Characterization and differentiation of iron ores using X-ray diffractometry,k0 instrumental neutron activation analysis and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

This study was aimed at developing methodology for the characterization and differentiation of iron ores from different ore deposits. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) was used for the determination of major and minor chemical phases in the ores, k₀-instrumental neutron activation analysis (k₀-INAA) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) were employed for the determination of elemental profiles of iron ores. The quality of the ores was evaluated to establish their suitability to serve as a raw material for iron production. Principal component analysis was performed on the elemental data for the classification of ores. It was also shown that ores can be differentiated on the basis of rare earth elemental profiles. In this paper a new indicator, based on four elements (Ca, S, Sb, Yb), was proposed for the classification.