Sampling of Bulk Iron Ore Shipments

[Mike_Kevan]

When sampling Iron Ore Fines being loaded onto a bulk carrier of 60,000 DWT, the international standard ISO 3082 indicates some 40 to 80 samples will be taken to obtain a representative sample.

Do all these samples need to be sent to a laboratory? Or how many samples need to be sent to a laboratory?

Can the samples be sub-sampled to make composite samples to reduce the number of samples and weight of materials being handled?

Thanks in advance.

[Author]

Dear Sir,

Indeed the samples have to be reduced in weight by
succesive mixing and splitting. With these samples
a composite sample is constitued for the chemical analysis.

Moisture determination and screen tests may be performed on subsamples.

Best regards,

Ets. GORDINNE & Cie
Ing. Guy Verstraete
Operations Manager

http://www.bulk-online.com/Co/204292.htm

[Phil Cancilla]

Dear Sir,

Heath & Sherwood (1964) Limited designs and manufacturers sampling systems for both bulk materials like coal and slurries found in mining applications.
You can visit our web site at http://www.heathandsherwood64.com
In Australia the Heath & Sherwood licenced manufacturer is ConSep Pty Limited, http://www.consep.com.au in the Perth office Mr. Barrie Watson would be the best contact to discuss detail applications.

Thank-you,

[A-Q-U Hopmann]

Dear Mr. Kevan,

These 40 to 80 samples are the number of increments taken from the primary material stream during loading.

Normally these increments will be
1. mixed together to several subsamples to reduce the number of samples
2. subdivided to reduce the material mass.
3. in addition the subsamples may be collected to one gross sample for the whole consignment.

What actually has to be done, depends mainly on
1. the analytical aim, i.e.
- iron ore content
- moisture content
- grain size distribution
2. on the quality of your iron ore, which means
- maximum grain size
- maximum quality variation in the past.

To give you a more precise answer in your case,
I should know more details as
+ mass of increment sample and especially
+ maximum grain size (Whole-through sieve size)

Roughly I guess, that in your case about
+ one gross sample can be enough for the chemical analysis and
+ five subsamples may be sufficient for moisture analysis.

In case of doubts clarification of the whole sampling procedure with your customers may also be helpful.

For further questions please contact me again.
Best regards

Eugen Hopmann

A-Q-U Ingenieurbüro für Aufbereitungstechnik
Dr.-Ing. Eugen Hopmann
www.a-q-u.de

[sidsahu]

Dear Mr Hopmann,

We have started operating a pig iron plant with extremely lean infrastructure. We receive iron ore lumps (upto 40mm size)by rail wagons (60 wagons per train or approx 3600 tons ) in a public railway siding.

Wagons are open at top with side discharge doors. These wagons are unloaded by workers with manual shovels through these doors. Then the ore is loaded onto 10 ton dumpers by wheel loader.

Now my questions-
1. How many samples do we take?
2. What will be the sample weight?
3. How and where from do you suggest we take the samples?
Analysis is done for Fe content, LOI, Sio2, Al2O3, moisture and Seive analysis.

Warm regards,
Sid

[A-Q-U Hopmann]

Dear Mr. Sid,

thank you for your interest in my office.

Concerning sampling generally you should take into account,
on the one hand side the efforts going along with a reliable
sample and on the other hand side the risks and costs
caused from an unreliable sample or wrong analytical results.

In detail your questions are not to be answered in a few words.
I would appreciate it, if you could contact me directly.

Thank you.

Eugen Hopmann

_________________________________________

A-Q-U Ingenieurbüro Dr.-Ing. Eugen Hopmann
für Aufbereitungstechnik, Qualität und Umwelt
Schillerstraße 25
59269 Beckum / Germany
Tel.: +49-2525-950 507
Fax: +49-2525-950 508
Internet: www. a-q-u.de
E-Mail: info@ a-q-u.de
_________________________________________

http://www.bulk-online.com/Co/6102.htm

[Ricardo Herzog]

Dear Sir,

Choosing between 40 to 80 primary increments for this 60000 mt lot depends on the ores quality variation. A classification of the quality variation is given in Table 2 of the ISO 3082 standard.

Primary sample masses then are divided using either continuous or batch basis division (continuous being divison of each individual increment and batch being division of partial or sub samples). Minimum number of cuts is 4 for individual increments and 10 for partial samples. The complete primary sample mass can also be divided. In this case minimum number of cuts per gross sample is 20.

Tables 5 and 6 of the standard also supply suggestions of minimum divided sample masses for size and chemical/moisture determination.

If you need further information, or help in defining a suitable sampling protocol, please contact me. I have extensive experience with iron ore samplng applications and was a member of the Brazilian commitee analyzing the ISO 3082 family of standards. My contact information is below.

BRGDS,

Ricardo R. Herzog
Product Manager Samplers
Heath & Sherwood (1964) Ltd.
Tel.: +1-905-275-2906 ext. 26
Fax.: +1-905-275-3357
email: rherzog@heathandsherwood64.com

[matie]

Remember when reducing any sample size, you have to mix it thoroughly first, I recommend coning and quartering so that you sample is representative,

Matie
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