CHARACTERIZATION AND PROCESSING OF AN ILMENITE-RICH WEATHERING CRUST FROM A HEAVY MINERAL SAND DEPOSIT

This thesis investigates the laboratory-scale beneficiation of a clay-rich weathering crust heavy mineral sand (HMS) sample from the Byrzulivske ilmenite deposit, Ukraine. It addresses a gap in the published literature on the systematic beneficiation of clay-bearing weathering crust ilmenite deposits. A systematic laboratory beneficiation flowsheet was designed and investigated, comprising feed characterization, pre-treatment, gravity separation and magnetic separation. The feed characterization confirmed that the sample was slightly weathered, as indicated by the Ti/(Ti+FeTOT) ratio. Attrition scrubbing optimization identified low impeller speed, low solids% and intermediate scrubbing time as operating windows, combining hydraulic classification and screening. The pre-treatment step achieved a Ti-based enrichment ratio of 2.02, followed by modelling and optimization of the laboratory shaking table. Two particle size classes were tested on a two-stage shaking table, with the coarse size class demonstrating superior performance at the cleaner stage, indicating a trade-off between solids% and density-based enrichment ratio. Finally, the magnetic separation of the wet shaking table concentrates confirmed near complete Ti recovery at low applied strengths, consistent with altered ilmenite mineralogy having a Ti concentrate of 20.68% with a recovery of 99.88%. Size-fraction-specific processing flowsheets are proposed, contributing to the EU¿s strategic objective of developing domestic Titanium feedstock supply chains.