Production of Vanadium Concentrate from a Small-Scale Lead Vanadate Deposit by Gravity Concentration: A Pilot Plant Study

Abstract

The renewable energy revolution calls for high-performing materials and makes metallic compounds like lithium, cobalt, nickel and vanadium more and more critical. Innovations contribute to inventions and developments like vanadium redox flow batteries for large‑scale energy storage systems with numerous technological advantages. Potential shortages of vanadium and its sources will contribute to turbulence in vanadium pricing. Nowadays, main sources and production sites of vanadium are located in Russia, China and South Africa. About 85% of vanadium applications are ferroalloys and high-performance alloys, which make production and price of vanadium dependent on the iron ore market. Partial covering of a potential vanadium demand may be achieved by an exploitation of lead vanadate ore deposits as alternative vanadium source. In the present work, the processing of a lead vanadate ore, mainly containing vanadinite and descloizite was investigated. Based on ore characterizations and preliminary beneficiation tests, a flowsheet was developed to design a small-scale processing plant, including comminution, dewatering and gravity separation. Preliminary laboratory tests and samples from the small-scale processing plant show promising results for the recovery of vanadium in a lead vanadate concentrate with a grade of 12 to 16% V2O5 and a recovery of 68 to 75%.

Vanadium as a critical material: economic geology with emphasis on market and the main deposit types

“…The discovery of high-grade, large tonnage Pb-Zn vanadate mineralisation is not expected to happen by the exploration community; however, the possibility of a new discovery cannot be entirely discounted. In the meantime, efforts are underway to optimise the methods for the production of vanadium concentrate from small lead vanadate deposits (Silin et al 2020a), metallurgical treatments of lead vanadate ores (Silin et al 2020b), and potential recovery of vanadium from historic slags produced by smelting of African Pb-Zn ores (Ettler et al 2020).…”

Editorial for Special Issue “Gravity Concentration”

“…Other studies in the present volume show how classical gravity concentration techniques and procedures can be adapted or upgraded to meet new demands. Ivan Silin et al [3] designed a smallscale processing plant having spirals, hydrocyclones, and shaking tables to successfully concentrate vanadium in lead vanadate ores, a more and more critical element for green energy technologies. Callan Lowes et al [4] present an innovative method for determining the washability and partition curves by using a solution of tungstate salts in a REFLUX classifier, thus avoiding the issues associated with organic liquids handling.…”