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Stages of Raw Material Beneficiation

The document discusses classifying the stages of beneficiation for raw materials into four stages: (1) saleable smelted or refined products, (2) fabrication alloys, (3) semi-manufactured articles, and (4) fabricated articles. It provides examples for chromium and gold to illustrate how ore moves through successive stages, from smelting to final fabricated products like stainless steel products or gold jewelry. The four stages involve changing the raw material's chemical composition or physical shape, with the final stage being more labor-intensive due to the diversity of product forms.

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10 views1 page

Stages of Raw Material Beneficiation

The document discusses classifying the stages of beneficiation for raw materials into four stages: (1) saleable smelted or refined products, (2) fabrication alloys, (3) semi-manufactured articles, and (4) fabricated articles. It provides examples for chromium and gold to illustrate how ore moves through successive stages, from smelting to final fabricated products like stainless steel products or gold jewelry. The four stages involve changing the raw material's chemical composition or physical shape, with the final stage being more labor-intensive due to the diversity of product forms.

Uploaded by

tinashe tagarira
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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b) In order to compare the levels of beneficiation for different raw materials, we must

devise a classification system. The following classification of the beneficiation


process into four separate stages is intended as a simplification of a very complex
process. The four stages of beneficiation after the production of the saleable raw
material or basic saleable product are as follows:
(i) Saleable smelted or refined products,
(i) Fabrication alloys,
(ii) Semi-manufactured articles, and
(iii) Fabricated articles.
In Zimbabwe there is no classification system that is precisely applicable to all
commodities, but below are the beneficiation routes for chromium and gold-suffice to
illustrate the successive stages of beneficiation.

In the case of chromium, ore is first smelted to ferrochromium; ferrochromium is


melted with iron and with other alloying elements to produce a fabrication alloy in the
form of stainless-steel billets; these are then rolled to produce semi-manufactured
articles in the form of flat stainless-steel products; and, finally, a great variety of
fabricated articles, ranging from teaspoons to pressure vessels, are produced from the
rolled flat products.

In the case of gold, the metal is extracted from the ore, smelted, and refined; it is then
alloyed with other metals, for example copper, to produce fabrication alloys suitable
for jewellery manufacture; semi-manufactured articles may then be produced, e.g. in
the form of granules of specified carat; and, finally, gold alloys are fabricated into
gold jewellery. Whereas the first three stages constitute successive steps in extractive
metallurgy and transform the chemical composition of the raw materials, the fourth
stage lies in the realm of engineering, and involves changes of physical shape rather
than of chemical composition. In contrast to the first three stages, which are capital-
intensive, the final stage is labour-intensive since the diversity of product shapes and
forms renders mass-production methods more difficult.

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