ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with mining waste resulting from extraction and beneficiation processes. Mineral beneficiation consists of the manipulation of the physical properties of the ore to produce desired particle sizes for a final product. Comminution aims to reduce the size of solid particles so as to liberate the valuable minerals from the gangue and to increase the surface area for chemical reaction in subsequent processes. Gravity concentration uses the differences in the size and shapes of particles and the specific gravities of minerals to enable separation by force of gravity. Dense medium separation on the other hand not only exploits the difference between the specific gravity of the particles, but also utilizes the variation in the effective specific gravity of the material of a fluid medium. Magnetic separation is extensively used in the mining industry in the processing of, for example, iron ore, and ilmenite. Flotation is the process which utilizes differences in surface properties of wanted and unwanted minerals.
