BENEFICIATION OF INDIAN LOW-GRADE PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS - PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Increasing food needs in the world have created an unprecedented demand for fertilizer materials, including phosphate and potash for which there are no known substitutes. Although there appear to be abundant resources of these important materials worldwide, the ore bodies have not been developed, because of inaccessibility, shortage of processing water, and/of environmental considerations. This situation is changing as higher fertilizer prices encourage development of new mining and processing enterprises. Research is in progress to develop economical processing methods for domestic low-grade resources and to cater future needs of phosphate for our nation. This article emphasises the importance of low grade phosphate ore beneficiation and the problems associated in beneficiation of different types of ores with special reference to the Indian deposits. Some of the viable methods are projected for utilization of the low grade Indian deposits. In this paper present scenario of the Indian phosphate fertilizers, classification of the Indian phosphate deposits and mineralogical characteristics of some typical rock phosphate samples of India are also summarised. A special mention is made of the recent developments carried out around the world for beneficiation of different types of phosphate ores. At the end, some of the immediate R&D needs for development of Indian fertilizer mineral industry are also mentioned.