Mining and beneficiation of phosphate rocks : prospects of unexploited phosphate deposits in the ًWestern Desert, Iraq

Abstract EN

Iraq has been producing phosphate since 1983 from the Akashat mine.

Mining is being carried out by open cast strip mining method due to the stratiform nature of the phosphate beds and low stripping ratio.

Phosphate beneficiation is carried out at the phosphate beneficiation Plant at Al-Qaim Fertilizer Complex to raise the content of P2O5 from 19 – 20 % to about 30% through the calcination process.

Recent study has been carried out to beneficiate Akashat phosphate by froth floatation techniques, the results indicated the possibility of increasing the content P2O5 to the levels required for the fertilizer industry and other industrial uses.

The massive discoveries of phosphate rock reserves in the Western Desert indicate that the deposit has a high variable stripping ratios and different content of P2O5 as well as different levels and contents of associated gangue minerals and compounds.

Accordingly it became necessary to outline some of the mining problems and the best methods of beneficiation techniques in which the phosphate components can be increased.

The results obtained in the research conducted on samples of phosphate rock from unexploited phosphate in the Western Desert showed the possibility of increasing the content of P2O5 up to 30% using the traditional calcination method and some deposits need only simple beneficiation processes