It would seem that where the itabirites have been converted to hematite and when the silca has been leached out of the original rock, the resultant ore which is hematite rich is harder than the fresh itabirite. I suppose this is to do with the textural change in the rock that goes along with the chemical weathering processes.
"However, hematite ores are harder than magnetite ores and therefore require considerably more energy to crush and grind if beneficiation is required."
You would need to check the Tucano ore to look for similarities to Nkout and see how much silca leaching has occurred and how much magnetite is left in the ore to say anything about the relative hardness of the oxide ore compared to the fresh ore but if Nkout is anything to go by the fresh ore could prove easier to grind. Esh
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