AL-Hussein Bin Talal University Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering

Silica sand In Jordan

Presented By:

Mo`men Mohsen

• What is silica sand?• Geological Setting • Resources of minerals in Jordan • Silica Sand Reserves in Jordan• Production, Company.• Application • Mining & Processing.• Hazard.

Silica – It’s Not Just Dust

The following topics are covered:

What is Silica Sand ?•Silica is the name given to a group of minerals composed of silicon and oxygen, the two most abundant elements in the earth's crust.

•Sand consists of small grains or particles of mineral and rock fragments, generally is the mineral of silica.

•The term silica sand is applied to quartz sand that conforms to the specifications of which the main composition is SiO2 >99%, with very little contaminant contents and heavy minerals of <0.1%.

Silica Sand generally contains the following

impurities :-

Fe2O3

Al2O3

TiO2

CaONa 2O

K2O

Geological Setting• White silica sand deposits are found exposed

on the surface, that belong to the1) Disi Sandstone Formation of Early Ordovician

age .2) 2) Kurnub sandstone Formation of Lower

Cretaceous age which exposed in south of Jordan.

Res

ourc

es o

f min

eral

s in

Jo

rdan

Detailed Location in Jordan

• Locations• Ras En Naqb Area• Qa’a Ed Disi Area• Petra / Ein El Biada Area • Al Jayoshia Area• Wadi Es Siq-Wadi Rakiya Area

Silica Sand Reserves in Jordan

Area Geological reserves (Mt)

Ras En Naqb >10000

Qa`a Disi Billions of tones

Wadi Es Siq-Wadi Rakiya 120

Petra/ Ein El Biada area Not determined

Al Jayoshia area Not determined

Production

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 20050

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

Production from 2000-2004

Production

Company The Important Company in Jordan Mahmoud habahbeh & sons QuarryGreen Technology Group of JordanAhmed Al Dihk QuarriesInternational Silica IndustriesJordanian Co. for raw materials processing & concentrating

Arab Co. for Mineral RocksSuleiman Njadat QuarryUnited Co. For MiningMohamed Al Resaei QuarryAl Rehab for Industrial Services & Trade

Al Fares for Silica Sand Mining

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Consumption (t)

41727 43968 30274 47406 60227

Local consumption (Sales) of silica sand (ton).

The local consumption of silica sand around 200,000 mt/year, consumed in White cement, Ceramics.

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

1.5 1.5 1.5 1.1 1.5 1.5 2.5

Local average price of silica sand J.D/M3.

Current markets: Lebanon, Syria, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Italy

• Silica Sand having color due to ferruginous impurities present in it. Assay value of required Silica Sand varies with its application. Maximum production of Silica Sand is for glass industries.

APPLICATIONS

OFSILICA SAND

Filler and extender

Production of silicon and silicon carbide

Pigments

Building products

Hydraulic fracturing and propping in the oil industry

Ultra high silica products in the electronic and fibre optic industries, fused

Silica, silicone products

Water filtration

Glass industry

Refractory's

Silica Sand as glass • Silica sand is the primary component of all types of

standard and specialty glass. It provides the essential SiO2 component of glass formulation and its chemical purity is the primary determinant of color, clarity and strength.

• Used to produce :1) flat glass for building and automotive use2) container glass for foods and beverages• glass applications include test tubes and other

scientific tools, incandescent and fluorescent lamps, television and computer CRT monitors.

Mining and quarrying of Silica Sand

•As known the Sand is covered & extended on earth surface, we can used surface mining method in quarry and mine with simple equipment: • Bulldozers•Trucks • Excavator Screens & Conveyors

Processing • By Beneficiation Processing Method.

• ‘Beneficiation’ is the processing of raw minerals to yield marketable products by means of physical and mechanical methods without destroying their physical and chemical identity.

Simple process route adopted for Beneficiation

Desliming

Attrition Scrubbing

Sieving

Magnetic Separation

Flow Sheet for the Processing of Silica Sand

Quartz Concentrate(after overall treatment)

Mineral PercentSiO2 99.07

Al2O3 0.56

Fe2O3 0.019

CaO 0.03

• A lung disease called “silicosis” is caused by breathing of dust containing silica.

• The dust causes “fibrosis” or scar tissue formation in the lungs.

• This reduces the lung’s ability to extract oxygen from the air.

• There is no cure.

Silica Health Hazards