Quality Characteristics and Washability Treatment of Nickeliferous Iron Ore of Agios Athanasios Deposit (Kastoria, Greece)

Abstract

The Agios Athanasios ore deposit is located within the wider area of Ieropigi in Kastoria, Greece. The specific ore deposit is developed in form of layers between ophiolites and Tertiary molassic conglomerates. The main mineralogical components are hematite, goethite, quartz, and secondarily, garnierite, lizardite, saponite, willemzeite and sepiolite, while scarcers are chromite, calcite and nepouite. Nickel is mainly found in garnierite, willemzeite and nepouite, which in coexistence with quartz are the main components in the binder material of the ore. For the mineral processing gravimetric and magnetic separations are used in the size of fractions -8 + 4 mm, -4 + 1 mm, -1 + 0.250 mm and -0.250 + 0.063 mm. The chemical and mineralogical analysis in combination with microscopic examination showed that mineral processing by gravimetric separation gave the most satisfactory results for the size fraction -1 + 0.250 mm.