Morphological and mineralogical characterizations of oolitic iron ore in the Exi region, China

The morphological and mineralogical characterizations of a Chinese oolitic iron ore (Exi deposit) were studied by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in this work. It is shown that the Exi ore is mainly composed of hematite, quartz, apatite, and chlorite. The hematite is present as the oolitic layers and in the spaces between the aggregated ooids; quartz exists as granular particles in the spaces and as nucleuses in ooids; the harmful mineral, apatite, is associated with hematite as the oolitic layers, fine dissemination, granular particles in the spaces, and nucleuses in ooids. From the viewpoint of mineral beneficiation, it is hard to separate apatite and chlorite but easy to separate quartz from hematite in the Exi iron ore in recovering the iron values.