TURKISH FELDSPAR

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TURKISH FELDSPAR

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Geology and deposits

• The albite deposits are located in south western
  part of Turkey in the provinces Mugla and Aydin
• Generally the massive has a core of probably
  Precambrian
• Turkish Feldspar mines can reach up to 300 m
  length , 40 - 50 m in width and 80 m depth

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Geology and deposits

• The ore bodies occur in form of elongated dykes
  and lenses, which represents aplitic and
  pegmatitic filling of the orthogneiss complex
• Albite and Quartz are principal minerals

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Güllük / Milas
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Çine
Milas
Güllük
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Reserves Mining Technology

• Due to formation of mines, selective mining is
  often required in order to classify sodium
  feldspar according to the Fe2O3 and TiO2 content
• Turkish albite reserves are estimated
  260 million tons of various qualities
• According to Eurofel general assembly meeting in
  2002 and the typical run of mine analysis, the
  Turkish raw material is named as Feldspar

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Alkali
Pegmatite
Feldspar
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Feldspatic Sand
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Non Feldspar Products
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Alumina
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Products Qualities
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Products Qualities

• As seen from the chemical analysis, colouring
  impurities such as Iron oxide and Titanium oxide
  can vary. So these impurities determine qualities
  of Feldspar.
• Main product groups are
• Standard grade (STD)
• Medium grade (MED)
• Extra grade (EXT)
• Floated grade

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Production
The production of Standard, Medium and Extra
grade feldspars are realised by means of
crushing, mixing and blending. Colouring
impurities TiO2 and Fe2O3 removed by means of
flotation , the result is White firing colour.

Standard Medium
Extra Floated Fe2O3 0,15
0,09 0,06 0,01 TiO2
0,25 0,16
0,10 0,02
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Flotation
During the recent years due to the increase of
unglazed porcelain tile production the need of a
white firing coloured feldspar - with less Fe2O3
and TiO2 content - also increased. After a
careful geological study, the suitable ore bodies
for flotation are exploited by selective mining
methods. The raw material is crushed, blended
and milled down to liberation diameter in order
to prepare for the flotation.

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Flotation
ESAN pioneered the technology and production of
floated Na- Feldspar. Also considering the
pollution an environmental friendly base process
(pH 8) has been developed to collect mica and
rutile out of the feed Na- Feldspar. According
to the size distribution two main qualities of
floated feldspar (ESF501GG, ESF501FG) is produced
by ESAN, in recent years a new ( ESF 501 NGG)
and less impurity containing product has been
developed.

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Flotation
ESANs floated Feldspars typical chemical
analysis ESF 501 GG ESF 501 FG ESF
501 NGG SiO2 70.00
70.00 70.00 Al2O3 18.00
18.00 18.40 Fe2O3 0.04 0.04
0.01 TiO2 0.05 0.05
0.02 Na2O 10.50 10.50 10.50 350
mic 10 150 mic 5 1

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Advantages of floated feldspar

• For ceramic industry, fired colour is the most
  significant indication. TiO2 and Fe2O3 contents
  determine the grade of feldspar products.
• Increasing the TiO2 content turns the fired
  colour into yellowish
• While increasing the Fe2O3 content leads to the
  fired colour to greyish
• By reducing Fe2O3 and TiO2 contents of the
  feldspar by flotation method the following
  advantages , in order to reduce the production
  costs , will be reached.

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Advantages of floated feldspar

• Utilising floated feldspar, the amount of Zircon
  can be reduced, together with the cost as Zircon
  being the most costly component of the body
• Consequently, by reducing the level of Zircon
  opacifier consumption, thus reducing the
  proportions of colour stains, it is possible to
  achieve cost saving on two counts.

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Advantages of floated feldspar

• Another advantage of using floated feldspar is
  that it increases the fired strength of the
  product,
• Removing mica from the feldspar enables a better
  surface to be obtained after polishing
• Overall consistency of the feldspar product is
  another key advantage

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Advantages of floated feldspar

• Floated product virtually eliminates Fe2O3 and
  TiO2 contaminants
• The result is No problems occur with variable
  shades of whiteness or other colours after
  firing.
• Less second quality product, more efficient
  production level

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Feldspar Sales

• Main exporting gates for Feldspar are Güllük,
  Izmir and Nemrut ports
• Izmir port is mainly used for container
  transportation
• Since the end of 2003, Izmir and Nemrut ports are
  also used for bulk standard grade feldspar
  shipments
• Turkish feldspar sales covering mainly ceramic
  industry
• Also selling our glass grade feldspar to local
  and international glass industries
• Average of 80 Turkish feldspar exports done by
  three major feldspar producer.

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THANK YOU

• Eczacibasi Esan AS
• Dr. Ihsan Bozdogan