This document discusses silica sand, its properties, reserves, production, applications, mining, processing, and health hazards in Jordan. It begins by defining silica sand as quartz sand composed primarily of silicon dioxide (SiO2). It then discusses Jordan's silica sand reserves located in various areas like Ras En Naqb and Qa'a Disi. Production and consumption of silica sand in Jordan from 2000-2004 is presented. Applications of silica sand include uses in glass, construction, electronics, and oil industries. The mining process involves surface quarrying while processing involves steps like screening and magnetic separation to obtain high purity quartz concentrate. The main health hazard of silica dust is silicosis, a serious

1. AL-Hussein Bin Talal University
Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering
Presented By:
Mo`men Mohsen

2. • What is silica sand?
• Geological Setting
• Resources of minerals in Jordan
• Silica Sand Reserves in Jordan
• Production, Company.
• Application
• Mining & Processing.
• Hazard.
Silica – It’s Not Just Dust
The following topics are covered:

3. What is Silica Sand ?
•Silica is the name given to a group of minerals
composed of silicon and oxygen, the two most abundant
elements in the earth's crust.
•Sand consists of small grains or particles of mineral
and rock fragments, generally is the mineral of silica.
•The term silica sand is applied to quartz sand that
conforms to the specifications of which the main
composition is SiO2 >99%, with very little contaminant
contents and heavy minerals of <0.1%.

4. Silica Sand generally contains the
following impurities :-
Fe2O3
Al2O3
TiO2
CaO
Na 2O
K2O

5. Geological Setting
• White silica sand deposits are found exposed
on the surface, that belong to the
1) Disi Sandstone Formation of Early Ordovician
age .
2) 2) Kurnub sandstone Formation of Lower
Cretaceous age which exposed in south of
Jordan.

6. Resourcesofmineralsin
Jordan

7. Detailed Location in Jordan
• Locations
• Ras En Naqb Area
• Qa’a Ed Disi Area
• Petra / Ein El Biada Area
• Al Jayoshia Area
• Wadi Es Siq-Wadi Rakiya Area

8. Silica Sand Reserves in Jordan
Area Geological reserves
(Mt)
Ras En Naqb >10000
Qa`a Disi Billions of tones
Wadi Es Siq-Wadi Rakiya 120
Petra/ Ein El Biada area Not determined
Al Jayoshia area Not determined

9. Production
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Production from 2000-2004
Production

10. Company
The Important Company in Jordan
Mahmoud habahbeh & sons Quarry
Green Technology Group of Jordan
Ahmed Al Dihk Quarries
International Silica Industries
Jordanian Co. for raw materials processing & concentrating
Arab Co. for Mineral Rocks
Suleiman Njadat Quarry
United Co. For Mining
Mohamed Al Resaei Quarry
Al Rehab for Industrial Services & Trade
Al Fares for Silica Sand Mining

11. Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Consumption
(t)
41727 43968 30274 47406 60227
Local consumption (Sales) of silica sand (ton).
The local consumption of silica sand around 200,000
mt/year, consumed in White cement, Ceramics.

12. 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
1.5 1.5 1.5 1.1 1.5 1.5 2.5
Local average price of silica
sand J.D/M3.
Current markets: Lebanon, Syria, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Italy

13. • Silica Sand having color due to ferruginous
impurities present in it. Assay value of
required Silica Sand varies with its
application. Maximum production of Silica
Sand is for glass industries.

14. APPLICATIONS OF
SILICA SAND
Filler and extender
Production of silicon and silicon carbide
Pigments
Building products
Hydraulic fracturing and propping in the oil industry
Ultra high silica products in the electronic and fibre optic industries, fused
Silica, silicone products
Water filtration
Glass industry
Refractory's

15. Silica Sand as glass
• Silica sand is the primary component of all types
of standard and specialty glass. It provides the
essential SiO2 component of glass formulation
and its chemical purity is the primary
determinant of color, clarity and strength.
• Used to produce :
1) flat glass for building and automotive use
2) container glass for foods and beverages
• glass applications include test tubes and other
scientific tools, incandescent and fluorescent
lamps, television and computer CRT monitors.

16. Mining and quarrying of Silica
Sand
•As known the Sand is covered & extended
on earth surface, we can used surface mining
method in quarry and mine with simple
equipment:
• Bulldozers
•Trucks
• Excavator Screens & Conveyors

17. Processing
• By Beneficiation Processing Method.
• ‘Beneficiation’ is the processing of raw minerals to yield
marketable products by means of physical and mechanical
methods without destroying their physical and chemical
identity.

18. Desliming
Attrition Scrubbing
Sieving
Magnetic Separation

19. Flow Sheet for the Processing of Silica Sand

21. Quartz Concentrate
(after overall treatment)
Mineral Percent
SiO2 99.07
Al2O3 0.56
Fe2O3 0.019
CaO 0.03

22. • A lung disease called “silicosis” is
caused by breathing of dust
containing silica.
• The dust causes “fibrosis” or scar
tissue formation in the lungs.
• This reduces the lung’s ability
to extract oxygen from the
air.
• There is no cure.
Silica Health Hazards