Study of Electroflotation Beneficiation of Low-Sulphide and Refractory Gold-Bearing Raw Materials

Abstract

The paper presents the results of experiments with electroflotation beneficiation of gold-bearing raw materials. Three variants of ore samples with 0.56, 1.2 and 5.9 g/t gold grades, which also have different mineralogical and phase composition, were taken as objects of study. Based on the ionization effects, as well as changes in electrostatic and electrokinetic properties of the flotation pulp components, different electrode locations in the flotation chamber were considered. Experiments have shown that for electroflotation processing of raw materials with weakly acidic and neutral medium, positive electric potential of pulp, as well as raw materials with complex mineralogical composition, the negative electrode (cathode) should be placed at the surface of foaming and concentrate assembly, and the positive electrode (anode) in the pulp flow. For electroflotation of raw materials with neutral, alkaline pH and negative electric potential of the pulp, the anode is placed at the surface of the concentrate formation and the cathode is placed in the pulp flow. Thus, additional electrolytic treatment of mineral slurry in the flotation process can increase the gold recovery in the flotation concentrate by an average of 20-30%.