DISCUSSIONS OF X RAY DATA OF REDUCED MAGNETITE

DISCUSSIONS OF X RAY DATA OF REDUCED MAGNETITE
by John V Milewski PhD
Rev June 16, 2007

These x ray tests were run at North Carolina State University Graduate School of Ceramics in 1996.

Three separate samples of magnetite grade mag pit ore (MPO) from near Silver City, New Mexico, were run at elevated temperatures using three different reducing agents.

The first used hydrogen at 1100 C for one hour.

The second used Aluminum in the Thermite process—estimated temperature above 2000 C.

The third used carbon at 1100 C for one hour.

Each set of data is presented in two pages. One gives the raw date for peak intensity vs. 2 theta. The second page has the numerical data giving the theoretical and actual two theta values, the crystal lattice D spacing, the theoretical and actual peak heights, the reflecting planes and the compound formula.

The area under the peaks can be used as a rough means of calculation of the relative proportions of each compound found.

The compound (FeRh)1.8 Ir.2 was found in all three experiments in an estimated 5% to 15% range. That represents a fair amount of rhodium and iridium in the original black sand. Calculations made using atomic masses and atomic percentages gives the following compositions for this compound, 57.3% Rh, 11.7% Ir, or 69% of these platinum group metals (PGMs) in this compound that came from this black sand magnetite. I believe that these PGMs were originally in the ormus, non-detectable form before their reducing compound heat treatment that reformulated their atomic structure to the new metallic formed compound.

The support for this idea is that this MPO magnetite was previously sent out and given a nuclear resonance spectrographic analysis for PGMs and they showed no Rhodium or Iridium with a detection limit of less than 5 ppb (that's parts per billion). This new data is pretty good information proving the presence of rhodium and iridium in this type of magnetite.

The highest yield of the rhodium, iridium elements comes out to be about 10% of the magnetite. This was found in the Thermite reduction process which uses aluminum as a reducing agent. This higher yield is probably due to the fact that this process ran at a very significant high temperature.

Aluminum Reduced Magnetite by Thermite Process

M	2THETA	DSPACE	HEIGHT	2 Theta	Relative Intensity	hkl	Compound
1	26.352	3.3794	100	26.667	60	111	Fe3Al
2	29.597	3.0158	19.2	29.960 30.916	15 50	100 200	(Fe, Rh)1.8 Ir.2 Fe3Al
3	35.297	2.5408	27.9
4	36.254	2.4759	19.2
5	42.162	2.1416	21.2	42.717	100	110	(Fe, Rh)1.8 Ir.2
6	44.623	2.0290	50	44.369	100	220	Fe3Al
7	49.866	1.8273	23.1	50.976	20		Fe3Al
8	56.705	1.6220	19.2	54.935	10	222	Fe3Al
9	59.589	1.5502	22.1
10	62.483	1.4852	20.2	62.119	25	200	(Fe, Rh)1.8Ir.2

Carbon Reduced Magnetite 1 hour @ 1100C

	2THETA	DSPACE	HEIGHT	2 Theta	Relative Intensity	hkl	Compound
1	26.657	3.3414	100	26.603	100	002	Graphite
2	27.794	3.2072	8.5
3	29.806	2.9952	17.5	29.960	15	100	(Fe,Rh)1.8 Ir.2
4	30.899	2.8916	7.6
5	35.697	2.5132	6.9
6	36.574	2.4536	7.2
7	39.502	2.2795	7.4
8	40.307	2.2358	5.3
9	42.406	2.1298	6.9	42.464 42.717 44.669	3 100 15	100 110 101	Graphite (Fe.Rh)1.8 Ir.2 Graphite
10	44.706	2.0255	6
11	45.891	1.9759	6.5
12	48.316	1.8822	4.4
13	50.188	1.8163	9.7	50.824	3	102	Graphite
14	54.933	1.6701	4.9	54.793	6	004	Graphite
15	56.606	1.6247	5.5
16	59.937	1.5421	6.3	60.033	4	103	Graphite

Hydrogen Reduced Magnetite 1 Hour @ 1100C

M	2THETA	DSPACE	HEIGHT	2 Theta	Relative Intensity	hkl	Compound
1	30.079	2.9686	7.1	29.960	15	100	(Fe,Rh)1.8 Ir.2
2	33.179	2.6980	5.9	33.152	100	104	Fe2O3
3	35.500	2.5267	16	35.611	70	110	Fe2O3
4	40.329	2.2346	5.3	40.854	20	113	Fe2O3
5	42.978	2.1028	4.7	42.717	100	110	(Fe,Rh)1.8 Ir.2
6	44.689	2.0262	100	44.673	100	110	Alpha Iron
7	56.986	1.6147	5.3	56.150 57.428 57.589	1 5 10	211 122 018	Fe2O3
8	62.633	1.4820	6.5	62.119	25	200	(Fe.Rh)1.8 Ir.2
9	65.049	1.4327	11.8	65.021	20	200	Alpha Iron