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By B. J. Zhang

Conventional spirals are capable of providing excellent clean coal recovery, although at a relatively high ash content. Compound spirals, which provide two stages of spiral cleaning in a single taller unit, have been commercialized in recent years to improve upon the cleaning performance obtained from conventional spirals. The present study aimed at optimizing the performance obtained from a compound spiral for cleaning especially high sulfur fine and ultrafine coal. Industrial-scale spiral units were utilized for this study in a pilot-scale facility at the Illinois Coal Development Park. A statistically designed experimental program was conducted to optimize ash and sulfur cleaning performance of the compound spiral. It was found that significant cleaning of ultrafine coal (i.e., 150 microns × 45 microns and even 45 microns × 25 microns size coal) is achievable with the compound spiral. However, operating conditions for cleaning finer coal fractions (-150 microns size coal) have to be significantly different from those used to clean coarser coal fractions (+150 microns size coal). The sulfur rejection trends were different from ash separation efficiency trends in all size fractions except 45 microns × 25 microns. The probable error (Ep) and effective specific gravity of separation (SG50c) determined for the compound spiral cleaning of the overall particle size were as low as 0.07 and 1.62, respectively. However, the bypass of a small percentage of clean coal to the tailings stream of the compound spiral, may need further adjustment of the key process parameters.

Jan 1, 2014

By T. Saastamoinen, N. Heino

"The Olserum deposit located in Sweden hosts an indicated mineral resource of 4.5 million tonnes over 0.6 % TREO, exhibiting a relatively high proportion of HREE. Beneficiation of a composite drill core sample was studied in the flowsheet of magnetic separation of magnetite followed by REE minerals flotation. Primary testwork was performed to select an effective REE mineral collector and then the parameters of grinding size, collector and depressant dosages, slurry pH and density, conditioning time and temperature, and flotation time were tested for optimization of REE flotation. The studies of process mineralogy showed that the REE-bearing minerals monazite, xenotime and apatite were successfully enriched from the concentrations of 0.6%, 0.31% and 2.6% in the feed to those of 17.0%, 8.9% and 65.0% in the concentrate with the recoveries of 79.0%, 81.3% and 71.0%, respectively. INTRODUCTION The Olserum deposit located in Sweden comprises lower grade placer material with higher grade apatite-magnetite veins and hosts an indicated mineral resource of 4.5 million tonnes at 0.6% TREO, with 34% of that being HREO (EURARE, 2017). The mineralization was studied by Andersson et al. (2018). At early stage, high-temperature REE is characterized by abundant monazite-(Ce) and xenotime-(Y) coexisting with fluorapatite and subordinate amounts of (Y,REE,U,Fe)-(Nb,Ta) oxides. During a subsequent stage, allanite-(Ce) and ferriallanite-(Ce) formed locally, partly resulting from the breakdown of primary monazite-(Ce). Alteration of allanite-(Ce) or ferriallanite-(Ce) to bastnäsite-(Ce) and minor synchysite-(Ce) at lower temperatures represents the latest stage of REE mineral formation. The mineralogy and beneficiation were firstly studied by GTK Mintec in the EURARE project for a composite drill core sample. The Olserum is considerably smaller than the Norra Kärr deposit. However, REE are hosted by xenotime and monazite, both of which have well established processing pathways, and meanwhile, the Olserum has a high contribution of the high value critical REE (dysprosium (Dy), yttrium (Y), neodymium (Nd) and terbium (Tb)), which provide a unique advantage for its exploration (Tasman Metals Ltd., 2013). In this paper, flotation of the REE minerals in the Olserum ore was studied."

Jan 1, 2018

By Xiong Dahe

In recent years many creative technologies are applied to SLon vertical ring and pulsating high gradient magnetic separators. SLon-2500 and SLon-3000 vertical ring and pulsating high gradient magnetic separators are created towards larger scale. Through optimizing the magnetic system and lowering the electric current density, their energy consumption is obviously dropped. New magnetic matrixes are developed to raise the beneficial efficiency of valuable minerals. Special SLon vertical ring and pulsating high gradient magnetic separators are developed which can treat coarser particles of 0-5 mm. Through these technology creations, the mineral processing efficiency of SLon magnetic separators is further raised and their processing cost dropped. Therefore, they have been found wider applications. SLon-2500 applied in Essar Steel of India. In 2007, Essar Steel did a test on its Kirandul hematite ore with SLon magnetic separator and got very good results. The feed grade is 59.77%Fe, after SLon one roughing and one scavenging, the total iron concentrate grade is 65.00%Fe and iron recovery 93.86%. In 2008-2010, the company bought 10 SLon-2500 magnetic separators to treat such iron ores. In 2010 the first SLon-3000 was applied to processing ilmenite. The magnetite-ilmenite deposit is located in Pan Zhi Hua, Si Chuan Province of China. The ore processing flow sheet is: Drum low intensity magnetic separator is used to take out magnetite, and then the SLon-3000 is used to recover ilmenite for roughing. The mags of the SLon-3000 are further cleaned by flotation. The SLon-3000 average operational results are: feed grade 9.52%TiO2, mags grade 17.43%TiO2, mags mass ratio 41.01%, TiO2 recovery 75.09%, non-mags grade 4.02% TiO2, non-mags mass ratio 58.99%. SLon magnetic separators Applied to treat 0-5mm limonite: The feed of SLon magnetic separator is usually 0-2 mm which needs to be ground by ball mill. As many Chinese iron ores are poor grades, if we can throw part of tails before grinding, the grinding cost will be greatly reduced. In 2010, a SLon-1500 and a SLon-2000 were specially built to treat 0-5 mm limonite. The feed grade is 26.51%Fe, mags grade 53.20%Fe, iron recovery 64.26, and tails grade 13.66% Fe. SLon-2500 applied to purify quartz. In 2009, a SLon-2500 magnetic separator was applied to purify quartz in Shan Xi province. Its feed is 0-1mm quartz which contains 0.15%-0.25%Fe2O3, the designed non-mags grade need to be less 0.08% Fe2O3. The production results of SLon-2500 non-mags are 0.05-0.06% Fe2O3, much better than the designed data. SLon applied in Si Jia Ying Iron Mine to recover hematite. Si Jia Ying is a big oxidized iron mine located in He Bei Province of China. In 2005-2010, a plant annually treating 10 million tons of oxidized iron ore was built in which 39 SLon magnetic separators are applied. The total flow sheet results are: Feed grade 30.44%Fe, iron concentrate grade 66%Fe, iron recovery 80%Fe, tails grade 9.65Fe%. SLon applied to recover specularite. Li Lou Iron Mine in An Hui Province of China built a plant annually processing 5 million tons of iron ore in 2010-2011. 25 SLon-2000 magnetic separators are applied to recover specularite. The total flow sheet results are: Feed grade 31.65%Fe, iron concentrate grade 65%Fe, iron recovery 80%Fe, tails grade 10.37%Fe. SLon applied in Da Hong Shan Iron Mine. Da Hong Shan Iron Mine is located in Yun Nan province of China. It treats 4.5 million tons of oxidized iron ore annually. 15 SLon-2000 magnetic separators are applied to recover hematite. The total flow sheet results are: Feed grade 35.61%Fe, iron concentrate grade 64.95%Fe, iron recovery 74.08%Fe, tails grade 15.55%. Keywords: SLon magnetic separator, iron ore, ilmenite, quartz, beneficiation

Sep 1, 2012

By C. B. Yu

The ore comprise of chalcopyrite, valleriite, pyrite, pyrrhotite and so on. Serpentine and talc are chief gangues. Copper phase of the tail shows that mostly valleriite be losed in tail, 70% mineral of copper is valleriite in tail, so severity reduce the recovery of copper. The traditional flow-sheet in acidity mine pulp to flotat the valleriite, but copper-sulphur separated in high alkaline pulp, so the valleriite be losed else. Explores the characters of the valleriite?s surface, studys on the flow-sheet of flotat valleriite and copper-sulphur separated. In neutral mine pulp, adopt of cationic collector to flotat valleriite, adopt of hyposulphite to depressant pyrite in low alkaline pulp can advance the recovery of copper to 5.06%.

Jan 1, 2014

By S. K. Dutta

Enormous amount of iron ore fines is generated, due to partly soft and friable nature, during mining. Coal fines are also produced during their processing. These fines cannot be used directly in ironmaking reactors. Utilization of these fines for extracting metal is of vital concern for resource conservation and pollution control, and therefore, a novel concept of agglomeration by cold-bonding is developed. Composite briquettes/pellets of iron ore fines with coal fines were prepared in the laboratory by cold-bonding technique. Various binders such as lime, Ca(OH)2, slaked lime, dextrin, molasses, fly ash etc were employed either alone or in combination in different proportions for making composite briquettes/pellets. It was possible to obtain dry strength of composite briquettes more than 300 N/briquette in some cases and more than 200 N/briquette in many trials. The combination of fly ash with slaked lime and molasses produced the highest strength, more than 400 N/briquette. Drop strength and shatter index values of composite briquettes/pellets were also measured. In briquettes, best compressive strength (978 N/briquette) is observed by using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) binder. In pellet, best compressive strength (362 N/pellet) is achieved by PVA; shatter index (0.1%) and dry drop strength (158 numbers) are also good. Compressive strength above 200 N/pellet is obtained by fly ash, slaked lime and molasses combination.

Sep 1, 2012

By M. Saghaeian, R. Hejazi, R. Barreiro, M. Tavousi, M. Ahadi, O. Asghari

"Banded iron formations are the major iron source for producing high grade concentrate. BIF are generally lower grade and more difficult to extract. In order to know how best to process BIF ore, it require comprehensive knowledge on ore bodies even in the early stages of the mining process. Geometallurgy combines geological and mineral processing information and allows for higher flexibility in response to changes in the plant feed when mining different parts of the ore. This can lead to economic benefits, owing to improved plant operation, yet is time consuming and correspondingly costly. The main focus of this paper work has been to develop a comprehensive geometallurgical testing framework for developing Yogi BIF low grade magnetite deposit located at Western Australia. In order to provide successful geometallurgical mapping, was collected data from several different disciplines (geology, chemistry, mineralogy) and parameters (physical properties, metallurgical response and geotechnical measurements) during drilling activities and test work. The investigation shown magnetic separation behavior of material had high variation and is most important element in the proper design of ore beneficiation plant. This paper provides an improved and efficient magnetic separation test methods used for the investigation of separation behavior and variability of the Yogi Ore deposit and evaluates their applicability and potential in the geometallurgical context. In this paper a small-scale magnetic separation has been developed that allows estimating from single pass separation test using small amounts of sample material. Verification of the evaluation method and validation was done with different mineral systems."

Jan 1, 2018

As the high-grade copper deposits in the world become depleted, there is an increasing focus on developing lower-grade ores which contain problematic impurities such as arsenic. Indeed, many high-arsenic ore bodies remain undeveloped because of their high arsenic levels. Separation of arsenic from copper at the beneficiation stage is difficult using the current processing techniques and invariably copper concentrates produced from these ores contain high arsenic levels, sometimes so high as to make them unacceptable to copper smelters. New, sustainable approaches are needed to allow development of high-arsenic copper ores while at the same time minimizing arsenic dispersion into the biosphere. The most promising route for separating arsenic from copper at the flotation stage centers on the use of pulp potential control. In recent years CSIRO has demonstrated at laboratory scale, for a number of high-arsenic copper ores, that crude flotation separation between arsenic-bearing minerals and copper-bearing minerals can be made. The differences in specific minerals responses to changes in pulp potential and pulp pH are exploited for this separation. Such separations nominally produce a low-arsenic high-copper concentrate and a low-copper high-arsenic concentrate. The former can be smelted without penalty, while the latter requires further treatment to capture and stabilize the arsenic and to recover the residual copper. Consideration has now been given to treatment options for the high-arsenic low-copper product. A pyrometallurgical option, involving a low temperature roast to selectively fume off the arsenic and leave a high-copper calcine, coupled with an arsenic stabilization step, has been demonstrated in the laboratory, and a preliminary techno-economic evaluation shows the process to be economically favorable. These results were recently published. CSIRO has now investigated an alternate hydrometallurgical option, involving atmospheric alkaline sulphide leaching of the high-arsenic product, where the arsenic is selectively dissolved leaving a copper-rich leach residue. The leaching testwork was carried at on the same high-arsenic low-copper material used in the roasting studies, enabling a techno-economic comparison of the alternate roasting and leaching treatment options to be made. The alkaline leaching work is briefly described and the results of the process option comparison presented and discussed. Keywords: arsenic, copper, economics, enargite, ore flotation, tennantite INTRODUCTION

Sep 1, 2012

By E. Burdukova

This paper explores the relationship between the rheological behaviour and mineralogical nature of three different natural ore types. Rheological measurements performed here on Platreef, Kimber-lite and Norseman-Wiluna ores are correlated with the variation of phylosilicate mineral content in these ores and the corresponding physical properties of selected phylosilicate mineral groups. Preliminary results show that the clay mineral group (talc) has the least effect on both Bingham yield stress and viscosity of the three ore slurries tested, whereas the serpentine mineral group has a dramatic increasing effect on the Bingham yield stress especially at very low solid volume fractions. The Bingham viscosity of the mineral slurry appears to be the most influenced by the presence of the swelling clay mineral group (smectite). Significant increases in either Bingham yield stress or viscosity due to elevated contents of these problematic phylosilicate mineral groups are likely to cause negative effects on the processing and manageability of mineral slurries but it is unclear which is likely to have a more detrimental effect.

Jan 1, 2014

By Y. L. Tian

Low-grade bauxite with A/S of 4.4 from Henan province was used as raw material and the selec-tive grinding of bauxite, grinding efficiency, particle size and Al2O3 and SiO2distributions of ground products were investigated using ball and vibration mills. The results show that the selective grinding can be used to realize the separation of aluminum from silicon within a certain particle size. The optimal grinding conditions of the ball mill with bauxite are as follows: grinding material to charge ratio, 1.2, charge volume ratio, 40%, pulp con-centration, 70wt%, medium size distribution, F30mm:F20mm:F15mm=20%:50%:30%. Under the conditions, the weight rate of ground product with A/S over 7.5 is 27% and the recovery of Al 2O3is 30%. The optimal grinding condition of the vibration mill with bauxite are as follows: grinding material to charge ratio, 0.9; charge volume ratio, 70%; concentration, 70%; medium size distribution, F40mm:F30mm:F20mm=20%:30%:50%. Under the conditions, the weight ratio of ground product with A/S over 7.5 is 25% and the recovery of Al 2O3is 27%. The research is significant for the rational and economical utilization of the low-grade bauxite.

Jan 1, 2014

By P. Ying

An auxiliary system connected with SEM-EDX for rapid identification of mineral and rock sample has been developed. With the aid of a synthetic spectrum library created, using the compare and match techniques provided by INCA software in EDX the mineral or rock sample names for refer-ence can be given at the same time analyzed.

Jan 1, 2014

The ultimate goal of a mineral processing plant is to recover as much of the target mineral(s) as possible from the ore being treated to achieve the best economics. Selection of the mineral processing techniques is the most important step in achieving this goal. However, due to the complexity of the ore, the recoveries of valuable minerals may be not satisfactory even when the mineral processing technique(s) are well chosen. In other words, minerals of interest can be lost to the tailings for mineralogical reasons. For example, gold is mainly extracted from the ore by gravity, flotation, cyanidation, or a combination of these processes, and high recovery (>90%) can be achieved when gold occurs as coarse grains. However, when a refractory ore is being processed, gold extraction will be challenged by mineralogical factors, which often cause gold losses to various tailings. Mineralogical factors affecting gold recovery mainly include grain size, shape, surface coatings and rimmings, presence of cyanicides, oxygen consumers and preg-robbers, presence of slow-dissolving gold minerals and the refractory nature of submicroscopic gold. Among these factors, locking in sulphide, silicate and other minerals as fine-grained gold inclusions and/or as invisible submicroscopic gold is by far the most common factor leading to poor gold recovery encountered in gold ore processing. Processing of PGE ores faces the same challenges as gold. Small grain size and locking of PGM in sulphide and non-sulphide minerals often cause PGM losses. When silver ore contains significant amounts of pyrargyrite, proustite and stephanite, silver recovery by cyanidation can be very low because of the slow dissolving kinetics of these minerals. In the processing of base metal ores, high content of pyrite, intergrowth of chalcopyrite with sphalerite and presence of clay miner-als may cause problems in recovering Cu-, Pb- and Zn- bearing minerals. Process mineralogy helps address all issues and problems related to mineral processing with predicting and trouble-shooting being two major objectives. It provides useful information on process selection, flowsheet development, recovery improvement and reagent consumption optimization. The information acquired from a process mineralogical study can be used as a guide for a metallurgical testwork program for process design or optimization.

Jan 1, 2014

Nowadays, the more successful plants are those who have adopted effective and efficient strategies to optimise their plant operation. As the ?heart of the plant? could be viewed as the mil-ling/grinding area, one of the key steps in plant optimisation is, therefore, ensuring the mill is operating properly. In the past, when primary, secondary and tertiary crushers fed material directly to large ball mills, the energy efficiency of the concentrator was determined for the most part by the ball mill operation, whereas now the energy efficiency of a plant often rests largely on the semiau-togenous grinding (SAG) mill operation. As a result, mines have shifted their emphasis in optimization from ball mills to SAG mills. The grinding mill?s energy efficiency essentially depends on ore characteristics and the discharge rate of broken particles, which in turn depends on how efficiently the discharge pump (grate and pulp lifters) operates. The essential function of pulp lifter being to transport the broken material and slurry out of the mill, its design optimization therefore affects the discharge capacity (or mill throughput) of AG and SAG grinding mills. This paper will discuss how the optimised design of the pulp lifter/ discharger has helped to eliminate material transport issues such as flow-back and carry-over of slurry and pebbles to in-crease the energy efficiency of SAG mill using the actual operational data.

Jan 1, 2014

By Bertil I. Pålsson, Sture V. Persson, Kent T. Tano

"Grinding is one of the most energy consuming unit operations and is also a very inefficient and costly process. Therefore, it is of great importance to run the grinding process as efficiently as possible. The most common way today to control grinding processes is by measuring the power draw of the mill and try to keep it at a maximum level. However, some studies (Kawatra, 1989, Koivistoinen, 1989, Moys, 1989) have shown that this measurement doesn.t reflect everything that takes place inside a mill. Among other parameters like slurry rheology, temperature and charge behaviour, the volumetric filling of a grinding mill seems to have a large influence on the grinding efficiency (Herbst, 1988, Koivistoinen, 1992, Vermeulen, 1988). A problem in attempting to measure those parameters has been to get a sensor that is both robust and sensitive enough for continuous on-line measurement.This paper presents a method for the measurement of the apparent filling level in a pilot ball mill equipped with the Metso Continuous Charge Measurement system (CCM). In this technique a strain gauge sensor is mounted on a flat steel spring which is fitted into a recess underneath a lifter bar. In addition, a conductivity probe, the Boliden Grinding Measurement System (GMS), is mounted in another lifter bar with the purpose of comparing the two measurements. To visualise the behaviour of the charge a DEM modelling technique is used.The results indicate that the system is capable of following the normal variation that occurs in the mill. The signal also very well reflect changes in operating variables such as ball charge level, pulp density and rotational speed. By studying the nature and different features of the signal one can get a better understanding of milling circuit dynamics. Another feature of the technique is the possibility for an operator to continuously follow the grinding process and thereby run the process under optimal conditions."

Jan 1, 2003

By B. Rai

Aluminum is produced by the Hall-Héroult process, which involves passing a current through a molten mixture of alumina dissolved in cryolite (Na3AlF6) to reduce the alumina to aluminum. This process occurs in an electrolytic cell comprising a steel shell lined with a carbon cathode and refractory bricks. After a certain period of operation, the carbon cathode deteriorates and is removed from the cell along with the refractory bricks. These removed materials are referred to as spent pot lining or ?SPL?. Typically, 30 Kg of SPL waste is generated for every ton of Aluminum produced. Globally aluminum smelters produce more than 500,000 tons of SPL each year. Even though SPL has a high fuel value (8000 to 9000 BTU/lb) and contains valuable metals, it is classified as a hazardous material due to its cyanide content and leachable fluorides. Various disposal/recycle techniques have been developed over the years for SPL but none of them is satisfactory. Thus, large quantities of SPL are still being dumped in landfills. In some countries, even the land filling of SPL is not permitted. The safe disposal of SPL thus remains a challenging problem to the aluminum industry and the search continues to find methods of converting SPL into a non-hazardous waste and/or recovering the valuable materials contained in the SPL. We have developed a process to produce hydraulic setting cements (eco-cement) containing a novel fluoride rich cementitious phase, from SPL by an energy efficient, low temperature clinkering route. A raw mix blend of SPL, lime/limestone, calcium sulfate and tailings sands based on a set of design criteria developed by us, is clinkered in a two stage process; 2 hours soak at 800 °C followed by clinkering at 1000 °C for another 2 hours, to produce a soft clinker. The SPL eco-cement is made by grinding the clinker to a fineness of 5000 cm2/g Blaine with 1% by weight borax as a set retarder. A good quality cement having as high as 20 % by weight of SPL in the raw mix (28 % by weight in the cement clinker) is thus produced. The physical properties of the SPL cements are found to be comparable to the Indian standard (IS) specifications for Ordinary Portland Cements (OPC). We have produced the cement in a few Kg batches and tested the reproducibility of results from batch to batch for further scale up. Once commercialized, this process has a potential of converting SPL into value-added cement products. Keywords: cement, spent pot lining, clinkering, fluoride, aluminum, ordinary portland cements

Sep 1, 2012

By Heramb M. Bal

This paper will underpin the future development of intellectuals having greater understanding of patent law and legislation, IP rights, and innovation. To understand this idea, I present a case study of China?s progress in the last 31 years in the rare earth research, innovation, and simultaneously patents area. Rare earth elements (REE) are at the centre of high technology and are the next wave of world innovation. Much of modern society depends on rare earth elements through their use in computers, lasers, telecommunications, iPods, medical technology, military applications, and so on (Long et al, 2010). The rare earth research, a large research body is being provided by Chinese sources. China devoted three or four university centers to the study of rare earths (Lifton, 2009). These measures are all designed to keep China at the forefront of REE production, materials, technology, and innovation. As a result in the last fifteen years there has been a shift from a US-dominated REE industry patents to Chinese patents. The world must identify strategic areas of rare earth innovation and provide funding to firms and universities that conduct such research. Not only research and innovation is vital but filing patents and preserving IP rights for research and innovation is even more important. We (rest of the world) need a comprehensive strategy to guide the development of patent and IP rights for research and innovation. To achieve this, the development of intellectuals with superior knowledge of patents and IP rights are the future need of minerals industry. Keywords: innovation, rare earth, patent, IP rights

Sep 1, 2012

By Yuexin Han

The wet preconcentration of haematite, comminuted by high-pressure grinding roller was studied, using the cylindrical ferromagnetic medium. The effects of various factors including rod diameter, rod gap and background magnetic field intensity (BMFI) on the performances of preconcentration for different size fractions and the force analysis of single mineral particles with different diameter in the separation zone were emphatically investigated. The results showed that as the rod diameter increased, the rod gap decreased, and the BMFI increased the tailings grade and the tailings yield reduced while the concentrates recovery raised that was regardless of variations in feed size distribution. For the -3.2+0.18mm size fraction preconcentration, the magnetic medium with a rod diameter of 4 mm and a rod gap of 7 mm at BMFI of 454kA/m is used to get a higher performance. For -0.18mm size fraction preconcentration, the magnetic medium with a rod diameter of 4 mm and a rod gap of 4 mm at BMFI of 263kA/m is used to get a higher performance. After the classifying preconcentration, at the optimum condition, the overall concentrate grade increases by 9.56 percentage points and the concentrate recovery is up to the 82.67% with a tailing grade of 10.68% and a tailing yield of 40.31%. The magnetic force, exerted on weekly magnetic minerals was proportional, to the specific susceptibility and square of BMFI. For the same BMFI, the magnetic capturing force on coarse particles increased, and that on fine particles decreased with the increasing of rod diameter. For the lean locked-particles, considering the gravity and viscous resistance of particles, rods with a big diameter were beneficial to the capture of coarse particles and had no influence on the capture of fine particles, while rods with a small diameter were good for the capture of fine particles and not suitable for the capture of coarse particles of lean locked-particles. Keywords: low grade haematite, high-pressure grinding roller, high intensity magnetic separation, pre-concentration

Sep 1, 2012

By M. D. Amirova

Cyanide-free technology of complex copper-lead ores flotation may be improved through enlarged range of pH values, enhanced copper recovery into copper concentrates due to additional recovery of secondary copper sulfides, as well as through enhanced efficiency of lead sulfides depression in process of new flotation modifiers-based selective separation. Study of the effects of flotation modifier (of metal nature) on minerals surface conditions proved that the xanthate is practically not adsorbed on the galenite surfaces due to minerals hydrophilization. Joint effects of sodium sulfite and modifier enhance process conditions for intensive galenite depression and at the same time for effective chalcopyrite and chalcosine flotation within a large pH values range (from pH=8 to pH=10). Identified mechanisms carry inference that proposed chemical reagent treating method is very promising for selective copper-lead concentrates separation. Potential use of carbon-containing materials as zinc flotation modifier to enhancing zinc recovery in processes of lead-zinc ores treatment has been studied. In our flotation tests we used Shalkiya (South Kazakhstan) lead-zinc ores containing such impurities as carbon shales, which presence impedes the process of saleable concentrates production and gives rise to excessive consumption of flotation agents due to the xanthate adsorption on the carbon. Lead and zinc concentrates were produced by process stages as follows: ores milled to 95% Cl. -0.074 +0; lead and zinc roughing flotation and further recleaner and testing operations. Test flotation in open process cycle resulted in enhancing zinc recovery into zinc concentrates by 21.1% and increasing zinc content in zinc concentrates by 3.96% that evidences promising potentialities for use of carbon-containing products as additional zinc flotation modifier. Works were carried out under National Program 2003~2005 of fundamental researches ?Physical and Chemical Mechanisms of Interactions in Multicomponent Solid and Liquid Systems Specific for Integrated Processing of Complex Metal-Containing Minerals and Technogenic Raw Materials? and contractual Agreement 2005 Optimization of Production and Technology of Shalkiya Lead-Zinc Ores Processing at Kentau Dressing Works.

Jan 1, 2014

The addition of copper sulfate to mineral slurries in order to ?activate? sulfide mineral surfaces for enhanced collector molecule adsorption, and hence enhanced recovery via flotation, is a com-mon mineral processing practice. It has been established in a laboratory situation that the addition of CuSO4 in conjunction with xanthate collector increases the flotation rate of pentlandite as compared to the addition of collector alone. However, it remains unclear whether the addition of CuSO4has a similar effect within mineral processing circuits. We examine here the effect of pre-activation oxidation on the copper activation of pentlandite and monoclinic and hexagonal pyrrhotite. All activation experiments were carried out at pH 9 using a total solution content of copper ions equivalent to one monolayer (0.210 -4 moles, 110-4M). Copper loss from solution was extremely rapid in all cases with less than 10 % remaining after 10s. EDTA extraction and solution analysis clearly demonstrated that copper activation was via direct surface adsorption and not an ion exchange process, as is the case for sphalerite, and that most copper on the surfaces is in the form of Cu(I). ToF-SIMS analyses of the mineral surfaces subsequent to copper activation show increased surface oxidation on increased conditioning time prior to copper activation. However, there is a significant decrease in surface oxidation on comparison of samples that have otherwise been prepared in the same manner but where one has been exposed to copper solution rather than water. This suggests that copper activation stabilises the surface and reduces the propensity for oxidation. Regardless of the length of pre-activation oxidation time only Fe(III) (no Fe(II)-S) was observed by XPS analysis, indicating a highly oxidised surface layer dominated by Fe-O-OH species. The presence of Cu(II) on the mineral surface is indicative of the formation of Cu(II)-containing precipitates and indicates non-mineral specific activation resulting in increased recovery but lower grade. Mineral specific copper adsorption, as evidenced by the presence of Cu(I), is required to improve both grade and recovery. Prolonged oxidation prior to copper activation causes a reduction in the Cu(I) to Cu(II) ratio on the mineral surfaces as compared to either fresh surfaces or surfaces oxidised for 1 minute only. This strongly indicates that the copper activation process is less effective on highly oxidised surfaces.

Jan 1, 2014

By V. A. Chanturiya

There is an obvious disproportion in Russia gold-mining industry between the structure of gold reserves and the gold-mining techniques. The bulk of gold (over 70%) is extracted from alluvial deposit, 20%~25% from bedrock occurrences and 5%~7% from complex copper-zinc and polymetallic ores. The proved gold-bearing reserves are distributed as follows: alluvial ?19%, bedrock ?80%, the latter being sufficient to supply gold at the current production level for 100 years to come. In Russia, like elsewhere in the world, development of primary gold deposits is considered a first-priority line of development for gold-mining industry. Most of the gold-containing ores characteristic of Russian gold deposits are resistant ores with gold content varying between 3 ppm and 5 ppm usually showing quite low gold and silver recovery by cyanidation. Processing resistance of gold-containing mineral complexes is related to the presence of gold particles of submicrometric (<1.0 µm) and nanometric (10~100 nm) size, mostly asso-ciated with pyrite and arsenopyrite. Therefore switching over to processing bedrock entails a num-ber of technological problems that stem from chemical and physical resistivity of ores. The chemical resistivity can be overcome through flotation, oxidation roasting, autoclave leaching (biohydro-metallurgical oxidation), etc. The physical resistivity can be dealt with by resorting to traditional power-intensive methods,e.g. grinding to a ?40µm size, thermal treatments of sulphide concentrates and non-traditional high-energy methods of liberating the sulphides by means of power attack, e.g. electro-chemical oxidation, exposure to electron beam radiation and other methods. The modern non-traditional processes for treatment of rebellious noble metal-bearing ore, aimed at improving disintegration efficiency for finely dispersed mineral complexes are analysed. Advantages and perspectives of a new high-efficient, energy-saving and ecologically safe process of the nanosecond high-power electromagnetic pulses (HPEMP) effect are proved. The said process provides a stable increase in the valuable component recovery at lower energy consumption and production costs of the finite product at the stage of dressing rebellious gold-bearing ores and concentrated products. The experimental data prove high efficiency of the preliminary impulse treatment, thus, the increase in the gold recovery at the cyanidation stage amounted to 4%~12% from rebel-lious ores, 10%~30% from gravity concentrates, 5%~45% from flotation concentrates, 30%~80% from oil flotation tailings.

Jan 1, 2014

By R. Shiva Kumar, G. E. Sreedhar, Rajan Kumar, K. Suresh, A. K. Aketi Veera, M. Narasimha, P. S. Jodan

"In most of the coal washeries, Dense Medium Cyclone’s (DMC) are deployed to treat coarse coal fraction in the range of 50-0.5 mm. DMC’s are very popular due to its ability of high tonnage, ease of operation and effective separation at high near-gravity material (NGM) in feed coal. The ease or difficulty of washing is merely depending on the NGM fraction present in run of mine coal. However, the quantitative effect of NGM on DMC performance was not explored in the literature. Hence, in this investigation, the influence of NGM on DMC performance is focused. With the help of synthetically prepared coal mixture, the effect of NGM mass fraction on separation efficiency is studied in three different approaches. Firstly, by increasing the NGM coal fraction systematically from low to as high as possible; second by varying the distribution of NGM coal; and third by varying distribution of particles lying just above and below the near-gravity zone. Washability studies are also carried out to establish the theoretical yield for the prepared synthetic mixtures. Pilot-plant experiments are carried out in a 4-inch DMC with 1.4 operating separation density treating coal in the size range of 4 - 0.5 mm. From results, the partition curves are constructed by both density and size wise distributions. It is observed that at higher NGM coal fraction i.e above 60%, the performance of DMC is very poor with significant coal particles misplacement. In second approach with increased distribution at higher density fractions, the separation efficiency reduces. In third series the distribution of fraction in near-gravity zone doesn’t much effect the separation except the shift in separation density. It is observed that smaller size (-0.5 mm) coal particle having high NGM content seems have a profound effect on DMC performance leading to significant fines misplacement to wrong products."

Jan 1, 2018