technologyComment of iron ore mine operation, 46% Fe (GLO): Data relate to open mining
technologyComment of iron ore beneficiation (IN): Milling and mechanical sorting. Average iron yield is 65% . The process so developed basically involves crushing, classification, processing of lumps, fines and slimes separately to produce concentrate suitable as lump and sinter fines and for pellet making. The quality is essentially defined as Fe contents, Level of SiO2 and Al2O3 contamination. The process aims at maximizing Fe recovery by subjecting the rejects/tailings generated from coarser size processing to fine size reduction and subsequent processing to recover iron values. technologyComment of iron ore beneficiation (RoW): Milling and mechanical sorting. Average iron yield is 84%. technologyComment of iron ore mine operation and beneficiation (CA-QC): Milling and mechanical sorting. Average iron yield is 75%. Specific data were collected on one of the two production site in Quebec. According to the documentation available, the technologies of the 2 mines seems similar. Uncertainity has been adjusted accordingly. technologyComment of niobium mine operation and beneficiation, from pyrochlore ore (BR, RoW): Open-pit mining is applied and hydraulic excavators are used to extract the ore with different grades, which is transported to stockpiles awaiting homogenization through earth-moving equipment in order to attain the same concentration. Conveyor belts (3.5 km) are utilized to transport the homogenized ore to the concentration unit. Initially, the ore passes through a jaw crusher and moves to the ball mills, where the pyrochlore grains (1 mm average diameter) are reduced to diameters less than 0.104 mm. In the ball mills, recycled water is added in order to i) granulate the concentrate and ii) remove the gas from the sintering unit. The granulated ore undergoes i) magnetic separation, where magnetite is removed and is sold as a coproduct and ii) desliming in order to remove fractions smaller than 5μm by utilizing cyclones. Then the ore enters the flotation process - last stage of the beneficiation process – where the pyrochlore particles come into contact with flotation chemicals (hydrochloric & fluorosilic acid, triethylamene and lime), thereby removing the solid fractions and producing pyrochlore concentrate and barite as a coproduct which is also sold. The produced concentrate contains 55% Nb2O5 and 11% water and moves to the sintering unit, via tubes or is transported in bags while the separated and unused minerals enter the tailings dam. In the sintering unit, the pyrochlore concentrate undergoes pelletizing, sintering, crushing and classification. These units not only accumulate the material but are also responsible for removing sulfur and water from the concentrate. Then the concentrate enters the dephosphorization unit, where phosphorus and lead are removed from the concentrate. The removal of sulphur and phosphorus have to be executed because of the local pyrochlore ore composition. Then the concentrate undergoes a carbothermic reduction by using charcoal and petroleum coke, producing a refined concentrate, 63% Nb2O5 and tailings with high lead content that are disposed in the tailings dam again. technologyComment of rare earth element mine operation and beneficiation, bastnaesite and monazite ore (CN-NM): Firstly, open pit, mining (drilling and blasting) is performed in order to obtain the iron ore and a minor quantity of rare earth ores (5−6 % rare earth oxide equivalent). Then, a two-step beneficiation process is applied to produce the REO concentrate. In the first step, ball milling and magnetic separation is used for the isolation of the iron ore. In the second step, the resulting REO tailing (containing monazite and bastnasite), is processed to get a 50% REO equivalent concentrate via flotation. technologyComment of rare earth oxides production, from rare earth oxide concentrate, 70% REO (CN-SC): This dataset refers to the separation (hydrochloric acid leaching) and refining (metallothermic reduction) process used in order to produce high-purity rare earth oxides (REO) from REO concentrate, 70% beneficiated. ''The concentrate is calcined at temperatures up to 600ºC to oxidize carbonaceous material. Then HCl leaching, alkaline treatment, and second HCl leaching is performed to produce a relatively pure rare earth chloride (95% REO). Hydrochloric acid leaching in Sichuan is capable of separating and recovering the majority of cerium oxide (CeO) in a short process. For this dataset, the entire quantity of Ce (50% cerium dioxide [CeO2]/REO) is assumed to be produced here as CeO2 with a grade of 98% REO. Foreground carbon dioxide CO2 emissions were calculated from chemical reactions of calcining beneficiated ores. Then metallothermic reduction produces the purest rare earth metals (99.99%) and is most common for heavy rare earths. The metals volatilize, are collected, and then condensed at temperatures of 300 to 400°C (Chinese Ministryof Environmental Protection 2009).'' Source: Lee, J. C. K., & Wen, Z. (2017). Rare Earths from Mines to Metals: Comparing Environmental Impacts from China's Main Production Pathways. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 21(5), 1277-1290. doi:10.1111/jiec.12491 technologyComment of scandium oxide production, from rare earth tailings (CN-NM): See general comment. technologyComment of vanadium-titanomagnetite mine operation and beneficiation (CN): Natural rutile resources are scarce in China. For that reason, the production of titanium stems from high-grade titanium slag, the production of which includes 2 processes: i) ore mining & dressing process and ii) titanium slag smelting process. During the ore mining and dressing process, ilmenite concentrate (47.82% TiO2) is produced through high-intensity magnetic separation of the middling ore, which is previously produced as a byproduct during the magnetic separation sub-process of the vanadium titano-magnetite ore. During the titanium slag smelting process, the produced ilmenite concentrate from the ore mining & dressing process is mixed with petroleum coke as the reducing agent and pitch as the bonding agent. Afterwards it enters the electric arc furnace, where it is smelted, separating iron from the ilmenite concentrate and obtaining high-grade titanium slag.