These two things don't usually go together in metal extraction from ores: - fine grinding - low grade
That this is a hot process is maybe a third variable which tells me this is either a great new technology or bullshit. Making a powder out of hard rock (iron ore is among the harder of hard rocks) is energy intensive. There is the power requirement for grinding and the power requirement for manufacture of all of the wear parts consumed in grinding. It's big money. This type of process is reserved for ores containing sufficient value to pay for all of this.
However, if you are in a communist country that has rigid industrial policy then you can do this all day and lose your ass financially while making your production targets and it is all good. I suspect some of this.
Another historical angle in communist countries is that they demand the best production of commodity from, "the People's resource." This is an incentive to maximize iron production regardless of cost. They will process money losing material to get all of the iron, even when it is not worth the effort and expense.
This may work for low grade ore in the making iron sense, but maybe less so in the making money sense.
So-called flash ironmaking relies on the injection of a fine iron ore powder into a superheated furnace
The interesting part from an economic perspective is that it’s said to work on lower-grade ores
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