Optimum blending of iron ore from Choghart stockpiles by using goal programming

Iron and steel industry is an important sector of Iran's economy. Choghart iron ore mine is an important iron ore producer of Iran steel industry. Phosphorous contained in the iron ore concentrates of Choghart mine has a detrimental effect on the steel making process, whereby this causes cracks to form in the refractory lining of blast furnaces. In the past, about 1.43 Mt of low-grade and 4.53 Mt of high-phosphorous materials had been transported to low grade and high phosphorous stockpiles, respectively, for future beneficiation. As a result of the progressive depletion of high-grade ore and establishment of beneficiation plant in Choghart, exploitation of these two stockpiles in this mine became an important issue. In this work, a linear goal programming (GP) model was developed in order to determine the optimum iron ore blend in terms of quality from low grade and high phosphorous stockpiles of Choghart mine. The model was solved by the SOLVER V. 9 program. Results show that feeding with acceptable quality (w(Fe)≥50% and w(P)≤1.2%, mass fraction) materials can be blended from stockpiles that satisfy the needs of the Choghart processing line. © 2012 Central South University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.