Mineralogical Imaging for Characterization of the Per Geijer Apatite Iron Ores in the Kiruna District, Northern Sweden: A Comparative Study of Mineral Liberation Analysis and Raman Imaging

Abstract

The Per Geijer iron oxide apatite deposits are important potential future resources for Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) which has been continuously mining magnetite/hematite ores in northern Sweden for over 125 years. Reliable and quantitative characterization of the mineralization is required as these ores inherit complex mineralogical and textural features. Scanning electron microscopy-based analyses software, such as mineral liberation analyzer (MLA) provide significant, time-efficient analyses. Similar elemental compositions of Fe-oxides and, therefore, almost identical backscattered electron (BSE) intensities complicate their discrimination. In this study, MLA and Raman imaging are compared to acquire mineralogical data for better characterization of magnetite and hematite-bearing ores. The different approaches demonstrate advantages and disadvantages in classification, imaging, discrimination of iron oxides, and time consumption of measurement and processing. The obtained precise mineralogical information improves the characterization of ore types and will benefit future processing strategies for this complex mineralization.