ASSESSMENT OF THE ECONOMIC RECOVERABILITY OF
MAGNETITE AS AN IRON ORE IN SOUTH WESTERN MWINGI AREA
ABSTRACT
Though iron oxide deposits are vastly distributed in South Western part of Mwingi
area, no exploration or prospection of it was carried out. Therefore, this problem
formed the basis of this project. The main aim was to establish whether or not the
iron oxide deposits, in particular magnetite deposits, are economically recoverable
through the investigation of the quality and extent of magnetite and other iron
oxide deposits. Some of the literatures provided an insight on the least amount of
iron metal content that a deposit should have for it to be economically recoverable,
which is 25% iron metal content.
Some of the methods used to determine the quality and extent of magnetite and
other iron oxide deposits were; geochemical analytical methods, x-ray
fluorescence, and using processed remote sensed satellite images. From the results
and interpretations of the images, it was clear that the area has high grade
magnetite deposits whose iron metal content is about 41.9%, 64.9% and 65.7%,
obtained from the analysis of magnetite concentrate that was separated from heavy
mineral sand collected from River Gunini, the remaining heavy mineral sand and a
magnetite rock, respectively.
It was also observed to have extensive deposits of iron oxide and this was
interpreted from Landsat satellite images that were processed using ETM+
(Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus) data which is multispectral and high resolution
software. The bands that were used include 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for observing the
lithological units, lineaments and the iron oxide deposits.
The project was concluded with the successful achievement of its aim and
objectives