What this covers
I extract iron oxide from a dry stream. Channel members and Patrons saw a version of this video that is 10 minutes longer; I got carried away with the geology. If you want to see that you know what to do. https://www.patreon.com/CodysLab SubReddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/codyslab/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CodysLab Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codydonreeder/
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Cody demonstrates an optimized process for extracting magnetite from volcanic rock deposits using gravity separation and magnetic collection, achieving high-purity iron oxide material suitable for thermite production.
- Magnetite naturally concentrates in dry stream channels due to its higher density than surrounding minerals
- A large neodymium magnet positioned below a gravity chute efficiently separates magnetite from sand and dirt in a single pass
- Running material through the system twice achieves >90% purity magnetite suitable for thermite reactions
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A stream of magnetic particles flowing past a magnet will not deflect significantly away from the magnet unless the magnet's attractive force is strong enough to pull particles, but if the force is too strong, all particles stick and build up on the magnet rather than separating into distinct collection zones.
“I got my stream of sand you'll see some of the material is sticking to the magnet and the rest of it is being sprayed over a wide area now if I move this sand away from the magnet far enough that the material no longer sticks to the magnet then hardly any of the material is actually deflected it actually stays in the Stream of sand and again if I get it close enough that the magnet is able to actually deflect a significant amount of it it's sticking to the magnet eventually it builds up to the point that the stream of sand starts colliding with it”
Sand bounces off the magnet and spreads over a wide area while iron particles stick and slowly move down, creating separate collection zones by position rather than by continuous separation.
“see there's a pretty good Gap right here between the iron and the sand so so this works really well and is super simple that's a good combination”
Magnetite (iron oxide Fe3O4) naturally accumulates at the bottom of dry stream channels because it is heavier than other minerals in the area and weathers out of the volcanic rock formations.
“this dark streak is iron 23 oxide otherwise known as magnetite and it's heavier than the other minerals in the area so it collects right at the very bottom of the stream channel it weathers out of the rocks in the area so this is a volcanic rock it's very high in iron”
The primary magnetic separation mechanism uses a large ball of iron stuck to a neodymium magnet positioned at the bottom of a gravity chute; most sand bounces off the magnet while magnetic particles stick to it and form spires that move down and fall off the bottom.
“it is landing on this big ball of iron here which is stuck to a large neodium magnet now most of the sand Just Hits this and bounc bounces off and it kind of fans out and lands over here but some of the sand is magnetic and is attracted to the magnet and instead of bouncing off it kind of gets stuck and it forms these little spires which you can see slowly moving down and eventually getting to the bottom of the magnet here magnetic fields weak enough they just kind of fall off”
When magnetic material accumulates to the saturation point on the magnet's surface, additional incoming particles slide around and drip off the bottom rather than sticking, creating a natural overflow mechanism that improves separation by confining the iron to a small space and preventing sand contamination.
“eventually I realized that there's a maximum amount of iron that this magnet can hold and once you reach that point any more that you add kind of slides around and then drips off the bottom as you can see it doing here now there's several things that are really great about this you see the iron is being confined in a very small space it's not it's being sprayed around I don't have to worry about it sticking to the magnet because the magnet's already full and we're getting good separation from the sand because the sand is basically falling off the edge over here whereas the iron is falling off the very bottom and so you got a shadow effect it's protecting the iron from becoming contaminated”
Running material through the magnetic separator twice achieves approximately 90%+ purity magnetite, with the first pass capturing the vast majority of magnetic material and the second pass producing additional minor amounts suitable for reprocessing.
“here's the material after being run through twice you can see it's a little dusty but it's almost pure magnetite now like it it's better than 90%”
Manual magnet collection of magnetite from stream channels is time-consuming and inefficient because the magnet picks up significant dirt along with the magnetite, requiring multiple purification cycles of spreading, picking up, and re-cleaning.
“if I wanted a bunch of this stuff which I do because it's a great oxidizer for thermite I could just come over here and run a magnet along the ground and pick it up but this is very timec consuming especially because it picks up a lot of dirt along with the magnetite so I have to take it off the magnet you know spread it out and pick it back up to purify it multiple times”
The larger magnet apparatus can process a 5-gallon bucket of material every 8 minutes, while the smaller magnet version processes the same amount in approximately 30 minutes, making the larger magnet significantly faster.
“this version of the apparatus using the large magnet is able to process a 5 gallon buckets worth of material every 8 minutes the smaller version using the smaller magnet it's able to process the same amount in about half an hour so larger magnet is definitely faster”
After approximately one and a half days of work using the optimized magnetic separation apparatus, approximately 800 pounds of pure magnetite can be collected and stored in two 17-gallon containers at approximately 20 pounds per gallon.
“here we are after about a day and a half of work I managed to fill two of these 17g containers with the magnetite sand you can see it weighs about 20 lbs per gallon so you're looking at about uh 800 lb of magnetite right here”
The smaller magnet apparatus requires a finer screen than the larger magnet apparatus because the material feeding hole must be smaller, reducing maximum feed rate.
“you can see it weighs about 20 lbs per gallon so you're looking at about uh 800 lb of magnetite right here and this is pure enough that I can use directly for making thermite in fact this is the material I used when I was making my cast iron pan from the thermite reaction I think that's pretty good there's like potentially half a ton of thermite right here so now you know how I've been mining my magnetite hope you enjoyed I'll see you next time”
Using a shovel to scrape the dark magnetite streak directly from the stream channel is faster than hand-magnet collection, though it collects significant quantities of dirt along with the magnetite.
“I find that the fastest and easiest way to get the iron is just use a shovel and scrape the dark streak up put it in a bucket just like that and of course I do get a lot of dirt doing it this way but a magnet wouldn't get the iron that's buried”
Material collected from the stream must be completely dry before processing through the magnetic separation system.
“The material has to be completely dry and as you can see this material that I've just dug up is is a little bit damp so I'm kind of throwing it over a wide area to spread it out so it dries faster”
A screening step removes large rocks that would plug the magnetic separation system, and a fan blows through to remove grass and other organic fibrous material that fits through the screen but would still clog the system.
“the screen of course gets rid of large rocks that would plug up the system and there's a fan going blowing through here and that's to remove grass and other organic fibrous material that would fit through the screen but still plug up the system”
Pure magnetite produced by this extraction process is sufficiently pure to use directly for thermite reactions without additional refinement.
“this is pure enough that I can use directly for making thermite in fact this is the material I used when I was making my cast iron pan from the thermite reaction”
When running material multiple times through the magnetic separator, the bucket position must be adjusted to capture only the magnetite output, which results in losing some magnetite over the side but allows it to be recaptured and reprocessed.
“this is what it looks like when I'm running the material for a second time to purify it further see it's pouring out just the same as it was it's just got a greater portion of the magnetite so you can see there's the dirt that made it through the first pass but you'll see I've the bucket pushed forward here so that I'm only capturing the magnetite so the stuff over here is very pure and as a result I'm losing a bunch of magnetite over here but I am capturing it in this bucket so I can just put it back into the system”
Approximately 800 pounds of pure magnetite represents the potential to produce roughly half a ton of thermite material.
“I think that's pretty good there's like potentially half a ton of thermite right here”
The eroding magnet ball in the collection apparatus can be slightly eroded by the continuous impact of falling material, creating an indentation that causes additional magnetite to drip off the bottom.
“I suspect a lot of that is coming from right here see how there's an indentation the magnetite is being eroded by the material that's falling down and it's not being replenished and so this has fallen off into here I don't think it actually came from the tailings”