Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy Print version ISSN 0038-223X Mineralogy,
traditionally associated with concentrator studies, is being
increasingly applied to problems in pyrometallurgy. Such
investigations commonly make use of a number of techniques, and
the results are combined for a meaningful interpretation, which
can lead to a successful solution for the problem. Mineralogical
techniques are described for various pyrometallurgical
operations. Examples are given of studies and investigations
involving mineralogy in chemical-looping combustion, feed
monitoring to platinum-smelting furnaces, and losses to slag in
base metal and platinum smelting. Keywords : mineralogy; phase-
chemical; chemical-looping combustion; XRD; SEM; EDS; QEMSCAN;
PGM; slag; matte; ilmenite.