Exploitation of iron ore tailing for the development of ceramic tiles

India ranks as the sixth largest producer of iron ore in the world. The cur rent practice of washing iron ore in India generates as high as 18 million tonnes of tailings per year. These tailings are stored in massive ponds and pose environmental hazards. Safe disposal or utilisation of these material s thus remains a challenging task for the iron ore industry in India. The p resent paper describes a new development in managing these tailings by conv erting them into value added products such as ceramic floor and wall tiles for building application. These tiles have high strength and hardness compa red to conventional tiles and conform to most of the EN standards. Energy e conomy and lower production costs are some other benefits. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.