Chrome mines

Concentrates

ELENILTO MINERALS & MINING owns gold, copper, iron ore, chrome, titanium, bauxite, manganese and other minerals exploration and mining licenses in Africa and Europe and has a more than 100 exploration and mining projects with over 10,000,000 sq.m. for Chrome and other minerals in Albania, Tanzania, Ghana, and Liberia varying stages of progress, several of which are highly prospective for significant economical ore deposits.

Mineral concentrates are the intermediate form of mostly metallurgical feed-stock going into the final stages of processing and refining, yielding the metallic products.

Engelinvest Group is investing in the exploration and production of various industrial metals with new mines and projects expected to boost output by 2009-2010. At the first stage the following copper & Chrome concentrates will be produced and handled.

Chromium Concentrates

The principal economically viable ore is chromite which is a type of a spinel (FeCr2O4). The chromite ores are sold worldwide as selectively mined lumpy ore with a chromium oxide (Cr2O3) of 35% or above, and concentrates enriched by grinding and gravity or magnetic separations having a min. 40% chromium oxide. The high grade lumpy ore or the concentrated are the smelter feed-stock for the production of ferrochrome and pure chrome oxide.

Although chromium occurs in many  minerals, the only ore exploited commercially is chromite. This spinel mineral is ideally composed of ferrous oxide and chromic oxide with the chemical composition FeO • Cr2O3, but it is often found in nature with magnesia (MgO) substituting for FeO and alumina (A12O3) or ferric oxide (Fe2O3) substituting for Cr2O3. Other minerals such as silica (SiO2) are also present. The bulk of chromite reserves are found in stratiform deposits (thin, even layers covering a broad

area), but podiform deposits (scattered, pod-shaped formations of varying size) are also important. The major sources are South Africa, Zimbabwe, Russia, Turkey, Albania, the Philippines, and Finland. Chromite deposits are mined by both underground and surface techniques. Much of the ore is rich enough to be used directly: for production of ferrochromium, a rich, lumpy ore containing more than 46 percent Cr2O3 and having a chromium-iron ratio greater than 2:1 is  preferred, but  ores with a lower ratio and as little as 40 percent Cr2O3 are also used. (Ores high in alumina are preferred for processing into refractory brick.) As finely divided ores, which do not smelt efficiently, come under greater exploitation, a number of processes are employed to agglomerate them for more satisfactory use in furnaces. Fines can be blended with fluxes and coke (the principal source of carbon) and then preheated or “prereduced” before being charged into an electric smelting furnace. Chromium (Cr) has a wide range of uses in metals, chemicals, and refractories. It is one of the Nation's most important strategic and critical materials. Chromium use in iron, steel, and nonferrous alloys enhances hardenability and resistance to corrosion and oxidation. The use of chromium to produce stainless steel and nonferrous alloys are two of its more important applications. Other applications are in alloy steel, plating of metals, pigments, leather processing, catalysts, surface treatments, and refractories.