The different effects of bentonite and kaolin on copper flotation

The role of cations in copper flotation in the presence of bentonite

“…Increasing the proportion of bentonite led to a higher pulp viscosity that decreased the copper recovery with the reduction of froth amount (Wang et al, 2015). Zhang and Peng (2015) also found a strong relationship between pulp rheology manipulated by kaolinite and bentonite, and copper recovery: the higher the pulp viscosity, the lower the copper recovery.…”

“…The previous study indicated that the presence of bentonite decreased copper flotation recovery mainly through the high pulp viscosity, with a less amount of froth generating on the top of pulp phase (Wang et al, 2015). In clay science, it is well-known that bentonite viscosity could be reduced by using salt water (Komine et al, 2009;Lagaly and Ziesmer, 2003;Suzuki et al, 2005).…”

“…The particle size distribution of the bentonite sample indicates that 70% of the particles are smaller than 10 lm. The same bentonite sample was used in the previous studies where copper flotation was conducted (Wang et al, 2015;Zhang and Peng, 2015).…”

“…The flotation froth was scraped every 10 s. After the first 3 min flotation, the second conditioning was followed with 15 g/t collector, and 8 g/t frother for another 2 min. The usage of reagent was maintained the same in the flotation of the ore in the absence and presence of bentonite (Wang et al, 2015). Lime was added to maintain the pulp pH at 9.0 throughout the flotation tests.…”

“…The flotation procedure was the same as described in the previous study (Wang et al, 2015). Briefly, the artificial bentonite ore was firstly conditioned for 3 min at an agitation rate of 1000 rpm with 30 g/t collector and 15 g/t frother.…”