Celestite in Canada

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 951, 1991

P.R.A. Andrews and R.K. Ceilings, CANMET, Mineral Processing Laboratory, Ottawa, Ontario

There are more than thirty-five deposits or occurrences ofceles-tite in Canada, chiefly in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia. Deposits of economic interest are the Lake Enon and MacRae deposits in the Loch Lomond district of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Two Cape Breton deposits were operated from 1969 to 1976 by Kaiser Celestite Mining Limited, which supplied an upgraded celestite concentrate to an associated strontium carbonate plant at Point Edward, near Sydney. The MacRae deposit is of current interest because of its possible development for strontium carbonate production using the "black ash" process. This process involves chemical leaching, rotary kiln calcining with petroleum coke, washing and treatment with carbon dioxide. Celestite is the basic material used in the manufacture of strontium chemicals, principally strontium oxide, carbonate, nitrate, chromate, chlorate, chloride, sulphide and phosphate. Strontium chemicals, in turn, are used in the manufacture of glass and ceramics, in pyrotechnic devices, in the production of strontium metal and in other metallurgical applications. Recently, strontium ferrites have been introduced into permanent ceramic magnets.

Mots Clés: Industrial minerals, Celestite, Mineral deposits, Beneficiation studies, Strontium.