Bauxite mining and refining
Sustainable and cost-efficient alumina production solutions
Available alumina and reactive silica define ore grade and conditions for bauxite refining. Malvern Panalytical’ s predictive solutions help to efficiently sort and blend bauxite, ensure optimal and profitable extraction of available alumina, and support sustainable and safe waste management (red mud).
Our expertise and solutions range from direct conveyor belt analysis to laboratory analysis and complete automated quality control. We deliver tailored analytical solutions for exploration geologists, mine planners, process engineers, laboratory and quality managers as well as geometallurgists.
Bauxite Mining
Prior to extracting bauxite ore, deposits must be evaluated to gain knowledge about the grade distribution within an ore body to optimize mine planning.
Malvern Panalytical’s analytical solutions enable grade definition directly in the field with mineralogical (NIR) and elemental (XRF) analyzers.
Real-time ore monitoring
Our solutions for real-time monitoring on conveyor belts (elemental and mineralogical) with its fast feedback loops, enable fast counteractions on changing bauxite composition directly in the mine and effective ore sorting.
Optimal bauxite blends with constant composition secure optimal use of caustic soda and other reagents during refining and avoid costly processing of waste material. Control of the moisture content on the conveyor belt using near-infrared (NIR) technology, together with accurate monitoring of the composition of iron ore before shipment, guaranties constant ore quality to avoids penalties.
Analysis technologies
Our laboratory solutions, tailored to the specific requirements of your mine, provide accurate and fast information whether it is benchtop or stand-alone equipment or completely automated laboratories.
Our expertise in XRF sample preparation, especially to produce high quality glass disks using fusion machines, are the basis for accurate elemental analysis according to international norms. The use of modern technologies such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) to predict available alumina and reactive silica, reduces the need for costly, time intense and unsafe wet chemistry.
Die Zetium Minerals Edition
Major, minor and trace element analysis of bauxite and alumina
Aeris Minerals Edition
Easy analysis of available alumina, reactive silica and mineralogy of bauxite
Claisse TheOx Advanced
High speed preparation of glass disks for XRF analysis
Automatisierungslösungen
Automated process control solutions
Alumina refining
Efficiency of alumina refineries, minimal use of energy per ton alumina and highest recovery rates depend on bauxite composition, impurity level of the process liquor and optimal caustic soda consumption. Our portable and flexible elemental analysers are perfectly suitable to monitor impurity levels of bauxite and process liquors directs in the refinery even in remote areas.
Particle size and distribution as well as the crystallographic modification are key variables that define quality of alumina and directly impact the rate of dissolution of alumina in the aluminium smelters. To meet the required alumina specifications our on-line particle size analyzers are designed to operate in rough process environments. Economic benefits are:
- Control of fines to avoid health, safety and environmental issues during transport
- Reduction of waste, energy consumption and manpower for manual measurements
- Avoid reprocessing “out-of-spec” material
Waste management
Epsilon Xflow
Elemental monitoring of mine wastewater
Zetasizer Produktlinie
Surface characterization to optimize use of caustic soda, settling rates and flocculant consumption
Epsilon 4 für Bergbau und Mineralien
Easy elemental monitoring for sustainable waste management
Mastersizer 3000
Particle size distribution (PSD) analysis of rejects to ensure sustainable mine operation
Further reading
Overview of NIR in Bauxite Exploration and Mining
Aluminum is the most abundant metal found in the Earth’s crust, the main so...
Grade control of bauxites using X-ray diffraction (XRD)
XRD can be used for fast and accurate cluster analysis, phase identificatio...
Electrolytic bath analysis for aluminium industries
The production of aluminium from purified alumina by electrolysis (Hall-Hér...
Analysis of major and minor elements in bauxite samples prepared as fused beads
This data sheet describes the analysis of major and minor elements present...