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Cobalt recovery from the Iron Creek deposit using physical beneficiation
Bishop, Emma
Bishop, Emma
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2023
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2025-06-24
Abstract
Cobalt is defined as a critical mineral by the U.S. Department of Energy, commonly used in lithium-ion batteries, jet turbines, and steel alloys. Currently, the U.S. is nearly completely dependent on imports for its cobalt supply. Due to this, efforts to mine and refine cobalt domestically are being pursued. This thesis describes part of the effort of Electra Battery Materials to create a functional cobalt mine at the Iron Creek deposit, located in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. The focus of this research is to examine the feasibility of physical beneficiation methods on different mineral samples in an attempt to improve the cobalt grade, and to create an economically feasible flowsheet when combined with the other research sections of this project. Specifically, the physical beneficiation methods tested were magnetic separation, heavy liquid separation, and electrostatic separation. The feed materials tested were a deposit sample, a bulk flotation concentrate, a thermal decomposition product of the bulk flotation concentrate, a differential flotation concentrate, and a thermal decomposition product of the differential flotation concentrate. Bond work index testing and sortation sampling was also performed on the deposit samples. It was determined that magnetic separation of the thermal decomposition products showed the most success in increasing the cobalt grade in the concentrate of all methods tested and is the most likely to be used in a flowsheet. Testing of the deposit samples and bulk flotation concentrate also showed promising results in the heavy liquid separation and electrostatic separation but are less likely to be used due to being less efficient than other already established methods. Preliminary leaching testing was then performed on the magnetic product of the thermal decomposition magnetic separation testing to examine the response.
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