Papers - Flotation Therory and Practices - Hypothesis for the Nonflotation of Sulfide Minerals of Near-colloidal Size

IN modern practice the major portion of an ore is reduced to flotation size by fine grinding. As the result of grinding fine enough to liberate most of the minerals, a substantial portion (generally 5 to 15 per cent) of the ore is inadvertently reduced to a size much finer than that necessary for liberation. This portion of most flotation pulps is very refractory to recovery by flotation. A reduction of one-quarter or more in recovery in this range of extremely fine particles can be observed. The loss in metals caused by overgrinding is appreciable. That this loss is characteristic of very fine particles has been suspected for some time;(l)† however, it was definitely quantified only recently.(2) Definite reduction in float-ability with reduction in particle size beyond a critical size of maximum floatability can be accepted now as an established fact. Formulating the Hypothesis In looking for the cause of the ill behavior of the finest particles it may be well to consider the essential differences between fine and coarse particles. A difference that immediately comes to mind is their intrinsic difference in size and consequently in relative extent of surface. If one agrees that attachment of mineral particles to bubbles must follow direct encounter of particles with bubbles one is forced to conclude(3) that the probability of encounter between a mineral particle and a bubble varies directly as the size of the particle, provided the particle is small compared to the bubble. In other words, the finer the particle the poorer its chance of being recovered in a given time of flotation. There is an effect, implicit in this theory, which should overcome the effect of excessive fineness of the particles; namely, flocculation of the particles. The floccules can be conceived as being simply larger particles and therefore capable of becoming attached to bubbles. And, indeed, in all the cases in which a sulfide mineral of near-colloidal size was successfully floated the mineral (but not necessarily the gangue) was flocculated. Moreover, it was shown experimentally(4) that galena previously flocculated by inorganic flocculators and then added to gangue