Pelletizing relatively coarse iron minerals

Claim 1

PROCESS OF PELLETIZING FINELY DIVIDED ESSENTIALLY NONMAGNETIC EARTHY IRON ORE MATERIALS, CONTAINING SUBSTANTIALLY MORE THAN 6% MOISTURE, WHICH COMPRISES DRYING AND DRY GRINDING THE EARTHY IRON ORE MATERIAL UNTIL THE MOISTURE CONTENT OF THE MATERIAL IS SUBSTANTIALLY NOT MORE THAN ABOUT 4% AND UNTIL THE PARTICLE SIZE OF THE MATERIAL IS REDUCED IN SIZE TO THE EXTENT OF ALL MINUE 6 MESH AND 40% MINUS 325 MESH; INITIALLY HOMOGENOUSLY MOISTENING THE RESULTING FINELY DIVIDED MATERIAL TO A MOISTURE CONTENT, VARYING BETWEEN ABOUT 4 AND ABOUT 6% BY WEIGHT, INSUFFICENT TO EFFECT BALLING, INTRODUCING INTO A BALLING DEVICE A FEED CONSISTING OF SAID INSUFFICIENTLY MOISTENED FINED DIVIDED MATERIAL TOGETHER WITH UNDERSIZED BALLS, OF THE SAME EARTHY IRON ORE MATERIAL, WHOSE SURFACES ARE WET WITH WATER; PASSING THE RESULTING MIXTURE THROUGH THE BALLING DEVICE WHEREBY SOME OF THE INSUFFIENTLY MOIST FINELY DIVIDED EARTHY IRON ORE MATERIAL ADHERES TO THE WATER-WET SURFACES OF THE UNDERSIZED BALLS AND BECOMES COMPACTED THERETO; SCREENING OUT UNDERSIZED BALLS AND MOISTENING THEIR SURFACES WITH WATER AND RETURNING THEM TO THE FEED AS THE AFORESAID WATERWET UNDERSIZED BALLS; AND REPEATING THE RETURN OF THE WATER-WET UNDERSIZED BALLS TO THE FEED A PLURALITY OF TIMES UNTIL THE BALLS HAVE GROWN TO PRE-DETERMINED SIZE AND HAVE ACQUIRED AN AVERAGE MOISTURE CONTENT OF FROM ABOUT 8.0 TO ABOUT 11.9% BY WEIGHT.