Process for treating metal oxide fines

A process for treating metal oxide fines to recover elemental iron from iron-bearing materials including iron-bearing ores, steel mill waste and other metallurgical process waste, the process comprising the steps of:

• a) combining iron-bearing materials, having metal oxides including iron oxides therein, with carbonaceous material to form a dry mixture;
• b) agglomerating the dry mixture at a pressure greater than 10,000 pounds per square inch to mobilize volatile matter from the carbonaceous material to function as a binder and bond the dry mixture and form green compacts;
• c) loading the green compacts into a preheated rotary hearth furnace void of compacts to form a layer of compacts no more than about two compacts high;
• d) heating the green compacts for about 5 to 12 minutes at a temperature of between about 2150.degree. F. to 2350.degree. F. and a CO/CO.sub.2 ratio of between about 2-5 to reduce the compacts and evolve undesirable oxides from the compacts;
• and
• e) discharging the reduced compacts from the rotary hearth furnace to a soaking pit at a temperature sufficient to complete the reduction of the iron oxide and remove over 99% of zinc, cadmium and lead oxide from the compacts to provide a compact containing elemental iron and about 2-10 wt % carbon.