Factors affecting the floto-elutriation process efficiency of a copper sulfide mineral

Paiva, Marília Caleffi; Rubio, J.

doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2015.11.012

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The decline in the recovery of coarse particles (>100 µm) is attributed to many reasons, including poor liberation [12][13][14], the low carrying capacity of bubbles [15,16], and the detachment of bubble-particle aggregates due to high turbulence [17][18][19][20]. The poor recovery of fines (<10 µm) is attributed to low collision efficiencies with relatively large bubbles [21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies at laboratory and pilot scales have also shown that the HF can recover low-grade coarse sulphide middlings that cannot be recovered by conventional flotation machines [22][23][24][25][26]. Paiva and Rubio [16] demonstrated that the HF achieved higher recoveries of classified, coarse fractions of −297 + 210 µm and +297 µm than conventional flotation (CF) for a copper sulphide mineral as an example of a difficult-to-liberate ore at laboratory scale. Miller et al [27] showed that the HF was able to recover metalliferous values at a grind size much coarser than that treated in industrial concentrators during the flotation of a low-grade gold ore. Miller et al [27], using high-resolution X-ray microtomography (HRXMT), showed that the HF recovered nearly 100% of the 0.850-0.500 mm composite particles containing as little as 1% surface exposure of sulphide mineral in scavenging applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating the Amenability of a PGM-Bearing Ore to Coarse Particle Flotation

et al. 2023

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Coarse particle flotation (CPF) is one of the strategies employed to reduce energy consumption in mineral-processing circuits. HydrofloatTM (HF) technology has been successfully applied in the coarse flotation of industrial minerals and sulphide middlings. However, this technology has not yet been applied in platinum group minerals (PGMs)’ flotation. In this paper, the amenability of platinum group minerals to CPF was investigated. Extensive flotation testwork was conducted to optimise the hydrodynamic parameters, i.e., bed level, air and water flow rates, in the flotation of coarse PGM feed using Hydrofloat. Mineralogical analysis of the feed and selected flotation products was conducted to understand the reasons for the recovery and loss of the valuable minerals. The results showed that the HF separator could upgrade the PGM ore with particles as coarse as +106 − 300 µm. For the optimised test, a reasonable Pt, Pd and Au recovery of 84% was achieved at a grade of 10 g/t and 16.5% mass pull, despite the platinum group minerals being poorly liberated (4.5 vol% fully liberated). The results demonstrated that HF achieved high recovery efficiencies across the 150–300 microns size fraction. The HF was therefore able to substantially increase the upper particle size that can be successfully treated by flotation in PGM operations. It was found that an increase in bed height, water rate and air flow rate resulted in an increase in recovery to a maximum. A further increase in the hydrodynamic parameters resulted in a decline in recovery. Hydrofloat outperformed the conventional Denver flotation machine across the following size fractions: +106 − 150 µm, +150 − 212 µm, +212 − 250 µm and +250 − 300 µm. The practical implications of the findings on the modification of existing circuits and the design of novel flowsheets for the processing of PGM ores with less water and energy consumption are discussed.

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