Copper Slag Tailings - How to extract Iron

[natemclain]

I have tailings that came from a copper extraction process.
It is in solid 2" or less in size.
We are curious if there is a way to make pig iron with this? And also how to get rid of the SiO2(silica).
I'm not sure if grinding this stuff up and using some kind of mag separation process would get rid of the excess silica or not. At rough 30% its kinda high.

Here are the lab results.
Ag SILVER < 0.10 OZ/TN LAB
Au GOLD < 0.004 OZ/TN LAB
Cu COPPER 1.1 % LAB
SiO2 SILICA 29.3% % LAB
Al203 ALUMINA 3.0 % LAB
Fe IRON 45.1 % LAB
CaO LIME 1.3 % LAB
S SULFUR 0.7 % LAB
As ARSENIC 0.019 % LAB
Ba BARIUM 0.064 % LAB
Be BERYLLIUM < 0.001 % LAB
Bi BISMUTH 0.042 % LAB
Cd CADMIUM 0.004 % LAB
Cl CHLORIDE 0.007 % LAB
Co COBALT 0.017 % LAB
Cr CHROMIUM 0.045 % LAB
F FLOURIDE 0.109 % LAB
Hg MERCURY < 0.1 % LAB
K POTASSIUM 0.746 % LAB
MgO MAGNESIA 1.354 % LAB
Mn MANGANESE 0.027 % LAB
Mo MOLYBDENUM 0.253 % LAB
Na SODIUM 0.231 % LAB
Ni NICKEL 0.005 % LAB
P PHOSPHORUS 0.029 % LAB
Pb LEAD 0.060 % LAB
Sb ANTIMONY 0.037 % LAB
Se SELENIUM < 0.001 % LAB
Sn TIN 0.018 % LAB
Te TELLURIUM < 0.001 % LAB
Tl THALLIUM < 0.001 % LAB
Zn ZINC 0.340 % LAB

I was thinking about using a blast furnace to reduce this stuff down to pig iron but coke is around $300/ton, limestone, & flux. I don't know if this stuff is even worth messing with. You can buy foundry grade pig iron for around $425-$435/ton.
Any idea's on how to reduce the silica & make pig iron with these tailings?

TIA

Nate

 

[minerk]

What form is the iron? Is it magnetic? Magnetic separation of iron is pretty simple.

 

[PBroad]

Melt the silica: you will need about 1800deg C (3500def F)
rough guess it will cost you over $1000/ton!