Studying on mineralogical and petrological characteristics of Gara Djebilet oolitic iron ore, Tindouf (Algeria)

Demand for iron ore worldwide has been steadily increasing which leads to the extraction of iron ore deposits with more complex mineralogies and higher levels of silicon and phosphorus impurities. This is the case in Algeria with the iron ore deposit of Gara Djebilet, Tindouf; where it has recently been exploited to ensure the sufficiency of iron ore required to produce iron and steel products. This deposit has remained unexploited for several decades due to inadequate knowledge of its mineralogy, treatment, and economic assessments. This study aims to find out the microstructure, chemical composition, and mineralogical distribution of valuable minerals and impurities, to understand the efficient processing methods for this specific iron ore. The characterization of representative ironstone samples taken from the studied area was carried out using optical microscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF), petrographic microscope, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results of the mineralogical analyses confirmed that it is an oolitic fine-grained ore consisting of gangue minerals principally composed of quartz, apatite, and iron-rich concentric cored structures. Chemical analyses of the ore indicated that it contains 56.58 wt% Fe with 7.98 wt% SiO2, 7.09 wt% Al2O3, and minor amounts of P2O5, CaO, MgO, and TiO2 compounds. The phosphorus associated was present in both ooids and groundmass, indicating that the ore has a complex texture with very rich and diverse mineralogy. For that, two conceptual scenarios were potentially proposed for processing the studied iron ore, while further detailed automated mineralogical information was required to make sure about the processing units from a practical perspective.