Iron content of some samples of the black murrams and red ochres from different parts of Kenya

Abstract

A number of samples of the black or dark ironstone(commonly referred to as murram) and some red ochres collected from different parts of Kenya were analysed, particularly for their iron content. The results show that some of the materials examined are potential iron ores. Heating the black murram or the red ochres to 5000C increases the iron content in the residue by between 10% and 20%. On the other hand boiling the materials with 3M sodium hydroxide increases the proportion of iron in the residue by only 7%. X-ray analysis shows that most of the murrams and the red ochres examined contain the mineral geothite as the main iron-bearing material. (author)