Beneficiation and Upgrading of Low-Grade Feldspar Ore in Medina, Saudi Arabia

Large reserves of feldspar ore deposits are found in the alkali granite rocks at Al-Madinah province, Saudi Arabia. Magnetic separation and flotation tests were used in order to achieve the aims of this study which are: reduce the iron and titanium contents of Medina feldspar ore, which impart color and decrease the feldspar quality, as well as produce a high-quality feldspar concentrate, which meets the commercial grade of the raw material specifications for the ceramics and glass industry. The obtained results from this study showed that the efficient separation of Feand Ti-bearing minerals could be achieved by a combination of the dry high-intensity magnetic separator at 14.000 gauss and the direct cationic flotations under 500 g/ton dosage of Aero 801 + Aero 825 + Aero 830 mixture in an acidic medium at pH 3. The feldspar concentrate was produced with 65.18 wt.% SiO2, 19.02 wt.% Al2O3, 0.06 wt.% Fe2O3, 0.09 wt.% TiO2 9.09 wt.% K2O and 6.01 wt.% Na2O grades, which meet the commercial scale of feldspar.