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Glossary

Ore beneficiation

Ore beneficiation encompasses the physical and chemical treatments that raise the useful substance content and remove gangue prior to industrial use.

Beneficiation · Concentration · Upgrading · Bénéficiation

Ore beneficiation refers to the processing operations applied to raw ore aimed at increasing its fertiliser element content and extracting the gangue. This preliminary stage mainly concerns phosphate rock and potash ores.

Sedimentary phosphates exhibit variable compositions even within a single deposit, owing to their interstratification with other materials and the presence of interstitial gangue minerals[1]. Various techniques may be employed to treat a given ore, removing gangue and associated impurities[1]. Igneous ores are characterised by initially higher grades[2]. For potash, sylvinite undergoes flotation, dissolution-recrystallisation and solar evaporation in order to produce marketable potassium chloride[3]. The quality of the upgraded ore determines the suitability of downstream processes.

Sources

  1. Commission européenne, BREF LVIC-AAF (2007), p. 244 · View the source
  2. Commission européenne, BREF LVIC-AAF (2007), p. 269 · View the source
  3. USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Potash, p. 1 · View the source

Original text by fertiliser-market.com. Facts and figures are taken from the documents cited, at the page given; no text, table or chart is reproduced from them.

Updated October 27, 2026

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