In Tasmania, magnetite ore mined at Savage River by Australian Bulk Minerals is crushed, ground and concentrated, then pumped 85 kilometres as a slurry to Port Latta via a pipeline. Many of the iron ore mines employ some form of beneficiation to improve the grade and properties of their products. At Mount Tom Price and Mount Whaleback major concentrators have been constructed which enable low grade iron ores, including ores which have been contaminated with shale, to be mined and after upgrading, sold as high grade products. The operation of the concentrators has also increased the iron ore resources available at these mines. Pelletising is a treatment process used for very fine or powdery ores.
Pellets are an ideal blast furnace feed because they are hard and of regular size and shape.
In Australia, concentrates pumped from Savage River are pelletised at Port Latta for shipment to domestic and overseas markets, and fine Middleback Range ores are pelletised prior to smelting in the Whyalla blast furnace. Sintering is a process used to agglomerate iron ore fines in preparation for blast-furnace smelting, and is usually carried out at iron and steelmaking centres. It involves the incorporation of crushed limestone, coke and other additives available from iron and steelmaking operations. These additives include wastes extracted from furnace exhaust gases, scale produced during rolling mill operations, and coke fines produced during coke screening. Blast furnaces are located at Port Kembla, Newcastle and Whyalla.