RNATIONALNEWSLETTE
tests using columns and mechanical
Letter from Brazil
Bg &-i-&Go Franc0 Machado
Mineral technology and
Mineral processing &
hydrometallurgy meetings
In September 1992 the Third Meeting of the Southern Hemisphere on Mineral
Technology was held In conjunction with the 15th Brazilian Meeting on Mineral
Processing & Hydrometallurgy, in Slo Lourenco, Minas Gerals, Brazil. Several
technical contributions were presented focusing on recent developments in
mlneral processing, especially in Brazil and Latin America. This report briefly
comments on some of the most outstanding papers that were presented.
he Proceedings of these linked
T meetings cover the following dis-
tinct subject areas:
q Mineral processing, in two volumes,
872 pages and 49 papers;
q Flotation, in one volume, 720 pages
and 44 papers;
q Industial minerals - ‘Opportu-
nities and trends’, 162 pages and 10
papers in one volume.
q Gold extraction - ‘Fundamentals,
practice and environment’, 430 pages
and 26 papers in one volume.
Several authors from beyond the region
participated in the meetings, either as
contributors or as delegates, giving the
event an international character. The
presented papers reported on a number
of improvements, especially in process
simulation, fundamentals, and the
application of column flotation.
Roe-Hoan Yoon (Virginia Polytechnic
Institute & State University, USA)
provided a theoretical basis for micro-
bubble technology, and offered a dis-
cussion on matters concerning column
scale-up. He noted that reducing the
bubble size is a more effective means of
improving flotation rate than increas-
ing the gas rate.
The use of saponified lipid vegetal
oils as collectors in the flotation of
phosphate ores was discussed by LG.
Caires and P.R.G. Brand&o (Mining
Engineering Department, University of
Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil).
After saponification, rice bran oil,
soybean oil and linseed oil proved to
be good options as collectors for
phosphate ore flotation. Under several
tested conditions, the saponified oils
produced concentrates that met speci-
fications for grade and recoveries of
concentrates, with respect to PzOs.
Soybean oil was the collector produ-
Filtration
& Separation March/April 1993
cing the highest PzOs grades and
recoveries, and the lowest FezOs in
the concentrate, for the starch concen-
trations used in the test work.
O.F. Pavez and A.E.C. Peres (Uni-
versity of Minas Gerals, Belo Horlzonte,
Brazil) studied the selective microflo-
tation of monazite, zircon and rutile
using sodium metasilicate as a depres-
sant and using sodium oleate, pure
potassium octylhydroxamate and a
commercial hydroxamate as collectors.
They concluded that sodium metasili-
cate appears to be a good depressant
for zircon and r-utile in the direct
flotation of monazite.
J.A. Aquino (Mineral Technology
Division, Center for Nuclear Technology
Development, Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
made a comparison of the use of
columns and mechanically agitated
cells for the flotation of a phosphorus-
uranium ore. The process route in-
cluded a first step where apatite and
calcite were floated, while silicates were
depressed in a high pH range; the
second step consisted of reverse flota-
tion of calcite while apatite was
depressed in a low pH range. In the
test work several optimising conditions
were investigated. Both mechanically
agitated and columns apply for flota-
tion of the ore, but columns required
less processing stages and produced a
concentrate with higher grades and
recoveries. Reagent consumption was
smaller for columns. He concluded that
operational and capital costs are
favourable for columns, which produce
a concentrate with better quality and
more efficiency, from the metallurgical
point of view.
O.I.R. Zacarias and V.L.L. Andrade
(CURD Research Center, Belo Hori-
zonte, Brazil) reported on flotation
cells for iron ore fines. They also
demonstrated the superiority of col-
umns for itabirite fines at - 100 mesh
size. The collector dosage was smaller
for columns - 28 g/t compared to 38
g/t for mechanical cells. Recovery was
higher (93% for columns, 89% for
mechanical cells) and the SiOs grade
was lower (0.75% for columns, 1.7% for
mechanical cells). Surprisingly, tests
with mechanical cells were carried out
in four stages (one rougher, one cleaner
and two scavengers), compared with
only one stage (rougher) for the
column. The authors also commented
on scaling up from pilot to industrial
size, highlighting the importance of lip
loading criteria for equipment sizing.
J.P. Silva, AG. Coelho, J.D. Donda
and A.D. Turrer (Samarco Process
Engineering Department, Belo Horl-
zonte, Brazil) presented a paper where
they compared pilot plant and indus-
trial plant results for the Alegrla Iron
Ore Mine Plant, which was recently
started up. They concluded that,
although mass recoveries were almost
the same for both scales, iron grades for
industrial concentrate were lower than
those anticipated by pilot plant test
work. Data obtained with pilot plant
showed that kinetic rates were linearly
correlated to silica grade of flotation -
the higher the grade, the higher the
kinetic rate. Furthermore, the equation
describing the kinetics may not be a
first-order differential equation for that
particular type of ore, as it is normally
the case.
J.B. Yianatos and L.G. Bergh (Uni-
versidad Tecnica Santa Maria, Chile)
discussed design parameters and op-
erational conditions for column flota-
tion. They presented general
information on the state of the art,
giving only a few details on each item.
Bubble-generating devices for col-
umn flotation have been tested at the
Center for Development of Nuclear
Technology in Belo Horizonte, Brazil;
results were reported by I.L.O. Luz et al.
Three types of materials were used as
the porous medium - natural rubber,
bronze and polyethylene. They studied
the effect of varying the gas surface
velocity, gas holdup and bubble dia-
meter. The effect of a tensoactive
reagent, like a frother, was investi-
gated for concentrations in the
15 - 20 ppm range, in order to produce
more uniform bubbles with smaller
diameters.
M.E.M. Castro Silva and AC. Araujo
(University of Minas Gerais, Belo
Horizonte, Brazil) used flotation to
remove heavy metals (Zn, Pb and Cd)
from industrial effluents, after their
precipitation by chemicals. They con-
cluded that flotation is a convenient
123

and alternative means to remove heavy
metals from industrial effluents.
G.S. Maia, L.A.F. Barros and G.C.
Correa (Fosfertil, Araxa, Brazil) de-
scribed their experience in the evalua-
tion of new batches of grinding media
(balls, cylpebs and rods) for use in
industrial mills. The technique used
marked media, which were observed
after 1500 hours of operation for balls
and rods and after 900 hours for
cylpebs. The law of uniformity of wear
- reduction of diameter is uniform and
linear with time - was confirmed
through the industrial experiments.
The use of linear screens for fines
classification was discussed by D.
Minson et al. (Delkor Technik Pty.
Ltd.). The main use of a linear screen
was said to be the removal of oversize
material contained in the feed of gold
leaching plants, such as wood fibres
and grit. They claimed that its high
efficiency of oversize removal was due,
among other factors, to the non-
turbulent movement of the screen
surface, which avoided realignment of
Filtration & Separatlon March/April
RNATIONALNEWSLETTE
lamelar or acicular oversize particles.
The grindability of iron ore fines and
the performance of industrial grinding
mills were discussed by J.M. Mourao et
al. (Vale do Rio Dote, Vitoria, Brazil).
Their work involved subjecting samples
of each ore type to batch grinding tests.
The obtained results were correlated to
industrial parameters. Correlation coef-
ficients were high, at around 90%,
which showed the techniques to be
statistically significant.
M.M. Veiga and F.F. Lins (Center of
Mineral Technology, Rio, Brazil) re-
ported on a new centrifugal concentra-
tor for fine gold particles. They claimed
that, as the device promotes a centri-
fugal force five times greater than that
provided by Knelson concentrators, its
potential to recover fine gold particles
is expected to be better.
A.J. Lynch (Department of Mining &
Metallurgical Engineering, University of
Queensland, Australia) and others
presented an excellent paper on the
state-of-the-art of simulation in miner-
al processing. They discussed the pre-
1993
sent and future status of size reduction,
size separation, flotation, gravity se-
paration, and electrostatic and mag-
netic separators.
V.F. Guevara and J. Menacho Li
(Centro de Investigation Minera y
Metalurgica, Santiago, Chile) have
studied the high pressure roll mill
and developed a mathematical model,
based on the physical considerations.
They claimed that their model is good
enough with respect to scaling-up.
AF. Machado presented a paper on
the use of models as a tool to design
grinding mills. The application of the
model using experimental data was
studied, aimed at the design of indus-
trial ore grinding circuits.
Environmental control concerns for
aluminium manufacturing plants was
the subject of a paper presented by B.F.
Olveira and E.A. Villegas (Metallurgical
Department, University of Minas Gerais,
Belo Horizonte, Brazil). They discussed
in particular some of the modifications
adopted in Brazil to improve environ-
mental protection.
q
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