Limult Marcasite Mining and Processing in Nigeria
Marcasite is formed by precipitation from acidic waters in surface or near-surface environments. it is commonly found in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and hydrothermal deposits in many parts of the world. Marcasite has historically been used as a source of sulfur.
Marcasite can be said to be similar to pyrite in appearance and physical properties, and it has the same chemical composition. However, the two minerals differ in crystal structure. Pyrite crystallizes in the isometric system, while marcasite is orthorhombic.
The most important difference between pyrite and marcasite is their difference in stability in the surface and near-surface environment. Marcasite is much more reactive than pyrite, and it alters at a much more rapid rate. Marcasite will tarnish rapidly when exposed to the weather and will even tarnish in the specimen drawers of a classroom.
When stored in a location with moderate humidity, marcasite specimens can alter to form ferrous sulfate minerals. In the presence of moisture or humidity, these sulfate minerals can produce small amounts of sulfuric acid that can damage specimen notecards, specimen boxes, and adjacent specimens. The reaction can discolor the wood or cause rusting of the drawers of a specimen cabinet. Marcasite specimens should be stored where humidity can be controlled and where any alteration will not cause damage.
Occurrence of Marcasite
Marcasite has an economic significance when it is found in coal. It contributes to the sulfur dioxide emissions during the combustion of coal. When coals are analyzed for their sulfur content, they are often leached in the lab with nitric acid. The amount of sulfide mineral in the sample is estimated by calculation based upon the amount of dissolved iron in the nitric acid leach. The result is reported as “pyritic sulfur” - which disregards that some of the iron might have been contributed by marcasite. Most coal seams contain very little marcasite, but in some coal seams marcasite can be the dominant sulfide mineral and primary source of sulfur.
Marcasite can form in organic-rich clays and peats during their sedimentation or during diagenesis. The organic debris in these sediments produces a slightly acidic environment that is conducive to the formation of sulfide minerals. Pyrite is the more common sulfide to form, but this is also a common environment of marcasite.
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Limult Marble Mining and Processing Factory in Nigeria
Marble is one of the principal raw materials for cement manufacture, very essential for a rapidly growing nation like Nigeria. These industrial rocks can be said to be already in extensive use in Nigeria. Used mostly for one purpose – the production of building and constructional materials.
Several cement factories have been built by government and even individuals to utilize the marble deposits in their respective areas. The output of cement from these companies is quite high, though grossly insufficient to cope with the high demand caused by the appreciable rise in domestic construction.
Limestone and marble are extremely valuable industrial rock raw materials. Construction and cement manufacturing industries are principal consumers. They are also used in the production of chemicals, fertilizer, abrasives, industrial fillers, ceramics, etc.
Limestone and Marble Formation
Most limestone is formed with the help of living organisms. Many marine organisms extract calcium carbonate from seawater to make shells or bones. Mussels, clams, oysters, and corals do this. So too do microscopic organisms such as foraminifera.
When the organisms die their shells and bones settle to the seafloor and accumulate there. Wave action may break the shells and bones into smaller fragments, forming a carbonates and or mud. Over millions of years, these sediments of shells, sand, and mud may harden into limestone. Coquina is a type of limestone containing large fragments of shell and coral.
Chalk is a type of limestone formed of shells of microscopic animals. Limestone can also be formed without the aid of living organisms. If water containing calcium carbonate is evaporated, the calcium carbonate is left behind and will crystalize out of solution. As the hot water evaporates and cools, it can no longer hold all of the calcium carbonate dissolved in it and some of it crystallizes out, forming limestone terraces.
Limestone formed from springs is called travertine. Calcium carbonate also precipitates in shallow tropical seas and lagoons where high temperatures cause seawater to evaporate. Such limestone is called oolite.
Marble is a form of limestone transformed through the heat and pressure of metamorphism into a dense, variously coloured, crystallized rock.
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Limult Trona Mining and Processing Factory in Nigeria
Trona is mined using electric mining machines, usually a bore miner or continuous miner to remove the trona ore. After mining, the ore is transferred, via shuttle car and conveyor to skips for transport to the surface.
Once on the surface, the raw trona is converted into usable soda ash via a multi-step purification process:
- The trona ore is precision crushed and screened.
- The sized trona ore is heated in calciners to eliminate unwanted gases and transform it into crude sodium carbonate.
- Water is added, to dissolve the crude sodium carbonate, and the resulting solution is filtered for purification.
- The water is evaporated out, leaving a soda ash crystal slurry.
- The slurry is centrifuged to separate any remaining water from the soda ash crystals.
- These soda ash crystals are dried in rotary driers before being sent to storage bins, ready for shipment.
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Limult Tantalite Mining and Processing Factory in Nigeria
Tantalum is in grey colour, heavy and very hard metal with a melting point of over 3000 degrees Celsius. It is classified as a "refractory" metal, which means it can sustain high temperatures and resist corrosion. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity, which makes it useful in various electronics. Pure tantalum can be drawn into fine wire filament, which is used to evaporate other metals.
Tantalum is found in hard rock deposits such as granites, carbonites and pegmatites (igneous rock that consists of coarse granite). It is not an abundant metal, and mining it is difficult. There are only a handful of countries that mine it. The demand for tantalum has increased over the past 20 years, especially in the computer and electrical sectors. Sites are being identified for future development, and existing sites are being evaluated for expansion.
How Tantalum is Mined
Tantalum comes from the processing and refining of tantalite. Tantalite is the common name for any mineral ore containing tantalum. Most tantalum mines are open pit; some are underground. The process of mining tantalum involves blasting, crushing and transporting the resulting ore to begin the process of freeing the tantalum. The ore is then concentrated at or near the mine site, to increase the percentage (by weight) of tantalum oxide and niobium. The material is concentrated through wet gravity techniques, gravity, electrostatic and electromagnetic processes.
How Tantalum is Processed
The tantalum concentrate is transported to the processor for chemical processing. The concentrate is then treated with a mixture of hydrofluoric and sulphuric acids at high temperatures. This causes the tantalum and niobium to dissolve as fluorides. Numerous impurities are also dissolved.
Other ores, such as silicon, iron, manganese, titanium, zirconium, uranium and thorium, are generally present and processed for other uses. The concentrate is broken down into a slurry. The slurry is filtered and further processed by solvent extraction. Using methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), or liquid ion exchange using an amine extractant in keroses, produces highly purified solutions of tantalum and niobium. Finally, this tantalum oxide is reduced with molten sodium to produce tantalum metal.
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Limult Talc Mining and Processing Factory in Nigeria
Talc is a vital part of everyday life. It is the world's softest mineral. Although all talc ores are soft, platy, water repellent and chemically inert, no two talc are quite the same.
Talc can be crushed into a white powder that is widely known as "talcum powder." This powder has the ability to absorb moisture, absorb oils, absorb odor, serve as a lubricant, and produce an astringent effect with human skin. These properties have made talcum powder an important ingredient in many baby powders, foot powders, first aid powders, and a variety of cosmetics.
A form of talc known as "soapstone" is also widely known. This soft rock is easily carved and has been used to make ornamental and practical objects for thousands of years. It has been used to make sculptures, bowls, countertops, sinks, hearths, pipe bowls, and many other objects.
Although talcum powder and soapstone are two of the more visible uses of talc, they account for a very small fraction of talc consumption. Its hidden uses are far more common. Talc's unique properties make it an important ingredient for making ceramics, paint, paper, roofing materials, plastics, rubber, insecticides, and many other products.
Talc is usually green, white, gray, brown, or colorless. It is a translucent mineral with a pearly luster. It is the softest known mineral and is assigned a hardness of 1 on the Mohs Hardness scale.
Talc is a monoclinic mineral with a sheet structure similar to the micas. Talc has perfect cleavage that follows planes between the weakly bonded sheets. These sheets are held together only by van der Waals bonds, which allows them to slip past one another easily. This characteristic is responsible for talc's extreme softness, its greasy, soapy feel, and its value as a high-temperature lubricant.
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Limult Phosphate Mining and Processing Factory in Nigeria
Phosphorus is not one of the most common elements in Earth's crust and mantle, yet it essential for all life, plant and animal. Phosphorus makes up our bones and teeth, and importantly, phosphorus comprises DNA.
Even though plants require more nitrogen and oxygen than they do phosphorus, phosphorus is often the limiting nutrient; the amount of available phosphorus determines the amount of plant growth and development. Where phosphorus is plentiful, plants thrive, and vice versa. However, plants cannot absorb limitless amounts of phosphorus. Phosphorus not used by plants remains in the soil or runs off in streams and groundwater.
In a given area of land, plants grow and remove phosphorus from the soil. But then those plants die, and the phosphorus is their tissues is recycled back into the soil. When land is farmed, plants absorb the phosphorus, but then the plants are removed to be eaten. Because this reduces the amount of soil phosphorus available, humans started adding phosphorus fertilizer to soils.
Some of the fertilizer was organic, from ground up bones or mined guano (bat dung). But humans then started mining phosphorus from both igneous and sedimentary (but mostly sedimentary) rock. The use of inorganic phosphate fertilizer (aka chemical fertilizer) greatly altered the phosphorus cycle.
Phosphorus in rock is pretty insoluble and thus not directly available to plants. In nature, rock phosphate can become soluble (and available to plants) either by chemical weathering or through the actions of certain types of plants. The solubility also depends on rock type and the pH of the soil; phosphorus is most soluble when contained in sedimentary rocks as opposed to igneous rock, and when soil pH is between 5.5 and 7.2.
Therefore, spreading phosphate rock on fields had little effect on plant growth. However, in the mid-1800s, chemists discovered that mixing sulfuric acid with phosphate rock would make a soluble fine powder called superphosphate; this discovery turned phosphate rock into the valuable fertilizer it is today. A caveat, however, is that once fertilizer is applied to the soil, the phosphorus not absorbed by plants can adhere to soil or clay particles, and become an insoluble solid once again.
LIMULT is a leading specialty chemicals company. The core business of LIMULT in the chemical Industry is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates.
Contact us at
+2347052446249 for more information on our redefining industry development
services or visit our store at www.limult.com/shop to see more products
that we make available for the people.