subsequently heating the preheated balls to a temperature of 1200° C. to 1400° C. to obtain pellets,
wherein the binder composition comprises a) at least one colloid agent which exerts a cohesive force on the particles of a fine mineral ore forming the pellets, and b) at least one synthetic polymer which disperses the particles of a fine mineral ore in the pellets,
wherein the synthetic polymer is a maleic acid/acrylic acid or a maleic acid/methacrylic acid copolymer.

A process for pelletizing particles of a fine mineral ore, the process comprises the steps of a) mixing the particles of a fine mineral ore with a binder composition to obtain a pellet feed, b) forming the pellet feed into balls, c) drying the balls to form dried balls, d) preheating the dried balls at 60 to 105° C. until constant weight to form preheated balls, e) subsequently heating the preheated balls to a temperature of 1200° C. to 1400° C. to obtain pellets,
wherein the binder composition comprises a) at least one colloid agent which exerts a cohesive force on the particles of a fine mineral ore forming the pellets, and b) at least one synthetic polymer which disperses the particles of a fine mineral ore in the pellets,
wherein the synthetic polymer is a maleic acid/acrylic acid or a maleic acid/methacrylic acid copolymer.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for smelting oxide ore, the method being capable of efficiently producing high quality metal. The present invention pertains to a smelting method for producing a metal such as ferronickel as a reduced product by reducing a mixture of a carbonaceous reducing agent and an oxide ore such as nickel oxide ore, the method comprising a reduction step in which the mixture is charged into a reduction furnace and the oxide ore is reduced by heating the mixture with a burner to obtain molten metal and slag. In the reduction step, the molten metal and the slag generated by reducing the oxide ore are separated by gravity separation. In the reduction step, it is preferable to heat the mixture such that the temperatures of the metal and the slag obtained in the reduction furnace are each in the range of 1300-1700° C.

A system and method for dry ablation beneficiation of ore. The system comprises a nozzle to emit an air stream, and a feeder to provide ore particles for entraining in the air stream and colliding. The ore comprises gangue grains bound together with a cementing material. The cementing material comprises a desired material. The collisions are controlled to help preferentially break the cementing material over breaking the bonds holding a gangue grain together. The system also comprises a classifier to separate broken cementing material from the remaining material (which includes gangue grains) based on size. The method comprises entraining the ore particles in an air stream and colliding to preferentially break the cementing material. The ore particles may be collided with each other or a surface. The broken cementing materials are then separated from the remaining materials (which includes gangue grains). The enriched ore is the separated cementing material.

A system and method for dry ablation beneficiation of ore. The system comprises a nozzle to emit an air stream, and a feeder to provide ore particles for entraining in the air stream and colliding. The ore comprises gangue grains bound together with a cementing material. The cementing material comprises a desired material. The collisions are controlled to help preferentially break the cementing material over breaking the bonds holding a gangue grain together. The system also comprises a classifier to separate broken cementing material from the remaining material (which includes gangue grains) based on size. The method comprises entraining the ore particles in an air stream and colliding to preferentially break the cementing material. The ore particles may be collided with each other or a surface. The broken cementing materials are then separated from the remaining materials (which includes gangue grains). The enriched ore is the separated cementing material.

A direct reduction process for the production of ferrochrome from chromite ore or concentrate is disclosed. According to the present invention, calcium chloride (CaCl.sub.2) is added as a catalyst to accelerate the solid reduction and enhance the particle growth of the metallic phase (i.e. ferrochrome) during reduction. The reduction of chromite ore or concentrate takes place at much lower temperatures (e.g. 1200 to 1400° C.) compared to the conventional smelting technologies, and the ferrochrome particles formed are segregated from the unwanted residual gangue and spinel particles, facilitating their subsequent physical separation.

A method for manufacturing green or thermally treated briquettes which are made up of at least one quick calcium-magnesium compound that is an iron-based compound. The method includes the steps of supplying a homogeneous pulverulent mixture to a roller press, the press having pockets where the pulverulent mixture is compressed to form the green briquettes. The rollers of the roller press develop linear speeds at the periphery of the rollers between 10 and 100 cm/s and linear pressures between 60 and 160 kN/cm. The method can also include a thermal treatment of the green briquettes to produce fired briquettes containing calcium ferrite, the briquettes having a Shatter Test Index less than 8%, and a porosity value greater than or equal to 30%.

A method for manufacturing green or thermally treated briquettes which are made up of at least one quick calcium-magnesium compound that is an iron-based compound. The method includes the steps of supplying a homogeneous pulverulent mixture to a roller press, the press having pockets where the pulverulent mixture is compressed to form the green briquettes. The rollers of the roller press develop linear speeds at the periphery of the rollers between 10 and 100 cm/s and linear pressures between 60 and 160 kN/cm. The method can also include a thermal treatment of the green briquettes to produce fired briquettes containing calcium ferrite, the briquettes having a Shatter Test Index less than 8%, and a porosity value greater than or equal to 30%.

A binder for use in leaching a heap of a low-permeability ore containing at least one of the following: copper ore, copper/cobalt ore, nickel laterite ore and uranium ore, wherein the binder comprises an acid-proof cement formed by modifying ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with a supplementary cementitious material (SCM).