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By U. M. J. Boin, E. V. Verhoef

Pyrometallurgical reactors constitute a key processing component in the total primary and industrial/recycling resource cycle, being involved both in primary smelting, converting and extraction, as well as the reprocessing of scrap, from aluminium cans to end-of-life automobiles. Therefore the pyrometallurgical reactor?s role in achieving sustainability is the central theme discussed in this paper since optimising their operation minimises waste, residue and offgas (NOx, dioxin, CO2) and maximises product quality and therefore efficiency. To effectively control the overall resource cycle, one needs to take a systems modelling approach of the whole cycle, seeking to also understand the dynamic process behaviour of the individual components of the cycle, and then especially the part that contributes most to the chemical conversion, namely the pyrometallurgical reactor. This paper highlights the role of pyrometallurgical thermodynamics in the whole resource cycle and specifically places equilibrium thermochemistry in the context of process dynamics where large, variable inventories are recycled or maintained within the system. This paper will therefore review the semi-empirical dynamic modelling tools, which are used to model complex systems with the specific goal of developing dynamic predictive models, which also include slag-alloy chemistry, towards controlling the recycling in a feed forward manner. To illustrate the primary production of metals, high carbon ferrochrome and Ni-Cu-matte smelting will be presented as a brief case study. Also fundamental studies in blast furnace and waste incineration kilns will be given. It also will show how the distributed nature of the chemistry of melts in the case of primary extraction, and industrial (recycling) materials such as recycled end-of-life vehicles, have a significant impact on the process outcomes and model predictions. It is therefore argued that the fundamental thermodynamics and kinetics in metallurgical reactors play a final crucial role in modelling the closed material cycle, but only when it is used in conjunction with process systems theory based on reconciled data for parameter estimation and model calibration. System models for aluminium and car recycling will be given as well as a dynamical system model that describes the interconnected material flows for Ag, Au, Bi, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, PGM, Sn and Zn for a study on lead-free solder.

Jan 1, 2003

By M. X. Jia

This paper discusses two mineralogy characteristics that may affect the flotation of sulfide ore. The first one, process mineralogy study on a Cu-Ni sulfide ore shows that valleriite and tochilinite are incline to form on chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and serpentine surface, and the further guess is that the formation of valleriite and tochilinite may also causes the serpentine transform to talc, so the serpentine surface is a phase of talc or a transition phase from serpentine to talc and this enhances the flotability of the gangue minerals. The second discussion on the flotation behavior of the sulfide minerals from the point of view of the mineral semiconductor character.

Jan 1, 2014

By E. Yigit

In the flotation process the physical factors such as agitation intensity air flow rate and pulp solid concentration are very important parameters affecting grades and recoveries of the products. The flotation tests were performed on the samples of Bigadic colemanite ore to investigate these factors at different agitation intensities ranging from 1000 rpm to 1400 rpm and air flow rates from 1000 cm3 ? min-1 to 2000 cm3 ? min-1 with 2 L and 4 L cells using Denver laboratory flotation machine. The tested collectors were Cytec Aero 825, Aero 848N and their mixtures. Agitation intensity and air flow rises resulted in more floated material although sometimes being not selective. These effects can be attributed to powerful collisions between air bubbles and mineral particles. The first observation was the effect of pulp solid concentration on the floatability of minerals, while the flotation in 2 L cell (0.125 g.L-1 solid concentration) at 1000 rpm (0.176 wattcm-3), and with 1000 cm3.min-1 air flow rate was possible, the flotation in 4 L cell (0.0625 g.L-1 solid concentration at 1000 rpm. (0.176 wattcm-3) and with 1000 cm3 ? min-1 air flow rate was not possible. However at 4 L cell after increasing agitation intensity to 1200 rpm (0.201 wattcm-3) keeping 1000 cm3 ? min-1 air flow rate, flotation was possible again. This shows that these factors such as agitation intensity have some critical role on flotation. Another interesting observation was on the selective effect of pulp solid concentration. In the flotation with 1 L cell at different agitation intensities, collector Aero 848N was selective against calcite, while in the flotation with 2 L cell at different agitation intensities the same collector Aero 848N was selective against colemanite.

Jan 1, 2014

By Arun Appadurai

Pneumatic transport systems play a vital role in conveying discrete particles over a sizable distance with minimal energy consumption. However if such a system is not designed keeping particle physics in mind, it leads to intractable problems which could possibly assume dangerous proportions, including but not limited to expensive redesign of the entire system. This paper describes a novel method, which harnesses the powerful technique of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to investigate a problem occurring in rotary kilns using coal as a major fuel source. In some of the sites, a unique phenomenon of abnormally high CO emission was observed and owing to the highly random nature of occurrence, it was difficult to scientifically investigate the problem and its cause. Most of the published solutions for the high CO problem tend to concentrate on the incomplete combustion aspect of the kiln and resolve the situation by increasing the air supply thereby improving the stoichiometric ratio of combustion. This paper offers an alternate correlation that relates high CO emissions to the phenomenon of coal delivery fluctuations caused by the sub-standard operation of the coal transport system. A CFD model for the coal delivery pipe is validated by utilizing the actual process data sourced from the measurements taken from a functioning plant. The results of the model are used to derive correlative conditions that point to the unstable operating conditions of the coal delivery pipe prevalent in the industry. The conclusions are summarized into a series of recommendations for optimized design of coal delivery systems which are implemented in a pilot plant. The results irrevocably prove a statistically significant reduction in CO emissions without resorting to increased air supply and power consumption. Keywords:CFD, Pneumatic Conveying, Saltation Velocity, Particle Flow

Sep 1, 2012

By A. N. Zagorodnyaya

The results of research on recovery of ammonium perrhenate from by-products of lead production are presented in the article. For the first time in the world, rhenium marketable products were produced on lead plant of Kazakhstan. Distribution of rhenium in lead production has been studied. During oxidative agglomeration of lead charge, 67.43% rhenium is sublimated and at that, 67.27% rhenium is trapped by the dusts of a system of gas purification, out of them 6.21% is transferred into different solutions, 1.89% into slime and only 0.09% into exhaust. During agglomerate smelting, up to 72% of its rhenium is sublimated and condensed in the dusts also. At leaching stage of sulphate product under dusts processing by the method of sulphatization, 15% of its content in the dusts is transferred into solution. The sorption method on the ionite ?N-21 has been proposed for recovery of rhenium from the solutions of sulphatization. At the same time, rhenium recovery from the dusts into commodity was 13%. The method of direct hydrometallurgy - leaching the dusts by solutions of sulphuric acid under presence of manganous concentrates, has been proposed as alternative method of recovery. This method has allowed increasing recovery of rhenium and other metals from the dusts into solution up to 90%~95%. Rhenium solvent extraction by ??? has been proposed for recovery of rhenium from the leaching solutions. At that, extraction of rhenium into marketable product from the dusts is above 75%.

Jan 1, 2014

By S. V. Balikov

A close association of fine gold with pyrite and arsenopyrite is observed at many gold ore deposits. Gold forms and gold distribution in sulfides of different deposits were studied. A comprehensive method including optical spectrum analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, high-temperature X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis was used for the de-tailed investigation of the defectiveness of the structure of pyrites from different deposits. It was shown that gold content in pyrites varied from 1.5 g/t to 100 g/t compared with 30 g/t to 230 g/t in arsenopyrites. The nature and arrangement of inner inclusions of foreign minerals in pyrites as well as occurrence of fractures and macro- and microdefects were examined. Iron, sulfur and arsenic contents in all pyrite samples were determined. Chemical composition of the detected inclusions was defined. Parameters of submicroscopic structure of pyrite were estimated using X-ray Fourier line shape analysis. Estimation of real structure characteristics with calculation of submicroscopic D-blocks and root-mean-square lattice deformation 2()evalues was performed. Defectiveness of the pyrite structure can be defined by the following parameters: K?1 and K?2 reflection resolution and its intensity within high Bragg angles; S content to Fe content ratio; the arsenic content and the local variation in its concentration within the pyrite grain; the size of submicroscopic blocks and the crystal lattice disturbance value. The performed analysis showed some relationships between these parameters and refractoriness of the pyrite concentrates. It was observed that at S/Fe ratio close to or higher than stoichiometry and at a low arsenic content (less than one per cent) pyrite concentrates were not refractory. The analysis results showed that concentrates of the Beryozovskaya gold plant (0.02~0.07 As%) and concentrates of the Kommunarovskaya gold plant (less than 0.05 As%) as well as some pyrites from the Sukhoi Log gold deposit had the same characteristics. It was found that average arsenic content did not excess 0.2 per cent. Arsenic distribution within the grain of all these pyrites was uniform. At S/Fe ratio lower than or close to stoichiometry and at high arsenic content (more than one per cent) and significant variation in its distribution within a pyrite grain the pyrite concentrates are refractory. Such pyrites are typical for the Sukhoi Log, the Bakyrchik and the Mardzhanbulak gold deposits. Direct correlation between arsenic and gold contents, in particular, in fine grains of pyrite was observed by many researches. This correlation was explained by impregnation of arsenopyrite which normally contains more gold than arsenic pyrites. The analyses results showed that no arsenopyrite impregnation was found: arsenic distribution within the grain was uniform but its concentration varied greatly. Such pyrite concentrates are more refractory. This paper presents the results of analyses of sulfides to determine the amenability of the associated gold recovery by hydro- and pyrometallurgy.

Jan 1, 2014

By M. Y. Zhou

The paper elaborates on the significance of producing ultra-low-moisture ore concentrate, the operating principle and technical features of thermocompression- filtration process, the kinetics involved in the dewatering process, and the technological process system and equipment used. It is pointed out that it is possible to reduce the moisture of fine ore concentrate to a minimum. By way of example, the case of the treatment of flotation molybdenum (Mo) using the thermocompression- filtration process is cited.

Jan 1, 2014

By G. Prabhulingaiah, D. M. R. Sekhar

"A phosphate deposit of estimated 6 billion tons of P2O5 is located 180 to 300 meters below the sea level, 185 kilometers north of port Luderitz, Namibia. The ore bed is 6 kilometers wide and 220 kilometers long. The ore deposit analyzing 16% P2O5 is loose sediment of 1.5 meters thick without over burden. Sizing of the ore to - 1.4 mm + 0.150 mm improves the grade to 23.54% P2O5 with a P2O5 recovery at 83.75% containing phosphate pellets and flakes of sea shells. Clay, bacterial debris as organic matter, flakes of broken sea shells and fine phosphate containing particles report to - 0.150 mm fraction and + 1.4 mm fraction contains sea shells and few phosphate containing pellets. The mineralogical composition of phosphate containing pellets is estimated (Droste, T.C., 2004) 80% frankolite, 6% pyrite, 4% illite, 3% quartz, 3% amorphous SiO2, 1% carbonates, 1% organic carbon and = 1% ilmenite, magnetite, zircon etc. The phosphate content in the pellets is around 27.7% P2O5. Trials to separate by gravity or flotation processes were not successful. Leaching of carbonates (sea shell flakes) under mild acidic condition (= 2% acetic acid or HCl solutions) or calcinations followed by leaching however yielded residues (concentrates) of grades 27.85 - 32.74% P2O5 at P2O5 recoveries ranging from 78.45 - 96.8% P2O5."

Jan 1, 2014

By F. S. Niu

With the feature of finely-dissemination particle and complex mineral composition, oolitic hematite is considered to be the ore dressing difficult problem in the world. Series research on refractory oolitic hematite in Zhangjiakou Area are introduced as following: ore properties?technology mineralogy and mineral processing technology. The survey shows: with the fine grinding of the hematite to a fineness of -0.076mm 95%, obtaining iron concentrates grading 62.74% Fe at the recovery of 46.80% by high intensity magnetic separation- reverse flotation flowsheet; under the three stages intensity magnetic separation,four stages grinding and four stages gravity separation, getting the iron concentrates grading 61.09% Fe at the recovery of 45% using high intensity magnetic separation- gravity separation flowsheet; with roasting temperature of 800°C, time for 75~90min and ore-coal ratio of 11, gaining the iron concentrates assaying 62.74% Fe at the recovery of 87% by roasting- magnetic separation flowsheet. At present, this research is still doing for the target of raising the concentration recovery on the base of high grade concentrate. It is in the hope of fully utilizing the existing hematite resources in Zhangjiakou

Jan 1, 2014

By Mohammad Noaparast, Hamed Haghi

"In this research work, it was attempted to reduce the iron contents (Fe2O3) in relatively low grade silica sample which was obtained from Shenin silica mine, using magnetic separation. The prepared sample contained 93.75%SiO2, 0.44%Fe2O3, 2.78%Al2O3, and 0.08%TiO2 and the Fe2O3 had to be reduced to less than 0.08%. Mineralogical studies and XRD analysis indicated the presence of Hematite, Pyrite, and Goethite as the major iron impurity phases. Mineralogical studies of polished and thin sections demonstrated that the degree of freedom of silica is more than 80% in -300+212 ?m size fraction. After primary stages including crushing, milling, scrubbing and de-sliming, various methods such as low intensity magnetic separation (LIMS), high gradient magnetic separation (WHGMS) and dry high intensity magnetic separation (DHIMS) were applied to find out that which process would be appropriate for the elimination of iron impurities from this sample. Different experiments were carried out on the product of wet rod mill and scrubber. However the magnetic field intensity of WHGMS was increased down to 2Tesla, and there was not any acceptable result in reduction of Fe2O3 content lower than 0.08%. Thereafter the product of wet rod mill and scrubber were dried and reported to DHIMS. In these experiments, maximum magnetic field intensity was 1.4Tesla. In this case very significant results were achieved, and Fe2O3 content of final product were reduced to less than 0.05% which meets glass manufacturing standards."

Jan 1, 2014

By B. Y. Tuo

This article presents results of studies performed to determine the feasibility of using low-grade limonite ores from Yunnan deposit. Laboratory tests and commercial trials have shown that the magnetic separation can be performed with a high high-grade concentrates. The quality of the preparation concentration meets the requirements for blast-furnace smelting. The results as a whole demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing bank limonite ore. Yunnan limonite?s magnetic separation, roasting magnetic separation and flotation experimental study shows that grade of the ore grade can been from 32.91% heighten to 58.64%, a recovery of iron is 90.87%, productive rate is 51% through orthogonal test optimization; roasting magnetic separation can obtain that the grade of iron preparation concentrate is 61.16%, recovery is 67.39%, productive rate is 36%. As far as economy and enviormental protection is concerned, strong mag-netic suggested a more appropriate process. Keywords: Limonite; Roast; Magnetic separation

Jan 1, 2014

By Kazutoshi Haga, Ryo Kawarabuki, Atsushi Shibayama, Masato Kosugi, Masanobu Kawata, Refilwe S. Magwaneng, Kohei Mitsuhashi, Altansukh Batnasan

"The recovery of copper and iron from carbonaceous sulfide ore is of economic and environmental interest despite its processing difficulty. Hydrometallurgical methods can be used to concentrate sulfide metals of these hard-to treat ores in a simple and eco-friendly manner. In this study, high pressure acid leaching process was comprehensively studied to dissolve metals from an ore with organic carbon and carbonaceous gangue material using autoclave equipment. The sample used for the experiment was reduced to an average particle size of 75 µm after undergoing flotation to reduce carbonaceous gangue minerals. A comparative study on two leaching reagents of sulfuric acid and iron sulfate and their dosage was used to observe dissolution of copper and iron. Other parameters of temperature (90-170 0C), solid-liquid ratio (1:10, 1:5, 1:3 and 1:1) were investigated through kinetic studies to access the influence of organic carbon and carbonaceous material on recovery of copper and iron. Materials balancing analysis was used to evaluate the efficiency of metal dissolution. The effects of parameters on leaching rate and concentration was demonstrated. Results obtained from the experiment indicated low concentrations of copper and iron in pregnant leached solutions, which was attributed to acid consumption by organic carbon and carbonaceous material in feed. However, the high efficiency rates of 92.4% and 86.3 % for copper and iron respectively in sulfuric acid can be concluded that leaching of concentrates of carbonaceous ore is possible provided system control on type of acid, pH and temperature. The purpose of this research is important in understanding mechanism involved in dissolution of copper and iron in concentrates of carbonaceous ore and marks an improvement in leaching of highly contaminated ores."

Jan 1, 2018

Traditional mineral processing techniques are more and more difficult to recover the increasingly low grade phosphate ores today. Although bioleaching method has been attempted to process low grade ores in hydrometallurgical field due to economical and environmental reason, it has been hardly used in leaching phosphate ore at home and abroad. Strains of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans were collected and separated from the acid drainage of a coal mine in Anhui province of China. Ultraviolet irradiation and Microwave inducement were applied to the bacterial cultivation process to produce strains of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Acidithi-obacillus ferrooxidans able to tolerate extremely low pH conditions and generate sulphuric acid by oxidizing elemental sulfur or sulphide and the mutagenesis can achieve higher leaching rate. The bioleaching result will improve more by the addition of Tween series surfactants.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. R. Mambote

Vanadium is an important metal that is used mainly in ferrous and non-ferrous alloys due to the high tensile strength, hardness, fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance. Vanadium consumption in the steel industry represents about 85% of the vanadium-bearing products produced worldwide. The primary sources of the metal are patronite, roscoelite, and mottramite. Vanadium has also been produced as a by-product of the uranium production program which uses carnotite ores as a source of uranium. Vanadiferous magnetite iron ores are used for producing vanadium as well. In addition, it is known that vanadium can be recovered from the ashes of crude oil and petroleum coke. The process for treating boiler residues, fly ash and petroleum coke is similar to the process used to treat spent catalysts and ores. However, some of these materials may contain high carbon that must be removed at specific stage of the operation. Several processes are available for obtaining vanadium from fly ash, such as roasting vanadium bearing materials in the presence of sodium salt. The salt roasted calcine is subsequently leached with an alkaline or acidic solution. To obtain a cal-cine from which the vanadium can subsequently be recovered, the carbon in the source materials has to be eliminated prior to the roasting process. Other processes use the conventional hydrometallurgical route, in which fly ash is leached with sulphuric acid to obtain an impure vanadium pentoxide. The impure vanadium pentoxide is then treated with a sodium carbonate solution under atmospheric conditions to subsequently precipitate vanadium as ammonium metavanadate. Actually, the salt roasting process is the only process used commercially. In the present study, the progress in the technology of vanadium extraction from secondary materials is reviewed. The perspectives and the challenges for new process development are discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By Y. G. Sun

This paper mainly reported separation manganese silver oxidized ores process by amylum de-gradation reduction and its influencing factors. When dosage is given according to nMn : nH2SO4 : n(C6H10O5)n : nH2O=1:k21.8: k116.66:30, the amount of up to 95.93% Mn leach rate and less than 2% silver loss can be obtained. Cyanidation process was used to extracted silver from leaching Mn residues. Silver leach rate could reach 94.15% at consumed amount of 1kg/t NaCN for 1h. Silver leach recovery rate was more than 92.27% by leaching Mn and cyanidation two-step processes so manganese and silver were separated effectively.

Jan 1, 2014

By G. M. Wolfaardt, B. C. Qi

"From a lifecycle point of view, biologically digested sludge is a valuable product that should be reused if possible. Sludge may be applied to agricultural land for further sludge treatment and improvement of the characteristics of the soil. The characteristics of sludge that affect its applicability for soil conditioning include moisture content, pathogens, nutrients and metals. In this paper, the use of solid anaerobic digestion sludge of the lignocellulosic residues to condition soil was investigated in regards to nutrient composition, water content/retention capacity, hygienic quality (contamination of pathogenic bacteria) and heavy metal adsorbing/releasing characteristics of the sludge.It was found that the digested sludge had approximately 44.5% free and immobilized water and 46.9% bound water. The water-holding capacity of the sludge was high. This was a merit to apply the sludge to agriculture in dry areas. Anaerobic digestion under thermophilic conditions showed a promising disinfecting effect to the sludge, in contrast to the landfill digestion. The anaerobic digestion sludge could be considered as a humus-rich hygienic product that improves soil fertility and water holding capacity, nourishes plants and immobilizes heavy metals in the environment"

Jan 1, 2003

By Mark Viduetsky, Dmitry Tropnikov, Victor Maltsev, Victor Sokolov, Alexander Purgin, Andrey Panshin, Alexander Bondarev, Pavel Kozlov, Igor Garifulin

"CFM pneumatic flotation machines were developed by the Institute of Materials Science and Metallurgy, UrFU, and designed to concentrate a wide range of ores and man-made materials. A key principle of work is pulp preparation for flotation owing to its saturation with finely dispersed air bubbles in ejectors. CFM plants, their advantages over domestic and foreign prototypes are described. CFM pneumatic machine commercialization resulted in: - machines demonstrated high floatation efficiency for concentration of rebellious pyrrhotite-bearing copper and zink by simultaneous floatation of copper and zinc minerals and depressing pyrrhotite. CFM- 1400M introduction allowed simplifying and optimizing the flow chart and increase extraction of copper - by 5.4%, zinc - by 9.5% and improve the quality of copper (3% Cu) and zinc (1.5% Zn) concentrates. - due to copper pyrite concentration by using CFM 1400M overall copper recovery was increased by 1.5 %, and the content of copper in concentrates - by1%. According to the results of pilot runs, the use of CFM flotation for zinc cakes concentration strongly intensifies the process of cleaning water-soluble metal compounds and, thereby, increases the efficiency of flotation concentration and subsequent milling. CFM machines showed higher specific capacity (three or four times higher) (both for feed material and froth product). Specifically, CFM froth product has higher content of useful elements (silver by 0.014 % abs. zinc by 0.31% abs.) and better extraction (silver by 6.08% abs., zinc by 0.31% abs., and sulfide sulfur by 13.7 %). Sulfide sulfur content of CFM product chamber as compared to mechanical flotation machines is two times lower (0.48 vs. 0.95 %)."

Jan 1, 2014

By V. Panayotov

Slag and by-products of metallurgy bear valuable components and their processing raises an in-creasing interest. Coke and iron have to be separated and other components have to be depressed, in order to obtain sellable high quality copper concentrates. Use of classical mineral processing technologies, such as magnetic separation, sulphidization, hydrometallurgy, etc. yields copper concentrates with grade of 4%~6% Cu. Copper is lost in tailings and the whole technological cycle is low profitable. Technology proposed applies an electrochemical treatment of the industrial water entering the flotation cycle. Iron and iron compounds that do not bear Cu, coke and gangue materials are depressed during the copper flotation. Copper concentrate of grade of 9.8%~10% Cu is obtained at simultaneous increase of Ag recovery by 8%~10%. As a result company profitableness is increased. Technology proposed is easy to implement, it does not require changes in the existing technology flow-sheet, and additional investment is low. The flotation process can be aided by a specially developed system for real-time analysis of the obtained copper concentrate which allows in-time corrections in the flotation parameters and entire process control. Applied flotation schemes, technological parameters and results obtained are described.

Jan 1, 2014

By L. Y. Feng

The percentage of leached zinc in massive zinc oxide ores (11.7% Zn, >2 mm) is up to 73.3 % in 120 days. Alternatively, crushed to -0.154 mm, mixed with cement 5% (wt), pelletized and solidified. The diameters of the pellets obtained are between 5 mm to 8 mm. When the pellet solidification periods are 3 days, 10 days and 45 days respectively, the alkaline leaching rates of zinc in the pellets are up to 95.8%, 89.1% and 76.4% respectively. Decreasing the solidification time can re-duce reaction time, increase dissolution of zinc in pellets and lower the effect of initial zinc concentration on leaching rate. The experiment results show that the minimum solidification time is three days, and the kinetic study indicates that alkaline leaching of the low grade zinc oxide pellets is controlled by the diffusion of the leach liquor through the gangue layer in the whole leach process, and the apparent rate constants are 3.33×10-2 day-1, 9.18×10-3 day-1, 5.82×10-3 day-1 respectively.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Ekrem Yüce, Gülay Bulut, Feridun Boylu, Vecihi Gürkan, Istanbul Technical University, H. MustafaTarkan

"Nickel sulphide ores subjected to this investigation were taken from Orhaneli district where widespread chromite mineralisation can be occurred. Significant amounts of magnetite and chromite have been existed in the ore together with sulphide and oxide type nickel minerals. Ore sample is constituted about 70% magnetite, 15% sulphide minerals, 5% chromite and iron oxides as well as 10% gangue minerals.According to the chemical analysis results, the representative ore sample contains 1.32% Ni, 10.8% SiO2, 78.4% Fe2O3, 1.3 g/t Ag and 1.0 g/t Au. Mineralogical examinations showed that pentlandite (Fe, Ni)9S8, violarite (Ni, Fe)3S4, millerite NiS and asbolane (Co, Ni)MnO2.(OH)2.1-2H2O were the main nickel minerals and magnetite, chromite, chromium spinals, pyrite, pyrhotite, chalcopyrite, cubanite, goethite, hematite, limonite, rutile, chlorite, talc and serpentine group minerals as associated minerals.The aim of this investigation was to produce valuable nickel concentrates by using gravity separation, magnetic separation and flotation methods. As a results of laboratory scale studies, alternative flow sheets for the production of nickel sulphide concentrate were developed. The related experimental results are given in Table 1."

Jan 1, 2003