Mineralogy — Phases, Texture & Processing
Iron Ore Materials
A mineral name tells you which iron-bearing phase dominates a material. It does not tell you the grade, the impurities, the sizing, the moisture — or whether a processing route will recover anything from it. Those are separate claims, each established by different evidence.
This page is for the point where chemistry alone has stopped answering the question. State the mineralogical evidence you hold and the route you propose, and the explorer below reports which phases that route depends on and what is still unestablished.
Price on request. No assay, phase proportion or performance figure is published on this page.
Mineralogy explorer
Which phases does your proposed route actually depend on?
State the evidence you hold and the processing route you propose. The explorer reports what that evidence establishes, which phases the route relies on, and what remains unestablished. It supplies no assay, phase proportion, threshold or recovery figure of its own.
Chemistry and mineralogy answer different questions. A chemical analysis can be complete and still leave the phases unidentified.
The route decides which phases matter. The same material depends on different properties depending on what you intend to do with it.
Moisture and sizing are established on the material as delivered, not inferred from its mineralogy.
Nothing selected yet
No phases are named because nothing has been stated. The most useful starting pair is the mineralogical evidence you hold and the route you propose — the route decides which phases matter, and the evidence decides which of them you can actually speak to.
Method and limits
- The explorer reports which questions your evidence can and cannot answer. It supplies no assay, phase proportion, threshold, recovery or performance figure.
- It never converts a mineral name into a grade. A phase label and a chemical figure are different claims, established by different methods.
- No stock, price, lead time or availability is estimated from anything entered here.
The materials
Grouped by what each mineral actually settles
These are mineralogical materials described by the processing question they bear on — not a graded list and not alternatives to one another. Open the one whose question is still open for you.
Hematite ore
An iron oxide phase, typically the dominant iron-bearing mineral in the ores most often traded as direct-shipping or sinter material.
Settles: What a hematite-dominant label does and does not carry — and why the sampling basis behind a quoted figure decides comparability.
Magnetite ore
An iron oxide phase with magnetic behaviour, which is what makes it amenable to magnetic separation in a beneficiation circuit.
Settles: Whether the route involves beneficiation, because the mineral's magnetic response is what a concentrator relies on.
What a label carries
The claims a mineral name does not make
Two things are consistently conflated on ore enquiries: which phase dominates, and how the material will perform. The first is a mineralogical observation. The second is a process outcome. They rest on different evidence.
| The claim | What establishes it | Does the mineral name carry it? |
|---|---|---|
| Iron content | A chemical determination with its analytical method and edition | No — a phase label and an assay are separate claims. |
| Impurity levels | Each element determined separately against the buyer's own limits | No — impurities vary between deposits and between lots of the same phase. |
| Size distribution | A sizing record with the method and sieve series that produced it | No — size is produced by handling and screening, not by mineralogy. |
| Moisture behaviour | A moisture figure with its mass basis, established on the material as delivered | No — and treating hydrated phases as a moisture prediction is not supportable. |
| Beneficiation response | Testwork on the material at the proposed grind and separation method | No — presence of a phase does not establish that it is recoverable. |
| Furnace or reduction suitability | Route-specific test results against the receiving process | No — suitability is relative to the plant and its operating conditions. |
The practical rule: use a mineral name to start a technical conversation, never to close one. When an offer rests on the mineralogy alone, the questions in the middle column above are the ones still unanswered.
Delivery destinations
Where the material has to arrive
Mineralogy travels with the material; the destination changes the documents and the delivery. Each route below is an import-planning page, not a claim of local presence.
Buying process
From mineralogical question to delivery
A compact route showing what happens between the point where chemistry stops answering and the handover — each stage tied to a real concern rather than a generic claim.
Route named
The processing route is stated, because it decides which phases matter.
Phases identified
Evidence is checked for whether it covers the phases that route depends on.
Texture established
Liberation at the proposed grind is what separates presence from recoverability.
Bases fixed
Method, moisture basis and sizing method travel with each figure.
| Buyer concern | How it is addressed | Evidence required |
|---|---|---|
| Mineral name treated as a grade | The enquiry separates phase identification from chemical determination. | An assay with its analytical method, distinct from any mineralogical description. |
| Presence assumed to mean recovery | Liberation at the proposed grind is checked before a separation route is relied on. | A texture study from microscopy or electron imaging. |
| Moisture predicted from mineralogy | Moisture is established on the material as delivered, not inferred from a phase label. | A moisture figure with its wet or dry mass basis. |
| Figures quoted without their basis | Each figure is required to name the method that produced it. | Method and edition stated against every determination. |
| Route left unstated | The processing route is named at intake because it decides which properties govern. | A stated intended process route in the enquiry. |
Buyer FAQ
Questions that come up before a material is specified
These are the questions metallurgical and procurement teams raise while narrowing an ore requirement to a mineralogical material — not definitions, which the sections above already cover.
Is a mineral name a grade?
Does the presence of a mineral mean it can be recovered?
Can moisture behaviour be predicted from mineralogy?
What is the difference between chemistry and mineralogy?
What has to be established before two ore offers can be compared?
Request a Quote
Send the mineralogical evidence alongside the chemical figures, with the processing route named. The commercial desk can then respond to the properties your route actually governs rather than to a mineral label.
- Route named, so the phases that matter are identified
- Each figure carrying its method and basis
- Outstanding evidence flagged before an offer is compared
Moisture and sizing are established on the material as delivered, not inferred from its mineralogy.
Carry the record into an enquiry
Copy the mineralogy record and attach it, or state the fields directly. Nothing is pre-filled.
Complete the explorer above to generate a record you can attach.