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By Weiran Zuo, Narayan Krishnan, Frédéric von der Weid, Emmy Manlapig, Fengnian Shi, Klaas van der Wielen

Laboratory study has identified a new application of high voltage electrical pulse technology for pre-weakening ores. In recent years, the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), Newcrest Mining and SELFRAG AG have conducted joint research in validation of pre-weakening of SAG mill feed through the pilot scale tests and comminution circuit simulations. Ten tons of SAG mill feed with a top particle size 150 mm were tested with two pilot scale SELFRAG machines installed in Switzerland. A simulation study using JKSimMet software was carried out to find where the high voltage pulses pre-weakening technique can be best applied in a gold-copper ore comminution circuit, based on the data of the pilot scale SELFRAG tests. A novel comminution circuit was designed, which incorporated SELFRAG to pre-condition part of SAG mill feed (9.5 to 150 mm) and to treat the circulating SAG mill pebbles. The high voltage pulse technology effectively reduced the amount of ‘critical size’ particles in the SAG mill and pre-weakened particle strength for grinding. Attributing to the nature of bi-modal size distribution and the significantly reduced F80, the simulations showed that the SAG mill had spare capacity to process part of hydrocyclone underflow from the secondary ball mill grinding circuit. The simulations indicated that the novel comminution circuit had the potential to remove two MP1000 pebble crushers and one 10 MW ball mill from the existing 2000 t/h grinding circuit. A 5 kWh/t energy reduction by adopting the novel comminution circuit in a gold-copper operation may be realized. This would result in substantial savings in operation costs.

Jan 1, 2014

By Robin J. Batterham

The Bologna Process started in 1999 with a declaration signed by ministers from most European countries. As of 2012, the Bologna Process now has 47 participating countries (EHEA 2012). Overall, the Bologna process has demonstrably changed higher education in many countries to allow for considerably more flexibility in course offerings. Keywords: bologna model, education

Sep 1, 2012

By G. Alfano

We have investigated the breakage actions of solid particles observed in a new generation fluid energy micronizer being set up at our laboratories. The attention has been focussed in particular on breakage caused by interparticle collision, particle impact against a fixed surface, interparticle attrition and particle against wall of jet mill attrition. We have also studied the influence of grain size distribution, maximum particle size, flow rate and characteristics of the solid to be processed, as well as of flow rate and pressure of injected air on the above mechanism. Lastly, the operating parameters of a dynamic air classifier in closed circuit with the micronizer for recovering the fine fraction and automatically recycling the oversize, have been optimized. The findings of this investigation have been used to design, build and fine tune a micronizer capable of controlling the top size of a product having average particle size that meets market requirements for fine powders, while keeping power consumption relatively low.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. A. Acuña

Extensive literature exists on the motion of single bubbles and the behaviour of swarms of bubbles. This contribution describes work to track and reveal the motion of individual bubbles in a swarm. The technique is based on high speed cinematography and tracking of multiple moving objects. Image processing algorithms were implemented in Matlab to isolate and measure geometric proper-ties of the bubbles in image sequences recorded at 2 ms interval; and these properties were compiled into a data structure. To track a bubble, the geometric properties and a matching criterion were applied on consecutive pictures to identify the bubble. The bubble trajectory was reconstructed from the data structure for the matched objects. The methodology is briefly described. The new technique was tested for bubbles produced at slot-type spargers (i.e., approximately 2-D swarms) in the presence of two frother types ('strong' and 'weak'). Two observations are discussed: a) that bubble motion in a swarm describes a velocity-size relationship dictated by the dominant bubble size class; and b) that surfactant type influences bubble rise velocity for bubbles in the range 0.1 mm to 4 mm. The latter suggests surface viscosity rather than surface immobilization determines bubble rise velocity.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. Martinez, S. Helle, M. Pincheira

We studied the feasibility of automated mineralogy to discriminate between tennantite and enargite, the main sulfosalts found in the Rio Blanco deposit, Codelco-Chile, in order to predict the content of minor elements (As, Sb, Ag, Pb, Zn) that impact on the process and concentrate prices. The identification of these minerals is feasible using traditional microscopy, however not possible by automated mineralogy. This drawback prevents comparing the databases generated in the past by means of conventional microscopy with the information obtained at present by QEMSCAN. To differentiate enargite from tennantite the mineral composition of both sulfosalts was studied by electron microprobe. The presence of associated minor element contents of about 8% zinc in tennantites and not exceeding 0.07% in enargites were used to modify the SIP database of QEMSCAN to enable the quantification of these phases in samples of head, residue and concentrate coming from As-bearing domains of the deposits. Detection limits allowed to determine the mineral species in the head, concentrate and residues. The integration of methodologies such as automated mineralogy and microprobe can be used successfully to quantify the presence of some ore forming solid solution.

Jan 1, 2014

By Andrzej Luszczkiewicz, Aleksandra Potulska

"Flotation is a basic process of beneficiation of mineral raw materials which requires very fine grinding for liberation of valuable minerals. Probably flotation will also play this role in the future. In the case of flotation of difficult-to-upgrade non-ferrous ores, currently one of the most important trends in technology development is solution to fine grinding even down to a few micrometers in size and elaboration of effective flotation technology for such fine particles. Both industrial flotation data and many investigators suggest that the best results of flotation of ore minerals are observed for particle size range from 20 to 100 µm. Many base metal ores require grinding below 20, or even 10 µm, to liberate valuable ore components. However, industrial flotation of particles below 20 µm in size creates numerous challenges. Further complications may be caused by a complex nature of the ore, especially when the valuable metals are present in several different sulfide minerals. This problem occurs in the case of the Polish sedimentary copper ores. In the present study, flotation of the ore of different size distributions and degrees of grinding, having the size of particles below 25 µm, was investigated. The behavior of different sulfide minerals naturally present in the ore was analyzed. The best results of flotation tests were obtained for the ore ground down to 95% below 25 µm. Narrow size fractions -10; 10-15; 15-25; 25-40, and +40 µm were separated using special micro-sieves and mineralogical as well as chemical analyses of each size fraction were carried out for monitoring the behavior of the fine sulfide particles. Differences between flotation of chalcocite-digenite, bornite, chalcopyrite, covellite, galena and pyrite-marcasite naturally occurring in the ore were described. The role of different particle sizes in flotation performance of each mineral was also presented."

Jan 1, 2014

By C. B. Wu

This paper presents an analysis of comminution behavior of using cast iron segment (CIS) as fine grinding media with comparison to conventional steel ball. Grinding experiments utilize just one-size medium and mixed size media in laboratory were carried out and its efficiency is expected to be improved. The results show that no matter whether one-size medium or mixed size media employed, grinding efficiency of CIS media can be considerably equal to that of steel ball, on the other hand, grinding product by two kinds of media can conform to Robin-Rammler?s size characteristic curve and distribute in function of . )exp(100nbxy-= Comparing with steel ball, the milling capacity with CIS media could be increased up to about 8.6 percent, overcomminution decreased 3.96 in percentage and qualified size increased 3.98 in percentage in case of grinding fineness retained. At the same time, due to the improvement of grinding product size characteristic and its metal distribution characteristic, the grade and recovery of easy to separation size increased 0.24 in percentage and 6.47 in percentage respectively. Based on these results, the CIS media can be employed as novel fine medium for grinding process substituting for steel ball.

Jan 1, 2014

By Bruce Mathema, Steven Huynh, Terry Cheng, Gerry Gomez

"The use of PM40N, a specialty precious metals promoter in conjunction with a standard Xanthate based collector was extensively investigated in the flotation of a complex, silver-bearing, lead-zinc ore containing naturally occurring graphitic gangue. The ore, considered difficult to treat with conventional reagents, was tested at plant scale to determine the impact of the promoter on silver recovery, lead grade and also on the amount of zinc misplaced to the final lead concentrate.Initial laboratory-scale rougher flotation testing implied significant improvements in the recovery of silver and lead with a marginal amount of zinc displaced. Subsequent mini pilot flotation tests further revealed that a gain in selectivity and recovery could be achieved by adjusting PM40N promoter dosage and incorporating a cleaner flotation step, further improving rejection of sphalerite. Plant trials resulted in an improvement of 3% in Silver recovery coupled with a 2% increase in recovered lead whilst maintaining lead grade in the lead circuit.To date, the use of PM40N as a promoter has enabled the processing operation to significantly increase its plant economics. The partial replacement of the standard Xanthate based collector has also reduced the overall quantity of Xanthate required in the standard circuit by approximately 10% - which is a positive impact on the environment. It is envisaged that further optimization of plant parameters will favor stable operation and continue to boost revenues generated by subsequent improvements in silver metallurgy."

Jan 1, 2014

By E. Szelag

The adsorption and stabilization of mineral dispersed systems by using Pluronic copolymers with different molecular weights and EO content has been studied. The role of sequential adsorption of EO-PO copolymers and cationic surfactant (CTAB) on the carbonate particle properties and in determining the stability of their suspension was studied with particular attention to the conformation of the polymer at the solid-liquid interface. The purpose of this work was to investigate the flocculation phenomena, influence of polymer molecular size on stability of suspensions of magnesite and dolomite and the effect of addition mode of polymer and surfactant. The suspension stability measurements and the determination of sedimentation speed were carried out using an optical analyser (Turbiscan). In most of investigated cases, the biggest floccs and the fastest sedimentation were found for low concentrations of copolymers.

Jan 1, 2014

By Gus Van Weert, Samuel A. Bolorunduro, David B. Dreisinger

"Silver is currently lost as jarosite during the pressure oxidation of sulphides and cyanidation of the residues yields 5-10% of silver. Efforts to recover silver from complex sulphides, which contain economic fractions of silver require an understanding of the behaviour of acanthite during pressure oxidation. However, previous studies of acanthite (Ag2S) reaction have been complicated by the formation of argento-jarosite and uncertainties arise on the interpretation of the results.In this work, the acid pressure oxidation of high-grade natural silver sulphide mineral (acanthite) was carried out at 110-150°C and under the conditions similar to that of pressure oxidation of complex sulphide. The predominant product of reaction is elemental sulphur. The rate of reaction increases with increasing temperature and with the presence of ferric ions. The kinetics is controlled by chemical reaction with activation energy of 72.6 kJ/mol. The rate of reaction decreases with the presence of silver sulphate in the initial slurry. The proposed overall reaction is close to: []"

Jan 1, 2003

By Jiajun Geand, Shuli Wang, Baodong Pan, Xueqi Cui, Guangwei Zhang, Jipeng Sun

Gravity-fed three-product dense medium cyclone(GTDMC)is usually used as the main coal washing equipment in coking coal preparation plant. It can produce three products with a low density suspension at the same time. Raw coal and dense medium are fed separately into the cyclone. Only the qualified low-density medium suspension is pumped into the cyclone while the raw coal is fed into the first-stage 1200mm cyclone axially at the top end by gravity. The 1200mm cyclone with a cylindrical form is for low-density separation. The clean coal with light density and slower-settling velocity moves directly towards the low pressure zone along the axis and is carried through the vortex-finder to the overflow. Only the heavy products pass through the "separating zones" to the wall of 1200mm cyclone and then migrate into the series-connected second-stage 850mm cyclone through the tangential outlet. The medium suspension from the first-stage cyclone is thickened and contains more magnetite coarse particles. The second-stage cyclone typically consists of a cylindrical section and conical part. These are all favorable for the second-stage cyclone to separate at a high density. Production practices show that the clean coal and the gangue rarely mixed in the middling, the lower limit of the separation is 0.2 mm, the Organic Efficiency and the Ecart probable of the first stage is 98.30% and 0.026 kg/L respectively.

Jan 1, 2014

By Osvaldo A. Bascur

One of the most vigorous of the continuous improvement methodologies is Six Sigma. While usually associated with improving manufacturing and product quality, leading manufacturers are using it to improve their extended supply chain and logistics capabilities. At the same time they are improving reliability, some companies have cut hundreds of millions of dollars of fat out of their supply chain. Mine to Mill optimization is a transformation of culture from processing tons to processing a quality feed size distribution which reduces the overall operational costs and add the highest value to the mine. This is not a constant endeavor. As such, a dynamic performance monitoring and diagnosis is necessary. We will review a systemic way to performance improvements and avoiding metal losses from the blast to the metals. We show the requirements of using raw data to analysis the data to define operational maps which provide assistance to run the mine and mill. A case study is provided with the mine and mill data was integrated combining process control and quality information resulting in reduction of water and energy consumption while improving the overall value of the mine. The results of reengineering the current system with this SIX SIGMA Strategy had the following results: an increase of ore milling: 4.6% decrease of mil power: 3.9%, decrease of fresh water consumption: 6.8%, with a total of net profits: US$ 31.8 million, the PI System infrastructure contribution: US$ 7.95 million. These estimates were for the period 2009/04/04 to 2009/12/31.

Sep 1, 2012

By R. K. Logric

Bor flotation tailings are very interesting from two reasons: first, is having due value presently, and second represent serious pollutant into this region of Balkan. This paper is only one small part of investigation about processing of valuable minerals from tailings, and desulphurization of this biggest pollutant in the same time, by refloating. The main objective of this work is to pay attention on this problem for resolve greatest environ-mental problem of Serbia and Balkan in the nearly future. Bor is potential regional risk spot, since that failure of its tailings dams would release high amounts of toxic materials that would reach the Danube River. The basic goal of this experimental investigation was finding some possibility for flotation tailings treatment by classical froth flotation. In order was obtained material effect through copper recovery, and environmental protection by moving the rest of reprocessing into the safe place. The work present obtained results of laboratory tests in two laboratories: laboratory of mineral and recycling technology at the faculty in Bor, and laboratory of department of mineral processing of ITNMS in Belgrade.

Jan 1, 2014

By W. Q. Zhao

In order to raise the utilization rate of phosphate resource of Al-Jalamid Mine in Saudi Arabia, a flotation experiment for its phosphate rock was carried out by using WF-01collector that have been produced by Wengfu Phosphate Mine. The results showed that WF-01 collector had extensive adaptability for Al-Jalamid phosphate rock, and the grade of phosphate concentrate could be up to 33% P2O5 mixing the upper, middle and lower beds rock as well as its 80% more recovery.

Jan 1, 2014

By B. Q. Xiao

In surfactant flooding, surfactants added are often a mixture of the same type of molecules with different lengths of carbon chains. The relationship between a single, pure surfactant solution and crude oil is seldom studied. Additionally, up to now, alkylbenzene sulfonates are applied widely in surfactant flooding, such as Daqing oilfield, China. A factory producing alkylbenzene sulfonates will enlarge its yield to 20 000 tons per year over there. For the purposes of widening the alkylben-zene sulfonates? application, 16 kinds of pure alkylbenzene sulfonates were synthesized through Friedel-Crafts acylation and Wolff-Kishner reduction reactions, and the compounds? molecular structures were confirmed by 1HNMR and 13CNMR spectra. The factors affecting interfacial tension (IFT), such as, surfactant type, oil composition, electrolyte concentration, and alkali concentration were considered. The synthesized pure surfactants? critical micelle concentration (CMC) and optimal salinity were measured through interfacial tension technique. According to lab experiments results, heavy alkylbenzene sulfonate (2SY) was synthesized in magnifying scale in Jinzhou Wash Chemical Plant and the coretests were conducted using it. The results showed that the homemade heavy alkylbenzene sulfonate (2SY) flooding can improve oil displacement efficiency 20% more than water flooding at surfactant?s concentration from 0.05%(wt) to 0.2 %(wt).

Jan 1, 2014

By Liu Jie

Refractory iron ore deposits in China have various genesis and complicated types, the nature of which is poor, fine-disseminated and complex. Therefore, refractory iron ore could scarcely be separated and utilized by traditional mineral processing technology at present. It is necessary to explore deep reduction technology to change the characteristics of refractory iron ore and to use effectively the iron resource. And deep reduction technology is that on the condition of higher reduction temperature than that of magnetic roasting and stronger reducing atmosphere, the iron oxides from iron ore was reduced to metallic iron particle that is easy to dissociate. And then production from deep reduction is easily separated by magnetic separation and iron powder production was obtained finally. Deep reduction technology for Lingyang iron ore from Jilin, China, as the refractory iron ore, was studied in this paper. The influences of such main factors as reduction temperature, time and coal content were investigated. The results showed that the Metallization rate of reduction product was up to more than 90% under optimum conditions, and then higher iron grade and recovery of reduction iron powder were obtained from subsequent magnetic separation. Furthermore, the deep reduction mechanism in the system was studied by the means of XRD and SEM analysis for reduction production and Physical Chemistry of Metallurgy. Analytical results indicated that during deep reduction, the size of iron particle from deep reduction materials was increasing as reduction temperature rising and reduction time extending. The growth of metallic iron particle from deep reduction production was divided into such three stages as reduction nucleation, deep reduction and growth of metallic iron particle.

Sep 1, 2012

By S. V. Volkova, S. V. Mamonov, T. P. Dresvyakyna

"The purpose of the work is complex processing of sulphide-magnetite ores with the separation of iron into iron concentrate, copper and noble metals into copper concentrate.The work shows the research results of the material composition of the sulfide-magnetite ore in the South part of the Peschanskoye deposit. According to the research results it is found that ore contains 0.59% of copper, 66% of which is related to chalcopyrite; 39.9% of iron, 81% of which is magnetite and 3.87% is sulfur, 42% of which is associated with pyrrhotite, 65% of which is a monoclinic modification. According to the results of the mineralogical analysis, it is found that the main iron-containing mineral in the ore under study is magnetite, the content of which is 45%. In addition to magnetite, iron is found in carbonates, pyroxenes, amphiboles, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite. The main copper mineral in the sample is chalcopyrite; covellite, chalcosine, bornite have a subordinate value. The total content of copper minerals in the sample is about 1%. The processing technology provides the three-stage grinding of the ore to a size of 65% of the class-71 µm; a cycle of copper flotation; a cycle of pyrrhotite flotation; wet magnetic separation of flotation hosts. The following optimal parameters are established for the ore under study: the alkalinity of the slurry is 250-280 g/m3 of free calcium oxide in the liquid phase of the slurry; the duration of the main copper flotation is 20 min; the consumption of butyl potassium xanthate is 20 g/t; the consumption of the foam generator T-92 is 15 g/t; the consumption of copper sulfate for the activation of pyrrhotite is 300 g/t; the magnetic field strength is 1500 Oersteds.A complex flotation-magnetic technology for the enrichment of sulfide-magnetite ore has been developed in the laboratory in order to produce a copper concentrate containing 21.6% of copper with 91.7% extraction and an iron concentrate with 66.5% of iron mass fraction and 1.2% of sulfur with an extraction of iron into the concentrate of 87.9%."

Jan 1, 2018

Results of the study of chloride ion concentration effect to osmium-187 sorption from wastewater of copper smelter with use of foreign anionites of different basicity and structure are presented in the work. It was found that the increase of chloride ion concentration in the wastewater helps to increase recovery of osmium using anionites regardless of their nature. The ways to intensify the process are proposed. The method for osmium elution from the anionites with potassium iodate solution was developed. It was shown that the method lets to recover up to 99% of osmium from the anionites. Recommendations for selection of eluents for better recovery of osmium from the anionites were elaborated. Keywords: wastewater, osmium, anionite, sorption, chloride ions, eluent, recovery

Sep 1, 2012

By R. Roufail

In this paper, the effect of different operating parameters of high speed stirred mill on the particle breakage mode is addressed. Morphological features of broken particles is investigated and related to the types of forces generated in the mill using Discrete Element Method (DEM). The stress intensities generated in the mill are varied by changing the agitator speed. The investigated agitator speeds were 1000, 1500, and 2000 revolution per minute (rpm). The minerals considered in this study are hard minerals (quartz) and soft, sulphide minerals (galena). The morphological features examined are roughness, roundness and elongation, which shed light on the mode of breakage during the grinding process. Particles that are rough, less round and elongated would imply that they broke via fracture, along their grain boundaries. On the other hand, the smooth, less elongated particles would mean breakage occurred across the grain, which is abrasion mod. DEM study complemented the understanding of particle breakage mechanism via tracking the types of forces applied on the particles. Normal forces imply compressive loading, which is presumed to impose fracture breakage along the grain boundaries, whereas tangential forces imply abrasion loading. Stirred mill grinding has been regarded as an attrition/abrasion process, whereas, this study showed that about 60% of total particles that are morphologically analyzed for both minerals were rough particles. Such an observation indicates that the fine product, which contain a significant amount of progeny from the coarse fractions are consistently broken via fracture. The morphology results agreed with the DEM findings, which indicated that the agitator speed, mineral type, and residence time would dictate the type and mode of particle breakage. Keywords: DEM, high speed stirred mill

Sep 1, 2012

By Tong Guan, Guangqin Fu, Lihong Deng, Xiaotong Zhou

The raw ore contains many kinds of valuable metal elements. It is rich in valuable metal elements, such as Pb, Zn, Sb, Sn, Ag and is associated with S,Fe,As,In,Cd. A new technology which includes medium intensity magnetic separation, preferential lead flotation, zinc-sulfur bulk flotation, zinc-sulfur flotation separation, tin gravity separation and tin slime flotation was chosen to recover valuable minerals in the raw ore, and the iron concentrate, the lead concentrate, the zinc concentrate, the sulfur concentrate and the tin concentrate can be obtained. To the zinc-sulfur bulk concentrate with the grade of 7.21%Zn and 16.97%As acquired by the zinc-sulfur bulk flotation, two different flowsheets of Zn-S separation technology are chosen to study. The lab test shows that when using lime+DM as depressor, the zinc concentrate assaying 47.73%Zn with the recovery of 95.01% can be obtained and the test indexes are better than that of the flowsheet which using lime as depressor. At the same time, the Cd content is 0.65% and the In content is 0.10% in the zinc concentrate, so they all reach the smelting comprehensive recovery standards and the As content decreases to 0.23%. Finally the flotation separation of christophite and As-bearing sulfide minerals can be successfully realized.

Jan 1, 2014