P R O C / E S 1992 John A.Meech University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.

. This rule-based expert system is designed to transfer knowledge on unit operations and types of ores in the field of Mineral Processing. Unit Process --- Request information about a Unit Operation. OreTreatment --- Request information on a Specific Ore Type. Glossary --- View a list of important terminology in Mineral Processing. List of Figures --- Scroll through the Figures that are used in this Document. Make a selection by moving the mouse pointer to click on a Hyperword which will appear as either yellow, green or white text. Some diagrams are also hyper-connections to other material. The reference(s) related to displayed text can be requested by clicking on the symbol, "[Ref]", when it appears on the screen. The manual can be read as a normal book by simply clicking continuously on the F_Browse button at the top of the Hypertext Window. Unit Processes Select a unit operation you would like to study: Comminution Classification Gravity separation Magnetic separation Electrostatic separation Flotation Amalgamation Cyanidation Liquid/Solid separation Sorting Environmental concerns Comminution Select from the list below. Size Reduction Crushing Grinding Size Reduction [Ref.1]

Because most minerals are finely-disseminated and intimately associated with gangue,they must be initially "unlocked" or "liberated" before separation can be undertaken. This is achieved by size reduction or comminution, in which the size of the ore is progressively reduced until a sufficient fraction of free mineral particles are available for separation (Generally a Free:Locked Ratio of about 80:20). Blasting with explosives to remove the ore from the mine, can be regarded as the first stage of comminution. In a mineral processing plant or "mill", size reduction takes place as a sequence of crushing and grinding processes.

Crushing reduces the size of run-of-mine ore to such a level that grinding can be carried out (usually between 12 to 19 mm top size). Grinding continues until mineral and gangue are substantially in the form of discrete particles. Crushing takes place by compressing the ore against rigid surfaces, or by impacting the material against surfaces in a constrained path. This is contrasted with grinding which is accomplished by abrasion and impact of the ore by the free motion of a grinding media such as steel rods or balls, or ore pebbles. Primary crushing uses gyratory or jaw crushers. continued... Size Reduction (continued) Crushing is usually a dry process although more modern techniques are beginning to apply "Water-Flush" technology in cone crushers. Typical crushing plants operate in stages, with reduction ratios from 3 to 6 at each stage. Reduction ratio is the ratio of the maximum size of material entering the unit operation to the maximum size leaving the unit. Grinding reduces the ore size from 19 or 12 mm down to 1.5 mm for iron ores to -65 mesh for most base metal ores. In some industrial plants the product is ground to a fineness of talcum powder ( of the order of 5 microns or less). Wet grinding is generally the preferred method but dry grinding is used in some special cases. Power consumption to achieve satisfactory comminution is generally calculated by the famous Bond Work Index Formula developed by Fred Bond in 1960. This formula takes into account changes in ore hardness and feed size to predict the relationship between power consumed and the product size distribution. crushing Bond Work Index In 1960, Fred Bond proposed an empirical equation that relates power consumption in crushing and grinding to the feed and product size distribution. The formula is as follows: grinding

Comminution
UCS, CWI, RWI, Ai, SWI, A, B, Ta

What do these indices mean? How are they determined? How much sample do you need?

In most resource projects the majority of the capital expenditure will be spent in the comminution area with the milling circuit itself being the most expensive item. Should the design parameters for comminution plant not be correctly determined then the entire project may fail. It is critically important therefore to have a clear understanding of the number of comminution tests required and to ensure they are carried out correctly on a sufficient number of variability samples to adequately describe the processing performance of all sections of the ore body.

Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS - Mpa)

The term is self descriptive in that selected rock specimens are subjected to increasing compressive forces using a standard apparatus, until rock fracture occurs. This parameter gives the first indication of competency, and high values will indicate that robust primary crushers must be selected, for example, if a jaw crusher is to be used then a double toggle unit would be chosen. As an indication of competency those ores exhibiting UCS values in excess of 180 Mpa would be very competent and in addition to the requirement for a robust primary crusher a doubt would be raised as to the SAG mill amenability of that ore. UCS can be determined on core, or samples drilled from rock specimens.

Bond Crushing Work Index (CWI)

This index describes the competency of the ore at larger particle sizes. It is used to calculate actual crusher power requirements, however if the index is significantly higher than Rod or Ball work indices, this is again a cause for concern if SAG milling is part of the process flowsheet. In this test twenty representative rock specimens in the size range -76 50mm are broken under the impact of twin pendulums. The input energy is increased until rock breakage occurs and the Bond Crushing Energy Eb is related to a constant for the apparatus and the angle through which the twin pendulums fall by the relationship: Eb = 82*[1-cos(a)] The Bond crushing work index is then calculated from the formula developed by F.W. Bond CWI = [2.59*1.1*Eb/d/sg] kWh/t Where: Eb = Bond crushing energy for an individual rock K = 82, a constant (a) = the angle through which the pendulums fall sg = the specific gravity of the individual rock d = the thickness of the rock specimen Twenty pieces of representative rock passing a 76mm square opening but retained on a 50mm square opening are required. Values of Bond crushing work index will vary from a 8 kWh/t for laterite hardcap through to 22 kWh/t for banded iron formation to 46 kWh/t for fresh greenstone.

Bond Abrasion Index (Ai)

This index, devised by F.C. Bond in the 1940's, quantifies the abrasivity of an ore. The index can be used to calculate metal wear rates in crushers and ball consumption rates in ball mills. In this test procedure 4 * 400g sub- samples of ore are stage crushed and sized into the range -19.0 12.7mm. A standard weighted test paddle and enclosure are used and the paddle is abraded by rotation in contact with the ore sample for 15 minutes at 632 rpm. This procedure is repeated four times and on completion the paddle is re-weighed and the loss in weight in grams is the abrasion index. 10 kg of -55 38mm representative ore is required. This is stage crushed to 19mm and screened at 12.5mm and the four * 400g sub-samples in this range are extracted. Bond abrasion indices (Ai's) vary from a low of 0.026 for limestone through 0.18 for quartz and 0.25 for magnetite to 0.69 for quartzite and taconite. Ai's in excess of 1 have been experienced in the gold industry with resulting crusher wear part life of less than three weeks.

Bond Rod Mill Work Index (RWI)

This index is used to calculate the power draw requirements of a rod mill if one is included in the process flowsheet. Additionally it allows more precise calculation of comminution energy requirements. In the calculation of the total energy requirement using the bond procedure the RWI is used for secondary crusher product size say 25mm down to 2100m and the Bond ball mill work index is used from 2100m down to final product size.

The RWI allows further observation of the behaviour of the ore at larger particle sizes. An ore with a significantly higher RWI than BWI shows a tendency to be more competent at larger particle sizes and may indicate problems in SAG milling. In the determination of RWI 12 kg of representative ore is staged crushed to 100% -12.5mm. A standard volume is added to a standard RWI mill and ground dry at 46 rpm. The product is sized on a closing screen selected to be close to the design rod mill product size which will be in the range +208 - 4700 and is typically 2100. New feed is added to replace the screen undersize and the procedure is continued until a 100% circulating load builds up. The RWI allows further observation of the behaviour of the ore at larger particle sizes. An ore with a significantly higher RWI than BWI shows a tendency to be more competent at larger particle sizes and may indicate problems in SAG milling. In the determination of RWI 12 kg of representative ore is staged crushed to 100% -12.5mm. A standard volume is added to a standard RWI mill and ground dry at 46 rpm. The product is sized on a closing screen selected to be close to the design rod mill product size which will be in the range +208 - 4700 and is typically 2100. New feed is added to replace the screen undersize and the procedure is continued until a 100% circulating load builds up. The rod mill grindability Grp is the average of the last three cycles product expressed as grams per revolution. The feed and product are also sized and the 80% passing size established in microns. The Bond rod mill work index (RWI) is then given by: Where: Grp = Rod mill grindability in g/revolution P = Product P80 in microns F = Feed P80 in microns Pi = Opening size in microns of the sieve size used 10 kg of +12.7mm representative ore is stage crushed to 100% -12.7mm and a standard volume is introduced to the standard rod mill apparatus.

Bond Ball Mill Work Index (BWI)

This parameter controls the calculation of the basic energy requirements of the comminution circuit and as such is the most important parameter. In the determination of BWI 15 kg of representative ore at 100% +3.35mm is stage crushed to 100% -3.35mm. In a similar manner to the RWI a standard volumetric charge is placed in a standard mill and dry ground. A closing screen is selected to target the desired product size and grinding cycles are continued until a 250% circulating load is achieved. The average of the last three net grams per revolution Gbp is the ball mill grindability. The Bond mill work index BWI is calculated from: Where: Gbp = Ball mill grindability in g/revolution P = Product P80 in microns F = Feed P80 in microns Pi = Opening size in microns of the sieve size used 15 kg of representative diamond drill core, cut or uncut, is required so that it can be stage crushed to 100% -3.35mm. Typical values of Bond ball mill work index for soft oxidised ore bodies lie in the range 5-10 kWh/t at a standard product size of 80% passing 75m. As competency rises medium primary ores will have BWI's in the range 10-15 kWh/t and very hard primary ores will be in the range 15-25 kWh/t.

SAG Milling Testwork

A detailed knowledge of a particular ore body together with informed examination of the drill cores will allow a preliminary judgement to be made on the suitability of SAG milling as a comminution option. Ore derived from a very competent uniform ore body will not break in a SAG mill. By contrast a completely oxidised clayey ore body will not be capable of supplying any of the media required for SAG milling. If SAG milling is selected as a possible option ie:

Unconfined Compressive Strength greater than 180 Mpa Bond Crushing Work Index greater than 20 kWh/t

Bond Rod Mill Work Index is not significantly higher than Bond Ball Mill Work Index and both are not significantly higher than 15 kWh/t;

then further SAG mill testwork can be carried out as follows: Determination of Julius Kruitschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) SAG mill parameters A, B and Ta. AMMTEC has made an agreement with JKMRC and its subsidiary J.K. Tech to carry out comminution testwork using the second generation drop weight tester. This agreement secures exclusive Western Australian rights for this testwork for AMMTEC. The JK drop weight test method provides ore specific parameters for use in the JKSimMet Processing Simulator software. In JKSimMet, these parameters are combined with equipment details and operating conditions to analyse and/or predict SAG/auto mill performance. The same test procedure also provides ore type characterisation for the JKSimMet crusher model. The drop weight test is used to calculate the energy that is expanded in breaking the particle: E1 = Mg(h -XM ) (1) Where: E1 = Energy used for breakage M = Drop weight mass g = Gravitational constant h = Initial height of drop weight above the anvil XM = Final weight of the drop weight above the anvil Sample requirement is 70 kg of representative broken rock in the size range -76 +6mm or 70 kg of whole uncut drill core at a diameter greater than 63mm. The sample is control crushed to generate five size ranges of rock fragments:

-63.0mm +53.0mm -45.0mm +37.5mm -31.5mm +26.5mm -22.4mm +19.0mm -16.0mm +13.2mm

The impact energy is chosen to suit the hardness of the particular ore being tested. The broken ore is collected after impact and sized, and the size distribution normalised with respect to the original particle size. The distribution is described by a single number T10, which is the percentage passing one tenth of the original particle size. The drop-weight test is carried out on ore particles at five narrow size ranges of particles, each size range at three different energy levels, thus making a total of 15 size energy combinations. Low energy breakage is characterised by tumbling an ore sample in a small mill running at 70% of critical speed. After 10 minutes the charge is sized and the abrasion parameter, ta, calculated.

Ore Type A B
Soft Average Hard

Ta

92 9 4 56 1.95 1 34 0.3 0.2

Determination of the Autogenous Work Index Using the MacPherson Procedure

A.R. MacPherson of Ontario, Canada, has developed a test procedure for determination of the Autogenous Milling Work Index. The system uses a 457mm Aerofall air swept mill and is operated for a period of time sufficient to have established balanced mill conditions, and then operated for 1-2 hours during which time samples are taken for size analysis and product weight distribution. Sample requirement is 227 kg of representative uncrushed ore or diamond drill core. The sample is stage crushed to 100% -32mm prior to testing.

Increasing Competency at Large Particle Size

A typical SAG milling installation will feed primary crushed material to the SAG mill and the 80% passing size may be as high as 150mm with 20% of the rock fragments greater than 150mm. Since both the JKMRC and the MacPherson procedures stage crush the ore sample to -32mm prior to testwork, those ores which show extreme competency in the larger particle sizes may not give a valid result. In order to be completely sure that the ore is amenable to SAG milling the Advanced Media Competency Test is required. This test is used to assess the suitability of an ore to grinding in an autogenious mill. The ore sample, as defined below, is tumbled in a 1.83m diameter by 0.31m long mill for 500 revolutions at 26 rpm. The product is sized and the number of rock pieces in each size fraction coarser than 19mm is determined. The size analysis of the mill product can be compared with the corresponding size analysis of ores which are known to be suitable for autogenous or semi autogenous milling. Impact and Crushing work index tests are performed on 20 rocks in each of the following size ranges: -102+76, -76+51, -51+38, -38+25, -25+19mm Bond rod mill work index, Bond ball mill work index and Bond abrasion index are carried out on sub samples cut from the main tumbling test sample. If drill core is being provided the requirement is 200 kg of whole PQ core (85mm diameter). If HQ core (63.5mm diameter) is supplied again 200kg is required, however the crushing work index of the top particle size cannot be determined in this case. If whole rock pieces are available, eg selected from the CV1 on an operating mine, then 11 specimen rocks in each of the size ranges listed above is required.

Ultra Fine Grinding

AMMTEC has available a pilot Metprotech stirred mill for the determination of energy requirements and mill sizes to enter the sub twenty micron area. The Metprotech stirred mill arose out of a research project at the Council for Mineral Technology (Mintek) in South Africa in 1982. The claimed advantages of this mill are as follows: Low speed stirring action allows the use of small diameter (6mm and less) which gives the optimum angle of nip required for efficient ultra-fine grinding. The mill operation is relatively insensitive to pulp viscosity, unlike tumbling or centrifugal mills. The power intensity in tumbling mills is limited to about 30 kWh/t which means very large machines are needed for fine grinding. In the Metprotech stirred mill, higher power intensities are achieved due to the torsional and compressive forces which give the required abrasive action. The milled products from the Metprotech process give higher gold recoveries than products from other mills ground to the same or smaller size. The reason for this is the higher surface area of the products from the Metprotech process. The design of the mill allows leaching to take place during grinding. Often, substantial leach recovery is possible under milder conditions leading to an overall improvement in leach recovery. The heat produced during milling improves the dissolution, while the freshly liberated gold is attacked by the leach solution before its surface can coat or passivate. The ultrafine milling process has potential application in the treatment of both sulphide concentrates and calcines and in hydrometallurgical treatment of base metal concentrates. Fine grinding to produce high surface areas can often mean that leaching is possible under milder conditions thus it may be possible to achieve reasonable leach rates and recoveries without the use of high temperatures and pressures. Coupled with this possibility is the development of carbon and resin-in-pulp technology which obviates the requirement for solids/liquid separation prior to precipitation of metal values from solution. Two kg of representative sample are required. The raw data is obtained by AMMTEC and Metprotech provide the interpretation and scale-up.

Xstrata Technology IsaMill Fine Grinding

The IsaMillTM is an energy efficient, high intensity large scale grinding machine. The IsaMillTM utilises more power per unit volume than equivalent ball and tower mills. This means a small footprint, simple installaion and simple maintenance. The IsaMillTM reduces the energy cost, media cost and capital cost of grinding. Further, the intense inert attrition frequently improves metallurgical performance compared with conventional steel media. The IsaMillTM produces a steep particle size distribution in open circuits without needing internal screens or closed circuit cyclones. The horizintal plug-flow design prevents short circuiting, and the horizontal configuration has enabled direct scale up to large mills - 3 MW and 8 MW. The IsaMillTM is used extensively in base metals (copper, lead, zinc, tin and nickel), PGM (platinum), iron (magnetite), industrial applications and gold processing plants and is employed for regrinding concentrates, fine/ultrafine grinding and mainstream grinding. A representative sample of 12-15 kilograms dry solids is required.

SVEDALA Detritor Fine Grinding Mill

AMMTEC recently took delivery of a SVEDALA Detritor grinding mill. The mill can grind to as fine as 5m. This ultra fine grinding mill uses silica sand as a grinding media. The use of the cheap media has the potential to significantly reduce grinding costs. In applications where media contamination of the sample can be deleterious to later processing (eg. cyanide leaching), the use of an inert media has significant benefits. The SVEDALA Detritor is fully instrumented and this allows for energy consumption calculations to be made and assist in the determination of scale-up to full production units.

Pressure Oxidation
The aqueous oxidation of metal sulphides is characterised by complex chemistry with several reactions being possible, either in series or in parallel, depending on the physcio-chemical conditions of the system. Sulphide sulphur can report in several forms, eg. elemental sulphur, sulphate, basic sulphate, acid or jarosite. The metals report as cations associated with sulphates (or jarosite) or as the oxide. Arsenic (a metalloid) behaves in a similar manner to sulphur forming arsenious acid, arsenic acid, arsenite (111) or arsenate (V). At ambient conditions the oxidation rate of sulphides (eg. pyrite and arsenopyrite) is low. Rates are usually chemically controlled, although after extended times a layer of elemental sulphur can build up on the surface causing diffusion through this layer to become rate limiting. Vigorous agitation often assists by scouring this layer. Bacteria can catalyse the oxidation reactions under ambient or 'just above' ambient conditions. A number of mechanisms of catalysis are possible; eg. by direct enzyme catalysis of electron transfer (redox) reactions on metal and sulphur at the mineral surface, and/or indirectly by oxidising ferrous to ferric iron in solution. (resulting in the ferric iron subsequently leaching the mineral). Bacterial oxidation can often become limited by oxygen availability; ie. the chemical reactions are catalysed, but the availability of oxidant becomes the problem, due mainly to the low solubility of oxygen in water under ambient conditions. Thus mass transfer of oxygen is an important consideration in bacterial oxidation. Oxidation rates of sulphides can also be substantially increased by the application of heat and pressure. Increase in temperature has a marked effect on the rates of reactions with high activation energies according to the Arrhenius relationship: Rate ke -E/RT Where: k is a rate constant E is activation energy R is the gas constant T is absolute temperature The other important effect of pressure oxidation can best be appreciated by considering variation of oxygen solubility with pressure and temperature. To 200 degrees Celsius there is almost a linear increase of oxygen solubility with pressure, however above 200 degrees a very rapid increase is observed. The net effect of increased oxygen concentration at elevated temperatures is to increase its availability at the reaction sites. For the oxidation of pyrite it has been shown that: Rate P(O2)n

Where P(O2) is the oxygen pressure and n lies between 0.5 and 1.0 The value of n would seem to depend on the mineralogy of the pyrite itself. For arsenopyrite the value of n is unity; ie arsenopyrite oxidation is more responsive to oxygen overpressure. In general rate of oxidation may be expressed as follows: Rate of Oxidation = k e-E/RT P(O2)n Pyrite oxidation is generally considered to take place according to the following reaction: FeS2 + 7/2O2 + H2O -> FeSO4 + H2SO4 (1) FeS2 + 2O2 -> FeSO4 + S (2) Above the melting point of sulphur (110C) reaction (1) is dominant, whilst above 165C reaction (2) is negligible. Ferrous (11) sulphate is subsequently oxidised to ferric (111) sulphate according to the following reaction: 2FeSO4 + 1/2O2 + H2SO4 -> Fe2(SO4)3 + H2O (3) Ferric iron can further catalyse the oxidation process and can also be hydrolysed according to: Fe2(SO4)3 + 3H2O -> Fe2O3 + 3H2SO4 (4)
(haematite)

Fe2(SO4)3 + 2H2O -> 2FeOHSO4 + H2SO4 (5)

(basic sulphate)

Reaction (5) is favoured by high acid concentrations. Reaction (4) is the preferred one in commercial practice, since the residue of haematite is easier to neutralise and cyanide for gold recovery. Sulphuric acid concentration is therefore controlled to enhance reaction (4); eg it is kept below 70 g/l at 200C. Inert salts, like MgSO4, can further help control the reactions by allowing operation at higher acid concentration whilst still promoting reaction. (4) Arsenopyrite oxidation takes place according to the following reaction: 2FeAsS + 13/2O2 + 3H2O -> 2H3AsO4 + 2FeSO4 (6) 2FeAsS + 7/202 + H2O -> 2H3AsO4 + 2FeSO4 + 2S (7) The reactions are competitive parallel reactions with reaction (6) being favoured by high temperature operation. Ferrous (11) iron is oxidised to ferric (111) iron in the system and the ferric iron reacts with arsenic acid to precipitate ferric arsenate (scorodite) according to: Fe2(SO4)3 + 2H3AsO4 + 4H2O -> 2FeAsO4*2H2O + 3H2SO4 (8)

Crushing jaw gyratory cone rolls hammer mill

size reduction Jaw crushers

grinding [Ref.8]

In these devices, two opposing non-parallel plates trap rock in an alternately enlarging and shrinking aperture. Rock pieces are broken to progressively finer sizes until they drop through the gap at the bottom of these plates. Normally, both working faces are lined with a durable steel to minimize wear. This avoids shut-downs for liner replacement, and minimizes changes in the size of the discharge aperture. Click here for a diagram of a jaw crusher. One plate of a jaw crusher is stationary while the other is hinged and moves back and forth to apply the crushing force as material decends into the crusher throat. The hinge can be at the top or bottom of the plate. The bottom-hinged Dodge crusher gives a constant discharge opening but variable gape. The Blake crusher is hinged at the top, presenting a constant gape size with slightly less-consistent discharge size. The double-toggle Blake crusher is the most common found in industry. The Dodge crusher is too susceptible to choking. With their cyclic production, jaw crushers are generally used for feed tonnages below 1000 tph while gyratory crushers are used for higher rates. All jaw crushers are rated according to their receiving area (width x gape). So a 1830x1220 jaw crusher has a plate width of 1830 mm and a gape of 1220 mm.

Gyratory crushers

[Ref.8]

Gyratory crushers consist of two cones, one being a large truncated cone with the apex down while the other smaller with the apex up, mounted inside the large one and driven eccentrically. This structure provides a progressive breaking action similar to that in a jaw crusher. However, unlike jaw crushers where production is cyclic, gyratories are capable of continuous output. So higher capacity can be achieved in a gyratory than in a jaw. As with jaw crushers, the spindle and cone are lined with steel plates to minimize wear and down-time. Gyratory crushers are high-capacity machines that can be fed from any side. Fine material need not be screened from the feed and the machine can be choke-fed. These features make them useful as primary crushers for large open pit mines, where truck loads of ore can be discharged directly. The product generally feeds a secondary cone crushing plant. Gyratories range in size up to gapes of 1830 mm (or 6 ft) and can crush ore with a top size of 1370 mm (54 in.) at rates up to 5000 tph producing a product size of 200 mm. (about 8 in.) Power consumption is high with as much as 750 kW installed on such units.

Cone crushers

[Ref.1]

[Ref.8]

The fixed compression surface of a large cone crusher is a truncated cone apex-up while the moving surface is another cone also apex-up inside the larger one. The eccentric motion of the inner cone (or mantle) produces a reciprocating motion in the same pattern as in jaw crushers, and with similar effects. However, as with the gyratory crusher, there is no cyclic production. The large discharge opening of a cone crushers makes its use practical for fine crushing. While a jaw crusher should not be choke-fed and a gyratory crusher can accommodate choke feeding, a cone crusher must be supplied with continuous feed distributed around its cavity in order to operate effectively. Cone crushers operate at high speed relative to gyratories but neither incorporate the flywheel needed by a jaw. The Symons crusher is the most widely used cone crusher. It is manufactured in two forms: Standard for normal secondary crushing and Shorthead for fine or tertiary duty. Standard crushers can handle feed material between 250 to 100 mm top size and generate a product between 50 - 30 mm. Shortheads are designed to produce a top size between 19 - 6 mm. They differ mainly in the shape of their crushing chambers. The Standard cone has "stepped" liners which allow for a coarser feed than the Shorthead. The Shorthead has a steeper head angle than the Standard, which helps to prevent choking of the much-finer material being handled. Secondary crushing plants treat ore of between 250 to 100 mm top size and produce a product with a top size of 19 to 12 mm. Shorthead crushers are often in closed circuit with screens while the capacity of Standard crushers can be increased by pre-screening the feed to remove fines. There are a number of design options for equipment configuration in secondary crushing plants. These are as follows: (screening of primary fines is also optional) Fully-Configured Secondary Crushing Secondary Crushing with No Internal Separate Screening of Secondary and Open Circuit Secondary and Tertiary with Two Internal Surge Bins. Surge Bins. Tertiary Products. Crushing.

Cone crushers are sized according to the diameter of the cone liner and range from 0.56 to 3.1 m in size. Capacity is determined by the type of ore being handled with SG, top size and hardness being primary factors. At 3.1 m (or 7 ft), A Standard Symons crusher should be able to treat up to 1100 tph of a typical base-metal sulphide ore at a closed-side setting of 19 mm. Coal tonnages would obviously be less while heavier ores might be treated at higher rates. One iron ore plant in South Africa uses two 3.1 m Standard crushers to handle over 6000 tph of ROM ore. Cone crushers have much larger eccentric throws than that of primary crushers and they operate at higher speeds. The material is subjected to a series of hammer-like blows rather than being gradually compressed as occurs in a gyratory. The larger throw allows for freer movement of material allowing rapid discharge of product. The fast discharge and non-choking conditions allow for reduction ratios of 3 to 7:1 with even higher ones permitted in certain cases. Rolls crushers [Ref.1] [Ref.9] Rolls crushers, or crushing rolls, are still used in some mills today, although they have been replaced in most installations by cone crushers.

They can play a useful role with friable, sticky, frozen or less abrasive feeds. Click here for a diagram of a Rolls Crusher. In rolls crushers (spring rolls, dual-roll crushers), comminution takes place between two cylindrical rolls, each rotating about a concentric horizontal shaft. In a single-roll crusher, crushing occurs between a rotating cylinder and a stationary (straight or concave) plate. Roll surfaces may be smooth or finely corrugated or may be provided with teeth, knobs or cutting edges. These can serve for primary crushing of soft to medium-hard materials while corrugated rolls can be used for secondary and tertiary applications with medium-hard to hard materials. Hard ores should be crushed with smooth rolls. Crushing action is based largely on squeeze, to some extent on shear and with high-speed toothed-roll crushers, also on impact. The smooth-roll (springroll) crusher is employed primarily in dry grinding or fine crushing of hard and medium-hard rocks from 6 to 1.5 mm. Toothed roll crushers can serve in the primary crushing of medium-hard and soft rocks (coal, limestone, asbestos, marl, gypsum, shale, etc.). When crushing wet and sticky, or soft and fibrous materials prone to clogging, their performance surpasses that of all other equipment. The angle of nip formed between a particle and the roll surface is important in ensuring continuous flow of material and in establishing the maximum particle size treatable. Except for very large diameter rolls, the angle of nip limits the Reduction Ratio of the crusher. Since reduction ratios > 4:1 are rarely used, two stages are generally employed. The capacity of rolls crushing can be estimated from the sheet of material that can pass between the two rolls: In reality, true capacity is about 25 percent of this calculation because of voidage between the particles and material slippage on the rolls surface. Hammer mill A hammer mill or crusher comprises a set of cast iron hammers to crush the ore by repeated impact blows. These units are designed to crush fragile or fibrous materials such as asbestos, fluorite, limestone or coal. The hammers are made of Mn-steel or nodular cast iron with chromium carbide for abrasion resistance. To increase hammer life, each hammer pivots as it contacts material, although fixed hammers are used for coarse product discharge. With very hard material such as quartz-vein gold ores, hammer life is reduced to less than 8 hours. Screens or perforated drums are used to control the discharge product size with opening sizes ranging from 1 or 2 mm to as coarse as 20 cm depending upon the application. Water can be used to feed the ore to be crushed but frequently, dry comminution is practiced. Typical feed size is 250 mm. Click here for a diagram of a hammer mill. Many coal washing plants employ a unit called a Bradford Breaker or Rotary Breaker to crush the coarse lumps of coal in preparation for beneficiation. The drum rotates at a speed of about 12 to 18 rpm and is fed at rates up to 1500 tph. Coal being more friable than the associated rock and shale is broken into sizes which pass through the holes in the drum which are typically 20 cm. Thus an amount of pre-concentration occurs with this type of unit.

Grinding rod mill ball mill pebble mill autogenous sag ( Semi-Autogenous ) size reduction Rod mills crushing [Ref.1]

These machines are considered for coarse grinding applications. They are capable of processing feed as large as 50 mm and discharging a product as fine as 300 m; reduction ratios normally being in the range 15-20:1. Normal top size of rod mill feed however, is 19 mm. The distinctive feature of a rod mill is that the length of the cylindrical shell is between 1.5 to 2.5 times its diameter. This ratio is important as the rods which are only a few cm. shorter than the shell length, must be prevented from turning or bending or they can become wedged across the diameter of the cylinder. The ratio cannot be so large that the rods deform and break. Since rods longer than about 6 m bend, this establishes the maximum length limitation of a rod mill. Rod mills are generally operated in open circuit because their grinding action produces its own classification mechanism. The parallel grinding surfaces of the rods simulate a slotted screen and tend to retard larger particles until they are broken. Smaller particles slip through the spaces between the rods and are discharged without appreciable reduction. As a result of this action, the particle size distribution of a rod mill is much tighter than that of an equivalent ball mill. Circuits employing a ball mill are generally always operated in closed-circuit with a mechanical or hydraulic classifier such as a cyclone or rake, bowl or spiral classifier. Ball mills [Ref.1]

The final stages of comminution are performed in tumbling mills that use steel balls as the grinding medium and so are designated - ball mills. Since balls have a greater surface area per unit weight than rods, they are better suited for fine grinding. Ball mills in which the length to diameter ratio is between 3 to 5, are called tube mills. These can be divided into several longitudinal compartments, each having a different charge composition; the charge can be steel balls or rods, or pebbles. They are often used to dry grind cement-clinker, gypsum and phosphate. Ball mills are also characterized by the nature of the discharge. They may be simple trunnion overflow mills or material may leave via a grate discharge. This latter type is fitted with open grates of 5 to 25 mm size holes between the cylindrical mill body and the discharge trunnion. The pulp flows freely through the openings in the grate and then, is lifted up to the level of the discharge trunnion. These mills have a lower pulp level than overflow mills, thus reducing the residence time of particles in the mill. Very little overgrinding takes place and the product contains a large fraction of coarse material, which is returned to the mill by a classifier.

Closed-circuit grinding with high circulating loads, produces a closely-sized product and a high output per unit volume compared with open circuit grinding. Grate discharge mills usually take a coarser feed than overflow mills and are not required to grind so fine. The main reason for this is that the grate openings can plug very quickly with the many small balls and chips of balls in the mill charge. The trunnion overflow mill is the simplest to operate and is used for most ball-mill applications, especially for fine grinding and regrinding. Power consumption is said to be about 15% below that of a similar-size grate discharge mill, although the grinding efficiencies of the two mills are generally equal. Critical speed Critical speed in a rotating mill is defined as the speed at which the largest size body contained in the mill charge (usually the largest steel ball or rod or lump) begins to centifuge, i.e. the element remains on the surface of the mill liners f or the entire rotation of the mill. This condition will clearly result in inefficient grinding so most mills are operated at speeds of between 65 to 80 percent of critical. Pebble mills [Ref.1]

Tube mills with a single compartment and charged with hard, screened ore particles as grinding medium, are known as pebble mills. They are widely used in the South African gold mines. Since the weight of pebbles per unit volume is 35-55% of that of steel balls, and as power input is directly proportional to the weight of the media, the power input and capacity of pebble mills are correspondingly lower. This is compensated somewhat by operating such mills at high critical speed relative to conventional rod or ball milling. Thus for a given ore at a particular feed rate, a pebble mill would be larger than a ball mill, with correspondingly higher capital cost. However, it is claimed that the increment in capital cost can be justified economically by a reduction in operating costs attributed to the lower cost of the grinding medium. This may, however, be partially offset by higher power cost per tonne of finished product. Autogenous grinding [Ref.1]

Autogenous milling, especially with run-of-mine or primary-crushed ore, has become increasingly important in recent years. With suitable ores, these mills reduce grinding media costs and may produce lower percentages of slimes or fines than do conventional rod and ball mills. Instead of steel media, the autogenous mill uses the action of large pieces of ore on smaller ones to produce size reduction. Semi-autogenous grinding ( SAG ) refers to grinding methods using a combination of ore lumps and a reduced load of steel rods or balls as the media. Experience suggests that the best ball charge range (including voids) in SAG milling is between 6 to 10 percent by volume.

When the proportion of coarse fraction in the feed is too low, pebble milling is sometimes used. In this method, the coarsest fraction of the feed is separated by screens, and the remainder crushed in conventional machinery to a considerably smaller size. This crushed material and the coarse fraction are then fed to a tube mill for fine grinding. Autogenous mills can be operated wet or dry. Dry mills cause environmental and occupational-health problems, do not handle clay content well, and are more difficult to control than wet mills. In certain applications involving grinding of minerals such as asbestos, talc and mica, dry semi-autogenous milling is used exclusively. On the other hand, few completely dry autogenous mills are operated because of relatively poor throughput. Autogenous primary mills cannot be designed from bench scale grinding tests as they require more extensive investigation than do rod or ball mills. The media used in conventional steel milling is controllable and carefully selected. In autogenous grinding, the media is also the material being ground and consequently is itself a variable. There are many examples of poorly-designed SAG and AG mills because the average ore conditions were considerably different from those of the test samples. The Iron ore industry in Canada is the only North American example of successful application of fully-autogenous grinding. Large 10m diameter "Cascade" mills are used with the production of a relatively coarse grinding circuit product ( < 1.2 mm). Most North American base metal mills use SAG milling as steel balls are needed to achieve the required tonnage rate. Some "experts" consider that the problem relates to the competency of the largersized pieces of ore to remain large for sufficient time to break the remaining ore. Other suggestions consider the retention of a "critical size" in the mill leading to the failure of the autogenous approach. The world leaders in this field are clearly the Scandinavians (Sweden and Finland). The Finns use conventionally-shaped mills with large gratedischarge openings ( 5 mm) that allow the critical-sized material to leave the mill as soon as it is formed. This material is then recycled back as grinding media or is crushed in a closed-circuit cone crusher. The Swedes use overflow mills with specially-designed coarse size recovery screws at the overflow discharge port. Ore and Grinding media (coarse rock) are carefully blended to achieve the correct balance of coarse and fine sized material. SAG grinding [Ref.1]

Semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) is a variation of autogenous grinding in which a small amount of large steel balls is used to break down certain intermediate sizes of particles that otherwise would build up in the mill. Typical ball charge is 6 to 20 percent by volume using ball sizes of 75 to 135 mm in diameter. Most North American AG and SAG mills are cascade-type machines with length to diameter ratios of less than 0.5. The largest mills installed are 10.2 m. in diameter in the mills located in Labrador, Canada where iron ore is mined. These mills are fully-autogenous.

SAG milling is an accidental process in that a ball charge was found to be necessary to achieve satisfactory throughput from an initially designed AG mill. By adding steel to the mill, the required tonnage rate could be achieved. Classification Select from the list below. Size separation Screens Cyclone classifier Rake classifier Spiral classifier Bowl classifier Hydraulic classifier Size separation [Ref.10]

Unit operations that separate paticulate material based upon size differences perform two important functions: the control of particle size distribution (both top and bottom sizes) for a final product and the control of top size in a material to be fed to a down-stream process. There are two types of particle sizing separators: screens and classifiers. Screens are used normally for coarse size separations down to 6 mm while classifiers are used for fine separations as low as 200 mesh. Wet screening applications are beginning to compete with classifiers in some cases where close size separations are needed. Classifier efficiency is also a function of particle SG so a more wide size distribution generally results in the underflow product. Classification is a method of separating mixtures of minerals into two or more products on the basis of the velocity with which the grains fall through a fluid medium. In mineral processing, the fluid is usually water and wet classification is generally applied to mineral particles which are considered too fine to be sorted efficiently by screening. Since the velocity of particles in a fluid medium is dependent not only on size, but also on the specific gravity and shape of the particles, the principles of classification are also important in mineral processes that use gravity separation. Many types of classifiers have been designed and built. They are grouped, however, into two broad classes depending on the direction of flow of the carrying current. Horizontal current classifiers such as mechanical classifiers involve essentially free-settling and accentuate separation based on size; vertical current or hydraulic classifiers are based on hindered settling principles and so, the effect of density on the separation is increased.

Screens

[Ref.1]

Industrial sizing of materials is used extensively and a variety of equipment types are available. Screening is generally carried out on coarse material and is essential in crushing plants. Screening efficiency decreases rapidly

with fineness. Fine screens are very fragile and expensive and tend to become blocked rather easily with retained particles ( often referred to as "blinding" ). Screening is generally limited to material above about 250 m in size, finer sizing normally being undertaken with classifiers. The boundary between the two methods will in practice depend on many factors, such as the type of ore, the plant throughput, etc. The main use of screens in the minerals industry is: - to remove undersize from a crushing plant to increase capacity. - to prevent oversize material from passing to the next stage. - to produce a closely sized end product in quarry operations. PERFORMANCE OF SCREENS: In its simplest form, the screen is a surface having a large number of apertures of given dimensions. Material of mixed size presented to that surface will either pass through or be retained, according to whether the particles are smaller or larger than the dimensions of the aperture. The efficiency of screens is determined by the degree of misplacement of undersize material in the oversize fraction. There is no universally accepted method to define screen performance and a number of methods are employed. The most common screen performance criteria are those which state an efficiency based on the recovery of material at a given size, or on the mass of misplaced material in each product. This leads to a range of possibilities, such as undersize in the overscreen product, oversize in the through-screen product, or a combination of the two. Cyclone classifier [Ref.1]

The hydrocyclone is a continuously operating classifying device that utilizes centrifugal force to increase the settling rate of particles. It is one of the most important classifying devices used in industry and there are over 50 hydrocyclone manufacturers worldwide. As classifiers, cyclones have proven extremely efficient at fine size separations. They are used in most closed-circuit grinding operations but find other applications as well, such as de-sliming, de-gritting and thickening. They are also used to wash fine coal. A cyclone consists of a conically-shaped vessel, open at its apex or underflow, joined to a cylindrical section with a tangential feed inlet. The top of the cylindrical section is closed with a plate through which passes an axially mounted overflow pipe. The pipe extends into the body of the cyclone via a short, removable section known as the vortex finder which is used to collect fine material into the overflow. Feed pulp is introduced under pressure through the tangential entry which imparts a swirling motion to the fluid. This generates a vortex in the cyclone, with a low-pressure zone along the vertical axis. An air core develops along the axis, normally connected to the atmosphere through the apex opening, but in part created by dissolved air coming out of solution in the zone of low pressure at the center of the unit. Separation in a cyclone occurs from the application of two opposing forces an outward centrifugal force and an inwardly-acting drag. The centrifugal force increases the settling rate of particles (there is evidence that Stokes' Law applies with reasonable accuracy to separations in cyclones of conventional design), thereby separating particles according to size and

specific gravity. Faster-settling particles move to the wall of the cyclone, where velocity is lowest and migration to the apex opening takes place. The slower-settling particles are retained in the zone of low pressure along the central axis and are carried upward through the vortex finder to the overflow. The most common method to represent cyclone efficiency is with a performance or partition curve. The weight recovery of each particle size range in the feed which reports to the underflow product is plotted versus particle size. The cut point or separation size of the cyclone is defined as that point on the partition curve for which 50 % of particles of a similar size report to the underflow, i.e. particles of this size have an equal chance of going with the overflow or underflow. This size is usually referred to as the d50. The sharpness of the cut depends on the slope of the central section of the partition curve; the closer to vertical, the higher the efficiency. Hydrocyclones have replaced mechanical classifiers in most modern grinding circuits as they require less maintenance and less floor space. Due to the relatively short residence time of particles within the cyclone, the mill circuit can rapidly be brought into balance after a circuit change is made. This can reduce oxidation of particles. Apex The apex or spigot of a cyclone refers to the small opening at the underflow end of the unit through which the coarse fraction of the feed material is discharged. It is usually bolted in place to the tip of the conical body of the cyclone for easy removal and replacement when worn. Generally steel is used for fabrication although ceramic spigots are used with very abrasive materials and rubber has been tried to provide an apex that can be adjusted with air pressure. Apex size ranges from 50 to 150 mm depending on the cyclone diameter and on the application. Vortex finder The vortex finder is a short length of pipe which extends into the body of a cyclone through a plate located at the overflow discharge point of the unit. Its usual length varies from 125 to 250 mm with a pipe diameter of 75 to 250 mm depending upon cyc lone size and use. Most vortex finders are made of metal although some ceramic materials are being used with abrasive materials. The pipe can be easily removed for replacement when worn out. Rake classifier [Ref.1]

A rake classifier uses a set of rakes which moves in an eccentric motion causing it to dip into the settled material and to move up an inclined ramp for a short distance. The rakes are then withdrawn, and return to the starting-point, where the cycle is repeated; the settled material is slowly moved up the incline to the oversize discharge point. In a duplex type, one set of rakes moves up the incline, while the other set returns. Simplex and quadruple machines are also made in which there are one or four raking assemblies. The undersize material remains in suspension in the pool of fluid at the bottom of the rake assemble. The pulp in this pool overflows a weir to become the fine fraction.

Rake classifiers are basically used for closed circuit grinding, washing dewatering and desliming; particularly where clean dry sands are important. The extra residence time of pulp in a rake classifer can sometimes be beneficial in the cyanidation of gold ores where up to 75 percent of dissolution may take place during grinding. Spiral classifier [Ref.1] to move sand up the classifier since the steeper slope aids less than in the rake material.

Spiral classifiers use a continuously revolving spiral slope. They operate at steeper slopes than can a rake sand tends to slip back when the rakes are removed. A drainage giving a cleaner drier product. Agitation is classifier, which is important in separating very fine

Separation size and quality depend on several factors. Increasing tonnage increases horizontal velocity and so the overflow particle size will increase as well. Feed should not be introduced directly into the pool, as this causes agitation and releases coarse material from the hindered-settling zone, which may report to the overflow. The feed stream can be slowed by spreading it on an apron, partially submerged in the pool, and sloped towards the sand discharge end, so that kinetic energy is absorbed in that part of the pool furthest from the overflow. Rake or spiral speed determines the degree of pulp agitation and the rate of sand removal. For coarse separations, a high degree of agitation may be required to keep the coarse particles in the pool in suspension whereas for finer separations, less agitation and so lower speeds can be used. It is essential however, that speed be sufficient to transport the sands up the slope. The height of the overflow weir is an operating variable in some mechanical classifiers. Increasing the weir height increases the pool volume, and hence allows more settling time. This decreases surface agitation reducing the pulp density at the overflow level where the final separation is made. High weirs are thus used for fine separations. Bowl classifier [Ref.10]

The bowl classifier is a extension of the sloping tank classifiers in which settling occurs in a large circular pool, which has a rotating rake mechanism to scrape sands inwards (outwards in a bowl de-silter) to discharge. A bowl classifier is used for rough separations such as removing trash, clay from sand or to break down agglomerates. Hydraulic classifier [Ref.1]

Hydraulic classifiers are characterized by water addition to the feed pulp, introduced so that its flow direction opposes that of the settling particles. These units consist of a series of columns through which vertical water currents rise as the pulp flows from one unit to the next. The rising current increases in velocity from the first column to the last, so a series of products is obtained with coarser, denser particles in the first spigot and fines in the later ones. Very fine slimes overflow the final column. The size of each successive vessel is increased, partly because the amount of liquid to be handled

includes all the water used for classifying in the previous vessels and partly because it is desired to reduce the surface velocity as the fluid flows from vessel to vessel. The process is known as elution and can be useful in some gravity separation applications. Hydraulic classifiers may be free- or hindered-settling types. The former are rarely used. Although they are simple and have high capacities, separation efficiency is lower. With free-settling units, all of the columns have the same cross-sectional area. Gravity separation Select from the list below: Gravity processes Tables Spirals Jigs Reichert cones Heavy media separation Sluices Gravity processes [Ref.2] [Ref.1]

Differences in the specific gravities of minerals can be used to cause separation in two basic ways. In one method, the higher sedimentation rate of the denser material is exploited; in a second technique, the higher friction forces associated with movement of denser minerals is coupled with the effects of flowing water films to cause separation. The different techniques are as follows: Sedimentation Dependent: Heavy media Sluices Jigs Reichert cones Flowing Film Methods: Tables Spirals Gravity methods are used to treat a wide variety of materials ranging from base metal sulphides to coal at particle sizes in some cases as low as 50 m. In most cases however, the minimum particle size that can be effectively handled is about 100 m (150 mesh). Below this size, virtually no beneficiation by gravity methods can be accomplished. For effective separation, a marked density difference must exist between the mineral and the gangue. An estimate of the type of separation possible can be gained from the Free Settling Ratio as follows:

Generally, when this expression is greater than 2.5, gravity separation can be used. As the FSR value decreases, so the efficiency of separation decreases. Below about 1.25, gravity separation is not commercially feasible.

The motion of a particle in a fluid is dependent not only on its specific gravity, but also on its size; large particles will be affected more than smaller ones. The efficiency of gravity processes therefore increases with particle size, and the particles should be sufficiently coarse to move in accordance with Newton's law. Particles which are so small that their movement is dominated mainly by surface friction, respond relatively poorly to commercial high-capacity gravity methods. In practice, close control of feedsize is required in order to reduce the overlap of free grains of fine heavy minerals and coarse light ones. The presence of large proportions of these "middling" material can lead to circuit overload. Tables [Ref.1]

Tabling is a gravity separation process whose principle of separation is based on flowing film dynamics. The surface of a shaking table is covered with a series of riffles about 10 mm in depth. As water flows across the table surface, a velocity gradient can be measured from minimum at the table surface to maximum at the water/air interface. When particles of solid material are introduced into this flowing film, two effects take place; the heaviest particles settle out into the quiescent riffle zones where they are transported longitudinal to the table eventually discharging from the end as concentrate. Meanwhile, the lighter fractions are carried by the flowing film across the surface of the table over the riffles to be discharged from the side of the table as tailing. Very fine,light particles are also trapped between the riffles since they do not respond to the movement of the film as it crosses the table. However, local vertical velocity currents acting within each riffle zone wash the fines to the surface of the flowing film where they are carried away. The distribution of particle size in the material that leaves a table surface is quite complex with the heavy particles becoming finer as one samples across the table. The light fraction however, shows very fine particles at the feed end followed by coarser sizes then finer again as samples are taken along the edge of the table discharge. Tables are fairly low capacity units used to treat finer sized feeds of coal, tin, tungsten and tantalum. Spirals [Ref.2]

A spiral is essentially a shallow launder that winds downward in a spiral fashion for perhaps 3 to 7 turns. Pulp enters the trough at the top and flows downward such that heavy particles remain on the inner region of the spiral surface while light material is washed by centrifugal force up the side of the trough. Water may be added at various points inside the trough to wash coarser light particles away from the finer heavy ones. Ports with adjustable splitters are located at various positions along each turn to remove heavy mineral down an inside stem-pipe. Light material flows down to exit from the bottom as tailing. Spiral concentrators have found many applications in mineral processing, but perhaps their most extensive use has been in the treatment of heavy mineral

sand deposits such as those carrying ilmenite, rutile, zircon and monazite and in iron ore processing in North America. Jigs [Ref.2]

Separation of dense and light minerals can be made in devices known as jigs. These machines make use of the fact that particles of higher sedimentation rates take longer to reach equilibrium so that finer particles will trickle down through beds of coarse ones. In a jig, ore is fed across a pulsing vertical flow of water. On the upward pulse, large, heavy particles tend to retain their downward motion in spite of the upward pulse, while smaller and lighter particles only trickle downward between the larger particles when the upward pulse is released. The overall result is stratification of the feed with light material above the heavy material. The bed used to affect the channeling action generally consists of lead shot or coarse magnetite and is known as ragging. Jigs are used extensively in coal cleaning. They are also used to recover coarse gold or other valuable minerals from primary grinding mill products. Reichert cones [Ref.2]

Reichert cones consist of a flat truncated cone or funnel in which slurry is caused to flow as a thin film. As the slurry moves inward and downward its path shrinks so that its depth increases and this increase has the same effect on the solids as occurs in a pinched sluice. That is, the solids stratify with heavy particles at the bottom and lighter ones above. In addition, heavy particles that reach the deck surface are held back preferentially by friction. The heavier minerals in the bottom stratum of the cone flow are separated thorough ports cut on the funnel near the centre discharge. The Reichert cone is a wet gravity concentrating device designed for high capacity applications. It operates normally in the range 65-90 tph, but in exceptional cases can be up to 100 tph, with a feed density of between 55-70% solids by weight. They accept feeds of up to 3 mm in size and can treat material as fine as 30 m, although they are most efficient in the 100-600 m size range. Preconcentration of tin and gold and recovery of tungsten and iron ores are examples of successful applications. In many cases, cones have replaced spirals and shaking tables, due to their higher capacities and lower operating costs. Heavy media separation Heavy media separations are also known as Sink-Float. The separation of sawdust from lead shot when the two are immersed in water is an obvious example. In principle, immersion of an ore in a liquid whose specific gravity lies between those of the component minerals is an extension of the wood-lead separation. However, it is impractical to produce liquids of the densities required for this approach except in the laboratory. In heavy media separations, a sized-fraction of ore is allowed to settle against a rising stream of a dense slurry - one consisting of very fine particles of a heavy material like magnetite, galena or ferrosilicon. Particles dense enough to settle against the rising slurry will form a "sink"

product while those whose settling rate is less than the flow rate of the slurry form the "float". The slurry viscosity is a limiting factor and this is determined in part by the volume fraction of solids in the slurry, solids of high specific gravity are desirable. The use of a magnetic solid as the dense solid of the medium facilitates recovery of the material for reuse. A number of heavy media separators operate much like jigs do with pulsating beds of slurry. More recently however, the use of hydraulic devices such as cyclones have been employed. Two such units now being tested as a preconcentration method for coarse fractions of base metal ores and even potash are the Dyna-Whirlpool and the Tri-Flow. Sluices [Ref.2]

Sluices were among the earliest separation devices and may be the only one that occurs naturally. They are widely used in the treatment of placer gold deposits in North America and with the tin deposits of South America and Asia. In a flowing stream or river, the bottom of the stream may be extracted first because of the natural sluicing action that concentrates the heavy mineral. Also, if a pocket is established in the bottom of the stream, heavy mineral particles may beco me trapped in that pocket. With man-made sluices, the launder can be narrowed from one end to the other. As slurry cascades down the sluice, the depth of fluid must increase. This rising water carries light material upward away from the heavier particles which remain in the lower regions of the sluice box and settle out into metal gridirons or burlap cloth. Magnetic separation Select from the list below. Magnetic processes Low intensity High intensity High gradient Magnetic processes [Ref.2]

Magnetic separations require a magnetic field of strength sufficient to cause certain particles that respond to magnetic forces to be moved in a stream containing non-magnetic particles. A low intensity field provided by permanent magnets can be used to extract tramp iron (bolts, rods, drill bits, cutter teeth, etc.) which can damage crushers and other material handling equipment. These devices are also appropriate for ores containing ferromagnetic minerals, particularly magnetite and monoclinic pyrrhotite. Paramagnetic minerals of high magnetic susceptibility can also be beneficiated in these units. The process of low intensity magnetic separation can be applied to dry material or to slurries. Dry separators may be moving belt-type or stationary permanent or electro-magnets. Wet separators are usually drumtype units with permanent magnets mounted inside the drum.

Machines used to treat ores containing paramagnetics are known as high intensity separators since their field strength must be appreciably higher. Most high intensity separations are carried out wet although dry separation at coarse sizes is feasible if the ore is liberated. Magnetic separators are used widely in the iron ore industry to separate magnetite from non-magnetic gangue. This can often be accomplished in what are called coarse "Cobbers" - units that concentrate magnetite to a rough grade at the early stages of comminution. The grinding requirements of an ore can be reduced significantly using this process. Cobbing is especially important in the treatment of the Minnesota taconite deposits. These ores consist of banded silica and silica plus magnetite for which grinding costs are very high as the waste rock - mostly chert, is extremely hard and magnetite is highly disseminated. Five types of magnetic separators are used commercially: Fixed Magnets Cross-belt Magnets Magnetic Head-pulleys Drum Separators High Intensity Magnets

Fixed magnets are used to protect crushers and conveyors from tramp metal. With conveyors, bolts or other steel parts can become trapped against an idler and slit the belt along its entire length. Cross-belt magnets are fixed magnets with a belt runnin g across the pole piece to brush any steel drawn from the ore into a collecting bin. Magnetic head-pulleys also can remove tramp metal as the material cascades from the end of the belt conveyor to the chute below. Drum separators can separate particles finer than about 3 mm contained in a slurry. For more details see low intensity. High intensity separators (WHIMS) are designed to establish very intense magnetic fields in which weakly-attractable minerals can be separated. Low intensity [Ref.8]

These machines are used to separate strongly magnetic materials from finely ground mixtures. Magnets are mounted inside a rotating drum which is in contact with slurry. When operated at capacity, these devices attract magnetite particles from the most remote portion of the fluid stream as it passes through the machine. Fluid drag and gravitational forces have a marginal effect but, the interparticular transfer of the magnetic force field is extremely intensive as dense slurries are generally used to achieve maximum capacity. Unfortunately a negative byproduct of this effect occurs when particles become bound together as tight flocs after becoming magnetized which leads to waste particle entrapment. To minimize physical entrapment of waste particles, two approaches are common. One can use two or more separators in series to allow mechanical dispersion of flocs between successive separations. The second approach involves the passage of the magnetic concentrate through a high frequency alternating magnetic field.

As flocs pass through this field, with frequencies as high as 800 Hz, the magnetic orientation is reversed repeatedly. As particles move out of the field, their retained magnetism becomes progressively weaker until the flocs can be broken up by agitation forces. Low grade "cobbers" do not have this problem to the same extent since the particle size is very coarse ( around 6 mm). After regrinding, the concentrate can be retreated to remove the fine gangue grains which are now liberated. With pyrrhotite recovery processes (used in copper/nickel plants), the drum gap across the slurry must be reduced from the 50 to 75 mm size used with magnetite to below 25 mm since pyrrhotite is only about 1/10 as ferromagnetic as magnetite. High intensity [Ref.2]

High intensity magnetic separators are designed to establish intense magnetic fields so that weakly-attractable minerals can be separated. The separating field is narrower than in other devices - less than about 3 mm, and applications are mostly for fine particles in which high field gradients can be maintained. They are actually unsuitable for ores with significant ferromagnetic mineral which are held by the intense field of the gap and plug the machine. Since field gradient is important in high intensity separators, the size of material treated is important as is the separator design. The machine can perform effectively only for size ranges in which magnetic forces exceeds the forces due to gravity and fluid drag. A practical minimum size is about 20 m. The capital cost of high intensity machines is much higher because the capacity is so much lower than low intensity units. For more details see high gradient High gradient In order to separate paramagnetic minerals of extremely low magnetic susceptibility, very high magnetic forces must be generated. These forces can be produced by increasing the magnetic field strength. In conventional high intensity magnetic separation, use is made of the ferromagnetic properties of iron to generate a high B field or induced field in the slurry many 100's of times greater than the applied H field. This results in significant energy reduction. The induced fields are produced by filling the gap between the magnetic poles with iron material such as steel wool or ball bearings. This matrix can develop fields strengths up to 2 Tesla across very small gaps between adjacent pieces of metal. Very fine particles can be recovered from an ore to be treated for iron removal. Particles of hematite and other non-magnetic iron minerals can be recovered. The Ferro filter is a device designed to recover very fine iron particles within a tight magnetic mesh. High gradient magnetic separators are used mainly in the kaolin industry to remove micron-sized particles which contain iron. Electrostatic separation [Ref.10] [Ref.2]

There are two types of electrostatic separators. Various names are used by the manufacturers, but the devices can be categorized into two groups: Electrostatic and Electrodynamic (high tension) separators. Although most

early separators were electrostatic, most of those in use today are electrodynamic. In electrostatic systems, little or no current flows while in electro-dynamic systems a distinct current flows. Electrostatic systems provide a means to creat an electrical charge on specific minerals in a mixture and a strong electrical field with a high field gradient. As ore falls through this field, charged particles are influenced by the electrical field and forced or drawn from the stream of unaffected particles. This type of system is not used today in practice since the capacities of the charging mechanisms are too low. Electrodynamic machines produce separation by exploiting differences in the conductivity of mineral particles contained in the ore and on the ability of the ore particles to develop surface charges. Particles on a rotating grounded drum are exposed to a corona discharge from a high potential electrode at 25 to 50 kilovolts. The charge transmitted to conductive particles can leak off to the grounded drum surface while the charge on less-conductive mineral particles is retained long enough to affect separation. Non-conductors are attracted to and held by the rotating drum while conductor particles fall or are thrown off. These devices are used for beach sands and some iron ores. Wabush Mines in Labrador use a 3-stage drum system to produce final grade concentrate ( + 67 %Fe). Both electrostatic and electrodynamic machines require dry surfaces for effective separation as electrical differences between the particles are generally eliminated when surface moisture is present and the moisture can act as a binder for some particles. In electrodynamic systems, conductivity differences between minerals is a critical factor and for some minerals can depend on temperature. So, it is essential to have a dryer preceeding electrical separation. Capacities of these units are similar to those of drum-type dry magnetic separation where the drum width, diameter and speed determine material flowrate. The drum should be covered by no more than 2 - 3 monolayers of particles to achieve optimum separation results. Lower coverage reduces capacity while higher densities produces poor separation with the misplacement of significant material, (i.e.both recovery and concentrate grade suffer). Flotation general overview froth flotation flotation mechanisms reagents flotation cells column flotation flotation circuits differential bulk-selective Principles of Flotation Froth flotation is one of the most versatile and flexible of all mineral separation processes. Reasonable results are fairly easy to obtain but outstanding performance from a circuit requires constant attention and good understanding of the process and ore. Some of the variables that

affect the operation and control of a flotation process are classified as follows: The tendency of the ore to have variable physical, metallurgical and surface properties produces significant changes in a flotation circuit. The particle size range of the flotation feed can be substantial because of ore hardness changes and changes in the operation of the grinding circuit. This can cause extreme variation in the performance of flotation even under constant operating conditions. See Recovery vs Particle Size Diagram. Flotation operators must react and make changes without always understanding the primary cause for the observed decline in metallurgical performance. Thus flotation is often viewed as an Art rather than as a Science. Click here to see the mechanisms involved in flotation. Recovery versus Particle Size Typical Grade - Recovery Relationship Steps Involved 1. Grinding the ore enough so valuable mineral particles become liberated from the waste rock and at a size fine enough to be floated (10 200 microns). 2. Creating a rising current of air bubbles in the pulp. 3. Making conditions favourable for adhering the desired minerals to air bubbles. 4. Forming a mineralized froth on the surface of the ore pulp. 5. Removing the froth from the flotation cell or vessel. Flotation cell diagram Flotation Cell Diagram Rock Minerals Minerals not containing recoverable metal. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Quartz Calcite Mica Biotite Sericite Clay Minerals

Sulphide Gangue Minerals. 1. Pyrite 2. Pyrrhotite Quartz ( SiO2 )

Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the world. It is the major component of sand and the raw material used to make glass. It is also one of the hardest minerals and thus contributes greatly to wear rates in grinding mills.

Quartz is translucent and has no colour, but sometimes has a milky-white shade. It has a strong crystalline structure, sometimes forming needle-like crystals. Coloration can occur; when it has a purplish color it is called Amethyst. Calcite ( CaCO3 )

As a gangue constituent, calcite is not often found in copper sulphide ores in great abundance, but when it does occur, flotation problems result. Calcite is readily flotable with xanthate-type collectors and so contamination of copper concentrate takes place often with reduced recovery unless more collector is added to the pulp. Calcite is easily recovered in Moly flotation and interfers with the Moly leach process used to purify such concentrates. It acts like lime, neutralizing the acid in the brine. More acid is required to keep the leach pH on specification. Calcite crystal calcite fizzing Mica is a milky-white to colorless mineral. Like Quartz it has a distinct structure. It can be difficult to distinguish the two minerals but is much softer than quartz and when weak acid is dripped on it, can be seen.

( KAl2.(AlSi3O10).(OH)2 )

Mica is actually the name of a series of minerals. The main one is Muscovite whose chemical formula is given above. Others in this group are Biotite and Sericite. Mica is easy to recognize by its platey structure. It has a translucent, clear to milky-white appearance. In some areas in the world, Mica can be found in very large crystals and was once used in place of glass windows. Biotite ( K(Mg,Fe)3.(AlSi3O10).(OH)2)

Biotite is part of the Mica group and shows the distinctive platey structure. It has a brown colour which distinguishes it from Muscovite. The brown colour can be light brown to almost black. In flotation, biotite can consume reagents and hinder normal collection of sulphide minerals. Muscovite is slightly lower in SG and has a less pronounced colour. Sericite Sericite is a form of Mica. It is found in altered ore zones, where Mica has been changed to Sericite. The mineral retains the platey structure of Mica, but has a light green colour. It is one of the distinctive minerals used to determine ore type in a number of mines. Sericite has some of the properties of the clay minerals, in that the edges of the crystals are chemically active and will tend to adsorb chemicals. Clay Minerals This is a group of minerals. The minerals have names such as Kaolinite, Montmorillonite etc. All clay minerals have a similar appearance. They can

be easily identified by their 'clayish' feel. to brown, sometimes even black.

Their color ranges from white

Clays can be found in many zones in an orebody but generally are present in abundance in an oxide zone and in fault zones. Clay minerals are very fine so their crystal structure is difficult to establish. Under a microscope the platey structure becomes visible. This is the important feature. Due to this structure these minerals can absorb a lot of water as well as chemical reagents. At its edges, clay is chemically active ( similar to Molybdenite ) and can float easily into the froth. Clays are a "killer" in flotation producing a very viscous pulp. Clays also adsorb reagents, especially collectors, and so the dosage rate has to be increased significantly. Pyrite ( FeS2 )

Pyrite is an iron sulphide mineral found in great abundance throughout the world. Sometimes referred to as "fool's gold", this mineral can be an indicator of a metallic orebody at depth. It also can contain finelydisseminated gold. At some mines, pyrite is recovered as a by-product and sold for its value in Sulphur as a source of sulphuric acid. However, in most ores, pyrite is considered a gangue mineral and must be rejected with the waste rock. Froth flotation [Ref.11]

For many ores, useful liberation of the valuable minerals can only be achieved by grinding to a fineness at which gravity separation techniques are no longer effective; either metallurgical performance suffers or unit capacity is too low to be economic. If the ore cannot be upgraded by magnetic separation or electrostatic methods which are also limited by particle size, then flotation is the method normally examined. Invented in the first decade of the 20th Century, today flotation is employed with virtually every type of ore as either a primary or secondary method of beneficiation. Flotation, often referred to as froth flotation, is a chemical method that separates material physically by exploiting differences in the behavior of mineral interfaces with air and water. To produce separation, the surfaces of the particles of one mineral are made water repellent or hydrophobic so that attachment to an air bubble can be readily achieved. The other mineral surfaces must be made or kept water-wetted (hydrophilic). By introducing gas bubbles into an ore slurry, separation of these two classes of minerals can take place. In practice, flotation involves addition of chemical reagents to an ore pulp to create conditions that favor the attachment of gas bubbles to one class of mineral particles. The bubbles carry the "collected" minerals to the pulp surface where a stable froth exists. The froth is skimmed off producing a "concentrate" while the minerals that remain in the pulp are removed as "tailing" through a submerged pipe or weir. Three features of flotation systems that are especially important are:

- the particle size of the minerals; - the reagents added to the slurry; - the flotation cells or vessels. An upper size limit exists above which particles are not recovered by flotation. This limit depends on a mineral's SG, the surface tension of the L/G interface and on the hydrophobic nature of the mineral surface. Light minerals like coal, potash or phosphate can be recovered at sizes as coarse as 28 mesh (850 m), but this usually does not involve a froth phase. Skin Flotation is the name given to processes operating at this size. For heavier minerals like sulphides or iron oxides, the practical upper limit is about 65 mesh (210 m) above which recovery is virtually nil. There is also a lower limit below which particles act in a similar fashion to the liquid phase so that establishment of contact with a bubble is almost impossible. This decline in recovery for most minerals begins at about 10 m size, with particles below 5 m being lost almost completely to tailing. Only particles with inertial resistance to fluid flow can be contacted by bubbles even when using very small bubble size. There are 3 mechanisms by which particles enter the froth phase to be collected as concentrate: - by attachment to the surface of a rising bubble; - by mechanical entrainment with floating particles in the froth; - by carrier flotation through aggregation with flotable particles. The first mechanism has been described above. The second is of importance in flotation of fine particles (" slimes ") of gangue or valuable minerals (< 10 microns). Since these particles are distributed in proportion to the water recovery to the froth and tailing streams, minimization of water in the froth phase will result in reduced recovery of slimes. This may be beneficial or detrimental depending upon the abundance of values in this fraction. The water content of the froth phase however, must be sufficient to allow drainage of particles that are mechanically-entrained particles from the froth back to the pulp. Too sticky a froth can impair separation efficiency. The third mechanism although known about and exploited for some time now, has only recently received the attention it deserves. Particles of a flotablesized mineral treated so that their surfaces are hydrophobic when added to a slurry containing significant quantities of slime material, can selectively aggregate fine particles of a desired mineral and "carry" these fines into the froth after attachment to a bubble. Carrier flotation involves interparticular surface-bonding forces sensitive to fluid flow. Such bonds are generally non-selective and are overcome with intense agitation or conditioning. Nevertheless, the phenomenon of Carrier Flotation is measureable in a number of systems and forms the basis for the removal of anatase (TiO2) slimes from kaolinite using a calcite carrier coated with fatty acid type collectors. Four types of reagents are used in flotation: Collectors Frothers

Depressants Activators Establishing a hydrophobic surface on a mineral is analogous to waxing a car or shining shoes to prevent water wetting the surface. In all cases, the treatment produces a hydrocarbon layer on the surface since hydrocarbon materials are not water-wetted. This is because there is little likelihood for water molecules to form hydrogen bonding with atoms in the hydrocarbon layer that are completely non-polar because of their bonding within the hydrocarbon specie. In flotation, the hydrocarbon layer is created by the addition of a chemical that can dissolve to some extent in the liquid phase of the pulp. These reagents, known as collectors , are generally added as metal salts or as acids in which an ion specie containing a hydrocarbon chain is produced upon dissolution. This ion has a dual characteristic with one end possessing a definite polarity or charge (negative or positive) attached to a non-polar end consisting of the hydrocarbon chain. The polar end controls the extent of mineral surface reaction while the non-polar end determines hydrophobicity after reaction. The reaction of collectors with a mineral surface results in the adsorption of the ion on the surface either as a discrete ionic specie or as a modified compound. The phenomenon of adsorption may be chemical or physical in nature depending on the mineral, the reagent and other chemical conditions in the pulp such as pH. Adsorption is strictly an interfacial effect with no penetration of reagents into the mineral's crystal lattice. Typical reagent doses are 5 to 500 g/t depending on the mineral system and the required surface coverage. Not all of the surface need be coated, although monolayer coverage is generally a good reference point to use in establishing conditions that guarantee successful particle/bubble attachment after collision. This adsorption density is only a theoretical measure since some surface sites are more active than others and adsorption may be several layers deep with nonexistent adsorption on others. Given sufficient flotation time, flotablesized particles can be recovered completely with as little as 15 % of a theoretical monolayer adsorption density. Different size particles require different coverage. As the coarse size limit is approached, increased density to 3 or 4 monolayers is often needed for effective flotation. In the flotable size range less than monolayer coverage is adequate while an increase seems to help as the slime range is approached. Below the lower size limit at which flow conditions control the extent of recovery, there is generally no effect of surface coverage above a monolayer. The second class of reagents is known as frothers. As opposed to collectors which adsorb on the L/S interface, these chemicals work on the L/G interface to stabilize the froth phase to be formed on the surface of the pulp. In addition to this fundamental role, frothers have two other important effects on the flotation process; they control bubble size and they act to intensify the bubble/mineral attachment. Upon their addition to a liquid, the size of bubbles produced within the fluid is dramatically decreased since the surface tension is lowered

significantly. This makes for more efficient use of the volume of gas blown into the flotation vessel and increases recovery. When an air bubble coated with frother contacts a collector-coated mineral surface, the frother ions or molecules interact with the adsorbed collector ions to "lock" the bubble to the mineral and increase the strength of the attachment. The last two classes of reagents are known as modifiers. Depressants are used to prevent collector adsorption onto the surfaces of minerals that are undesired in the froth. This keeps gangue minerals hydrophilic or allows for differential separation of several valuable minerals from each other as well as from the gangue. In addition, depressants can be used to remove or overcome the hydrophobic layer present on a mineral surface from a previous flotation step and create conditions for depression in a subsequent step. This form of depression is termed de-activation and is used to recover each of the separate values in an ore using a bulk-selective circuit. Some minerals do not react well with standard collector chemicals and activators can be useful to promote adsorption and flotation. The activator generally acts as an intermediary between the surface of the mineral and collector ions. In addition to being adsorbed, activators can react with a mineral and penetrate the crystal lattice. Finally the type of vessel used is also important to the flotation process. Most commercial flotation cells are mechanically agitated with an impellor mechanism consisting of a rotor shrouded by a stator. The impellor serves three functions: to maintain the pulp in suspension; to introduce air as bubbles into the vessel; and to pump pulp from the cell as tailing. There are many different manufacturers and designs of flotation machines used throughout the industry but all must perform these three tasks to one degree or more. Recently, pneumatic cells have been making a resurgence of sorts. These are cells in which air is blown into the pulp through a bubble generating device without the use of mechanical agitation to maintain pulp suspension. In particular, the evolution of Column Flotation has swept the industry because of the ability to put more flotation capacity in a much smaller floor area and because of the reduction in power costs for agitation. Flotation circuits using column cells are becoming commonplace today. Flotation Mechanisms Grinding an ore has an important influence on flotation. For optimum results, valuable minerals should be separated completely from the waste and from each other. This is often impractical and can complicate matters by creating particles that are so fine they are difficult to recover by flotation. Click here for a diagram of recovery vs particle size. The ratio of water to solids is very important. It is usually measured in % solids by weight. If the pulp density is too low, minerals are washed out of the cell before they have a chance to float. If the density is too high,

the agitators will be unable to disperse enough air into the cell and the slurry will be difficult to keep in suspension. Flotation agitators have three basic functions. They keep sand in suspension, disperse air as discrete bubbles and pump pulp into the next vessel or agitation zone. To get the desired minerals to 'stick' to air bubbles, collectors like xanthates, are stage-added to the pulp. The collector should coat only valuable mineral particles so that water is repelled and bubbles can become attached upon collision. Air bubbles act like 'hot-air balloons' providing the necessary buoyancy to carry selected minerals to the pulp surface. Collector addition also affects froth formation. Too much can inhibit froth stability and 'flatten the circuit', too little and not all mineral surfaces will be coated. Either way, recovery goes down. Lime is often used in flotation to increase the alkalinity of the pulp. An alkaline pH increases the volume of the froth ( possibly increasing the rate at which mineral is recovered ), and depresses pyrite. Frothers such as pine oil and Dowfroth 250 are used to create a froth capable of carrying or holding the mineral-laden bubbles. Frothers impart a temporary toughness to bubbles prolonging life until they can be removed from the cell. Once withdrawn, a froth should break down rapidly so excess froth in the downstream processes does not occur. Frother is also important to bubble formation - both number and size. As the concentration of frother increases, bubble size decreases, improving air dispersion in a flotation cell. Frothers like pine mix well with water so the addition point is often to the grinding the agitation can promote dispersion into the pulp. Water-soluble (Dowfroth 250 and Cyanamid AF65) are stage-added along a flotation maintain a stable froth phase and reduce consumption. thereby oil do not circuit so frothers, bank to

Flotation operators must pay close attention to froth characteristics as changes in the appearance are indicative of ore or circuit changes. There are many different types of froth that can be seen in a flotation circuit which are unique to each ore. Reagents Frother Collectors Depressants Activators Frothers Frother reagents ( GENERAL ) Pine oil MIBC (alcohols) Poly-glycols TEB Cresylic Acid

Frother comparison General frother information When mineral-bubble agglomerates reach the surface of a flotation cell, the bubbles can break and the collected mineral fall back into the slurry. To prevent this loss, a frother is added to produce a froth phase stable enough to hold the floated particles until they can be removed from the cell. Frothers are slightly soluble polar compounds which adsorb preferentially at the air-water interface. Their function arises from their ability to reduce the surface tension of the L/G interface even when present at low concentrations. Generally, long- chained, complex alcohols are effective frothers in amounts ranging from 15 to 50 g per tonne of ore. The frother molecules orient themselves at the interface with the hydrocarbon end in the air phase and the hydroxyl end in water. When too much frothers that with run-away how different Run Away A run-away problem can occur when excess frother concentration occurs during flotation. This can result from the natural increase in concentration when slurry is processed in a rougher/cleaner circuit or when sump floor material is returned to the process. A run-away is a frightening experience for a novice flotation operator. Froth begins to flow from the surface of the cells at such a rate that launder water sprays cannot break down the froth and it will overflow the launder depositing on the sump floor. Even by dropping the cell level, the froth continues to flow and cannot be stopped. The solution with most immiscible frothers is to shut off the metering system and then pour a large bucket of frother into the feed sump. This extreme addition will cause the froth to collapse as the second layer of liquid frother on the bubble surfaces cannot be stabilized. With miscible frothers - like the poly-glycols, this method does not work. Pine oil Pine oil and its relative - eucalyptus oil (used in Australia), are mixtures of terpene alcohols such as Terpineol, Borneol and Frencheol together with various aromatic compounds like ketones, ethers and other terpene hydocarbons. It is a widely used household cleaning agent ( check out Mr.Clean) and so is not particularly dangerous to the environment especially at the levels used in flotation (5 - 25 g/t). Its fumes are toxic however, so care must be taken in handling and preparing the chemical. Pine oil is derived from the pyrolysis (distructive distillation) of pine trees or as a by-product from oil refineries. The alcohol content of commercial agents varies from 60 to 90 percent and is priced accordingly. froth is added to the pulp, the froth will collapse with those are immiscible. This has important implications in dealing problems in a flotation plant. Click here for some examples of froths look in a plant.

It is one of the most widely-used frothers with MIBC being its major rival. Excellent for recovery, up to 85 percent of most base metal sulphide minerals in an ore can be recovered without collector addition. Grade of concentrate however can be a problem and often secondary frother additions can be beneficial. MIBC Methyl isobutyl carbinol and its related alcohol-type frothers are derived as by-products from oil refining. The reagent is cost competitive with pine oil and so enjoys wide-spread use together with the isoamyl and isopropyl. MIBC is superior to pine oil at achieving high grade concentrate - froths recover more water and provide better drainage of mechanically-entained particles. MIBC lacks staying power so often stage-addition is needed to maintain froth on the scavenger cells. Froth height can also be a problem with heavilymineralized froths but the use of wash water addition as is done in Column Flotation can overcome this problem. Poly-glycols The poly-glycol ethers are very strong frothers completely miscible in water and capable of providing tough, compact, long-lasting froths. On their own they are effective collectors and are usually added at addition rates considerably less than pine oil and MIBC. These frothers produce such tough froths that upon removal from the cell, it can be difficult to break them down. This can lead to serious problems with pumping and de-watering. They are not corrosive and don't attack rubber as do pine oil and MIBC. Their lower addition rate is facilitated by the fact that thay are completely miscible in water and can be added as a dilute solution. Unlike immiscible frothers, the polyglycols do not destabilize the froth upon overaddition - this can lead to significant run away trouble when processing sump floor material. TEB Triethoxybutane or TEB frother is used extensively in African operations as a supplement with Pine oil. It is a fast-acting frother with significant effervescence at low concentrations. Pine oil is generally needed as the primary frother to ensure sufficient froth volume is maintained on the scavenger cells.

Cresylic acid Cresylic acid is a name given to very impure bottom-products produced from the refining of petroleum. Creosotes and cresylic acid predominate in these materials; the exact composition dependent on source. As a result the quality of this frother varies considerably and its use is restricted to cases that can tolerate extreme changes in frothing properties.

It is a cheap reagent as one might suspect, but its use is dwindling as more modern approaches to flotation have evolved. Some coal operations still use cresylic acid. Frother Comparison Collector reagents Select from the list below. Xanthates Dithiophosphates Fatty Acids Amines Collector comparison Anionic collectors Anionic collectors are those class of organic reagents that produce negatively charged ions that contain a hydrocarbon chain upon dissolution in water. Anionic reagents can adsorb physically onto mineral surfaces that possess active sites having strong positive charge. The sign and magnitude of the surface charge is a function of pulp chemistry conditions such as pH and the concentr ation of ion species derived from the mineral's crystal lattice as well as from other minerals that are present in the ore. Of these conditions, pH is perhaps, the most important because of its ease of control with sulphuric acid and/or lime , caustic soda or soda ash. There will be a unique pH value below which a mineral surface is postively charged and above which a negative charge is present. This pH is called the Zero point of charge since the surface charge is neutral. Xanthates The most widely-used collectors in sulphide mineral flotation are the xanthates or thiocarbonates. These reagents were developed in the 1920's and played a major role in the spread of flotation throughout the world. Hydrocarbon chain length is from: ethyl C2, propyl C3, butyl C4, amyl C5 to hexyl C6. They are classified as Anionic reagents. These reagents are supplied as either a potassium or sodium salt in the form of solid pellets which are soluble in water. Normal feeding procedure is to use a solution concentration of 10 to 30 %. All xanthates decompose in acid pulps so their use is restricted to alkali circuits. Ethyl Xanthate The xanthate hydrocarbon chain C2 is straight chained as follows:

Sodium ethyl xanthate is used most frequently for complex sulphides due to its low collecting power and maximum selectivity. For this reason the use of

SEX as an auxiliary collector with one of the more poweful xanthates, is standard practice to increase grade and recover fines. It is the most important collector to recover galena from Pb/Zn ores. Propyl Xanthate The hydrocarbon chain C3 is generally branch chained as follows: As a branch chained collector, sodium isopropyl xanthate can be competitive with PAX. It is the most widely used of the xanthates for sulphides due to its lower cost (about 75 percent of the cost of PAX). It provides good compromise between selectivity and power. Butyl Xanthate The hydrocarbon chain C4 is generally branch chained as follows: Sodium isobutyl xanthate is a low cost, powerful collector and has a tendency to float iron sulphides, unless depressants such as lime are used. It can be competitive with PAX but generally requires higher addition rates. Amyl Xanthate The hydrocarbon chain C5 is generally straight chained as follows: Potassium amyl xanthate is the most powerful and least selective collector. Improved selectivity however can often result from its use since lower quantities are generally required than the shorter chained xanthates. It is the most widely used collector for chalcopyrite however, and is often used in combination with dithiophosphates . Sodium Amyl Xanthate is often substituted for PAX due its lower molecular weight which transforms into more collector per unit weight of reagent. Hexyl Xanthate The hydrocarbon chain C6 is generally straight chained as follows: Hexyl xanthate is rarely used as its solubility is appreciably less than that of the other xanthates. Because of its lower solubility, it does not always show a reduction in unit additions over shorter chained reagents. Dithiophosphate Aerofloat 3477 and 3501 promoters are dithiophosphates manufactured by Cyanamid. These soluble, straight-chained collectors have the following chemical composition:

Although anionic as well, thiophosphates are weaker than xanthates with the same chain length, but are often used as auxiliary collectors due to their higher selectivity. Aero 3501 is especially effective in the flotation of coarse middlings and in the separation of copper and cobalt minerals. Aero 3477 and 3501 are marketed as soluble salts and can be dissolved readily in water unlike their

related chemical group - the Aerofloats. These latter reagents are mixtures of acid thiophosphates and must be metered neat into the pulp. Usual dosage is 5-25 g/tonne. Fatty acids Fatty acid or carboxylate-type collectors have longer hydrocarbon chains than do xanthates and dithiophosphates. Linoleic and Oleic acid are the most well-known type, both having a C17 hydrocarbon chain at tached to the carboxyl group. Linoleic is an isomer possessing two double carbon bonds as opposed to the one in oleic acid. As acids, these reagents are not soluble in water and are often added as emulsions with fuel oil. They function best at pH 5 - 6 especially when used to float iron oxides which are positively charged in this pH range. Addition rates are higher at 100 - 500 g/t in comparison with other anionic collectors, but unit cost is appreciably lower ( 5 - 10 times). Sodium salts are sometimes used to reduce addition rate due to the solubility of the salt. However, the benefit of lower hydrocarbon is usually compensated by the increased weight of sodium over hydrogen and selectivity generally is poorer than the equivalent acid. These reagents are biomass by-products and are not a particular environmental concern. MERCAPTANS Anionic collectors with an S- ion radical. ( R-S- ) Useful collectors for dealing with oxidized-sulphide minerals. Often used with processes which treat old tailing dumps. Zero point of charge All ions in solution play a role in affecting the charge on a solid surface in contact with water. As the concentration of an ion increases, the number of ions adsorbed by the surface will increase as well. The tendency for adsorption will be particularly strong when the surface charge is of opposite sign to that of the ionic specie. At some particular concentration, the adsorption will be such that the surface charge will become neutral. If the concentration of the ion is increased above this level, the surface charge will be changed in sign due to excess adsorption of the ion in question. The concentration at which this change in sign occurs is called the Zero Point of Charge or ZPC. (sometimes called Point of Zero Charge or PZC). Most frequently, ZPC values are quoted for minerals in terms of pH since hydroxyl and hydrogen (hydronium) ion concentrations are potentialdetermining. Reagents that are adsorb by physical adsorption are strongly influenced by ZPC. Surface charge phenomena do not play a significant role in systems involving chemical adsorption. ZPC values

The Zero-Point-of-Charge values in terms of pulp pH for some common minerals are as follows: ZPC values are useful to select the appropriate pH for many oxide ore flotation systems. Cationic collectors Cationic collectors are those class of organic reagents that produce positively charged ions that contain a hydrocarbon chain upon dissolution in water. Cationic reagents can adsorb physically onto mineral surfaces that possess active sites having strong negative charge. The sign and magnitude of the surface charge is a function of pulp chemistry conditions such as pH and the concentration of ion species derived from the mineral's crystal lattice as well as from other minerals that are present in the ore. Of these conditions, perhaps pH is the most important because of its ease of control with sulphuric acid and/or lime, caustic soda or soda ash . There will be a unique pH value below which a mineral surface is postively charged and above which a negative charge is present. This pH is called the Zero point of charge since the surface charge is neutral at this pH value. Amines Amines are cationic collectors manufactured as primary ,secondary, tertiary or quaternary ammonium acids or salts (chloride, acetate). They are the most-widely used collector in the treatment of iron ores by flotation. In these applications, they are used to recover silica or quartz to the froth phase with the iron minerals being depressed to the process tailing pulp . As acids they must be added neat but as salts, they are soluble in water. Hydrocarbon chain lengths vary between C18 to C24 with the longer chain lengths being used to float potash ores at very coarse size ranges. To float quartz fron iron ore, pulp pH is held at 10 to 11 with caustic soda (lime would activate hematite) with starch or dextrin addition being used to depress the iron minerals by selective aggregation. Often to upgrade the flotation feed and minimize interference from slimes, the pulp is subjected to selective flocculation ahead of flotation to reject fine quartz.

Collector Comparison Depressants pH modifiers Sodium Cyanide Sodium Sulphide

Sodium Silicate Starch/Dextrin Sulphur dioxide Depressant comparison pH modifiers - Depression or Activation ? Depression can be achieved using alkaline pH modifiers as depressants. There is a critical pH value above which a mineral cannot be floated with a specific collector at a specific concentration. The critical pH values for most sulphide minerals has been measured using Contact angle data for different collectors. By adjusting pH, the separation of multiple sulphide minerals is possible. The alkali pH modifiers are lime, caustic soda and soda ash. Ammonia is also used in some cases to act as a chelating agent for Cu++ ions. Acid modification can also be used to affect depression. Sulphuric acid is the most typical reagent used together with sulphur dioxide. Pulp pH modifiers can also be activators for certain minerals. Acid pH conditions can promote collector adsorption on a mineral surface and produce flotation conditions following an initial period of depression. Critical pH Critical pH defines the pH value above which a specific mineral cannot be floated with a specific collector at a specific concentration. For example, critical pH values for the following sulphide minerals in a KEX solution at 25 mg/l concentration (25 C) are: ZnS FeS2 PbS CuFeS2 Cu4FeS5 Cu2S 6.0 6.4 10.4 10.5 13.0 14.0

Separation of galena (PbS) and chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) from pyrite (FeS2) can be achieved with this collector at pH values between 6.4 and 10.4. One would probably use a pH value of about 9.5 to 10.0. Lime Lime or calcium hydroxide in slurry form is used to adjust the pH of a pulp to an alkaline level between pH 10 to 12. Lime is the cheapest of all alkali chemicals but cannot always be used due to the potential activation of gangue minerals by the bivalent calcium ion. In some cases however, particularly with the mineral pyrite, it is claimed that calcium has a depressing action over and above that of pH. See caustic soda or soda ash . Caustic soda

Caustic soda or NaOH (KOH as well) is used to adjust the pulp pH to an alkaline level above 10. Its use is demanded for high pH levels (above 11.5) or when the presence of calcium ions are deleterious. See lime or soda ash . Soda ash Soda ash or sodium carbonate (or bicarbonate) is used to adjust pulp pH into an alkaline condition up to pH 10. The reagent begins to buffer at about pH 9.5 and it can affect bubble stability such that some operations do not use a frother. This is not recommended as control of the froth phase is no longer independent of pulp chemistry conditions. The carbonate ion is also claimed to have a depressing action over and above that of pH. Soda ash is almost exclusively used to adjust the pulp pH of a copper flotation circuit ahead of zinc flotation for nearly all of the milling plants of the Noranda Group. It is claimed that lime depresses chalcopyrite. Caustic soda is too expensive for these applications. Sodium cyanide Sodium cyanide is the most widely used depressant chemical to separate multiple sulphide ores. There is a critical cyanide ion concentration above which mineral surfaces cannot be hydrophobic - dependent on mineral and collector type and concentration of collector. Its use is generally required when pH modifiers are ineffective, particularly with ore containing appreciable pyrite. It can also depress chalcopyrite from galena or molybdenite but is also used at similar addition rates to depress pentlandite from chalcopyrite. If significant precious metal content is in the mineralization, cyanide use should be avoided because of the potential for gold and silver dissolution. Pulp pH when using cyanide should NEVER be less than 10 in order to prevent HCN gas evolution. Sodium sulphide Sodium sulphide use is sometimes preferred to sodium cyanide because of toxicity problems. Cyanide dissolves heavy metals which can create serious environmental concern. The reagent acts to strip collector from a mineral surface rendering the mineral hydrophilic. The reagent is widely used in Copper/Molybdenum separations where the chalcopyrite is depressed from a bulk concentrate in a bulk-selective circuit. Galena can also be de-activated using this reagent. Its depressing action however is only temporary, since the ion species are rapidly oxidized when air bubbles are introduced into the pulp. As the concentration of the specie drops, the depressed minerals can readsorb collector and become active once more. Stage addition and a powerful adsorbent like activated carbon can help in this case. Sodium Silicate Sodium silicate or "water glass" is a depressant used when excessive gangue "slimes" are interferring with successful flotation. Such material readily forms flocs during flotation causing difficulties with flotation of another

mineral - both recovery and concentrate grade problems arise. The reagent acts to disperse such flocs and keep the slimes from interferring with the flotation of the valuable mineral. Starch / Dextrin Starch derived from biomass (corn, wheat, rye, etc.) can be used to prevent collector adsorption on specific minerals. The molecular structure of these derivatives is quite complex with very long-chained hydrocarbons having a number of polar groups along the chain. Molecular weights are measured in hundreds of thousands. The exact mechanism is not fully understood but flotation of quartz from iron ores containing hematite relies on this reagent to keep the iron minerals depressed since at pH 10 - 11, both hematite and quartz are negativelycharged and will both adsorb collector. Starch coats the hematite surface selectively preventing amine adsorption. It can also act to flocculate fine hematite material allowing upgrading prior to flotation by selective flocculation. Starch and dextrin are also used in some bulk-selective circuits to separate galena from chalcopyrite, to separate nickel from copper and to depress calcite or dolomite gangue in some copper ores. Sulphide dioxide Liquid SO2 can be used as to separate sphalerite mineral from gangue minerals like pyrrhotite and/or pyrite. The SO3= ion is apparently responsible for the depression of sphalerite at pH 4 to 5 allowing the iron minerals to be floated. Galena separation from chalcopyrite can also be achieved using SO2 treatment. Depressant Comparison Activators pH modifiers Na Hydrosulphide Copper Sulphate Multivalent ions Activator comparison Sulphuric acid To adjust the pH of a pulp into the acid region, sulphuric acid (H2SO4) is almost exclusively used. When bivalent ions (SO4=) are a problem, HCl can be substituted but unit cost is much higher and the chemical is slightly more dangerous ( Cl2 gas evolution). Most acid circuits are operated at pH 4 or higher because of the extreme corrosion problems in handling such material. In some cases, liquid SO2 under pressure, can be bubbled into the pulp to adjust pH to 4 - 5 to depress galena from chalcopyrite or to depress sphalerite from pyrrhotite. Sulphur dioxide dissolves to produce sulphurous acid (H2SO3) which has a depressing action over and above that due to pH. See lime or caustic soda .

Sodium hydrosulphide Sodium sulphide or more frequently sodium hydrosulphide ( NaHS) in addition to being effective depressants for sulphide minerals can be used to promote collector adsorption on certain "oxide"-type minerals of copper and lead. Malachite and azurite - two forms of copper carbonate minerals do not adsorb collector well. Addition of NaHS causes a sulphide film to form on the surface of the mineral particles allowing adsorption of collectors such as amyl xanthate. The crystalline form of cuprite also responds well to this treatment as does the lead carbonate mineral - cerrusite. The film of sulphide is only tenuously bonded to the surface and can be easily washed off by attrition. Too much NaHS can also result in total depression as with sulphides. For mixed sulphide/oxide ores, the usual practice is to first float the sulphides normally, then treat the tailing product with NaHS and PAX to recover the oxide component. Copper sulphate There are a number of metal ions which can be used to activate sphalerite zinc mineral which does not always respond well to xanthate collectors. Zinc xanthate is readily soluble so by replacing zinc in the crystal lattice at the mineral surface with a metal ion that can form stable xanthate salts, adsorption of collector is possible. The reaction is as follows: Copper sulphate is readily soluble but is a very expensive reagent. controllable, cheap reagent has been found. No other

Pyrrhotite activation ( monoclinic and hexagonal ) is often necessary to increase flotation rate and recovery in copper-nickel ore treatment. Multivalent ions In some cases, spectator ions derived from the dissolution of certain ore constiuents can lead to inadvertent activation of a mineral. This can be a major problem when grinding copper/zinc ores as the copper minerals release small amounts of copper ion into the solution which can then activate the zinc mineralization during the copper flotation stage. Other multivalent ions that can lead to difficulties include Ca++, Al+++, Fe+ + or Fe+++, Ba++ and Mg++. These ions can influence the flotation of gangue minerals by acting as bridges between the negatively-charged gangue mineral surface and anionic collectors. The technique has been exploited in the People's Republic of China where Ca++ activated quartz flotation with anionic collector (fatty acids) has been used to treat certain iron ores at pH 11.

Activator Comparison Flotation cells The most popular flotation cells in use today are:

: : : : :

Denver machines Agitair machines Wemco-Fagergren machines Outokumpu Oy's OK machines Dorr-Oliver machines

Each have their own unique characteristic: Denver uses an inverted cone called a DR mechanism to force pulp to flow in a vertical direction; Agitairs have the rotor baffles installed as part of the cell rather than the impeller; Wemco-Fagergrens are squat-type cells with a star-shaped impeller tied into a false bottom system to cause vertical motion in the pulp; the OK and DO units have a parabolic-shaped impeller that equalizes the pressure on all points on the impeller surface so that air blown in through the impeller is distributed to all parts of the cell uniformly. Regardless of the type of cell used, all of the mechanical varieties are installed in banks of 4 to 6 cells in series. Pulp flows between each vessel because of the agitation of the impellers. Tailing leaves the last cell in a bank through a vertical underflow pipe with an automatic control valve tied in to pulp level. The concentrate flows off the surface of the vessel into launders hung on each side of the bank. Wash water causes the froth to flow down to a pumpbox for transfer to another stage of the process. Complete flotation circuits consist of several of these banks in series and perhaps several of these multi-bank stages in parallel. The unit size of flotation cells have been steadily increasing since flotation was first introduced. Early cells were 10 to 20 ft3 while today 300 to 1000 ft3 units are typical. The largest unit is 2000 ft3. Column flotation is now being used to reduce the floor space and power requirements of the mechanical cells. Column flotation In recent years, an increasing number of mills are installing column flotation cells to supplement or replace conventional flotation machines. Column cells consist of a cylindrical or square vessel from 150 mm to 3.6 m across and up to 10 m high. Pulp is introduced about half way down the vessel and tailing pulp is extracted out the bottom through a valve controlling pulp level. The pulp is kept above the point of feed entry and a very high froth column ( up to 1.2 m ) exists above the pulp. To stabilize this froth and provide a washing action within the froth, water is gently rained down from above the froth. The wash water prevents bubbles from coalescing and increases the drainage rate of mechanically-entrained particles. Air is introduced through a piece of holed rubber or filter cloth or via a sparging unit located at the vessel bottom. Because of this, these units are often said to be counter-current since air bubbles move in a direction counter to pulp flow. Fluid flow measurements however, indicate that the pulp is close to being fully mixed so the counter-current benefits are not really being exploited. Column flotation was developed by Boutin and Wheeler in Labrador in 1964 and took about 15 to 20 years to become an important part of the flotation field. Several other units of a similar principle should also be mentioned here. Also in 1964, Davis of Consolidated RioTinto of Australia invented the DAVCRA flotation cell in which pulp is introduced into a vessel similar to a Column

cell through a bi-phase nozzle. The pulp swirls around an inner core of air ripping bubbles from the air jet surface and enters the cell as a turbulent mass of interacting air, water and solids. Residence times in these units are of the order of 45 seconds compared with 15 - 45 min. for Column cells and 10 - 20 min. for conventional flotation cells. The unit is particularly good at coarse particle recovery in a grinding circuit. The second unit of importance is Outokumpu Oy's Flash Flotation cell developed specifically as a unit cell to be used within a grinding circuit treating cyclone underflow material. Pulp is fed into this unit underneath the froth phase. An impellor similar in design to the OK machines is used to introduce air. Tailing exits through the bottom of the vessel to be returned to the grinding mill. Recoveries in these last two types of applications have been reported at 30 to 75 percent a remarkable level considering that the separation process of a conventional flotation circuit still remains to be used to treat the grinding circuit product. More recently, the Column cell has been evolved into the Jameson "short column" cell. Also an Australian invention, the Jameson cell introduces air into a downcomer pipe installed in the centre of the vessel into which the feed pulp is flowing. The mixture of air and pulp at voidage fractions of 0.5 to 0.6 produces a bubbly-flow down into the pulp phase in the cell where the bubbles with attached particles rise to form a stable froth phase and the hydrophillic tailing particles are discharged from the bottom of the cell. A Jameson short column cell occupies the same floor space as a conventional column but does not have the associated height or weight. Capital costs are lower, an air compressor is not required as the pulp entrains the air as bubbles directly. With no sparger, maintenance costs are reduced and operation is easier to control. Overall cell residence time is about 2 minutes but residence time has not the same meaning as a conventional column or mechanical cell. Scale-up is based on cross-sectional area. A better grade/recovery relationship is claimed for the Jameson over conventional column flotation. Flotation Circuits. Generally, all circuits produce a froth ( concentrate ) that overflows from the lip of each flotation cell and a slurry ( tailing ) that flows out of the end of the bank of cells. The amount of copper ( expressed as a weight% ) in the feed is called the 'Head' Grade. The amount in the froth is called the Concentrate Grade while the amount left in the slurry is called the Tailing Grade. A flowsheet is made up of three circuit stages. Click here to see a flotation circuit diagram The first set of cells or bank is called the 'Roughers'. This stage receives flotation feed from the grinding circuit, middling return products (such as scavenger concentrate and cleaner tailing) and material from the floor sumps ( mainly clean-up water and discharged sand from pump-boxes). The roughers produce a rougher concentrate which feeds the cleaner circuit and a rougher tailing which flows to the scavenger stage. The froth is normally removed at a maximum rate limited by the available cleaner capacity. The next stage of cells is called the 'Scavengers'. This circuit produces a scavenger concentrate that is too low grade to be sent to the cleaners so it

is recirculated back to the roughers. This circuit is the last chance to recover values before the pulp leaves the concentrator. It is therefore highly reagentized and so concentrate is pulled off much faster than in the roughers. Waste material is pulled off the roughers together with valuable mineral. Some of these waste minerals are free and some are still attached or locked to valuable mineral. In the 'Cleaner' circuit, the rougher concentrate may be reground and then refloated until the grade is high enough to be sent for dewatering. The recycle of material sets up a trade-off between high concentrate grade and high recovery. The optimum point in most mills is determined by economics. It is important to keep circulating loads as low as possible. Collected minerals should be removed from the roughers as fast as the froth will move often with the aid of paddles which rotate through the froth zone pulling concentrate into the discharge launder. If too much mineral drifts into the scavengers or is returned to the roughers from the cleaners, it is quite likely that the scavenger tailing assay will increase especially if the circuit becomes unstable due to a temporary shutdown in the grinding circuit or in another part of the flotation plant. The cleaner circuit must be pulled hard enough to remove concentrate from the circuit yet still maintain satisfactory concentrate grade. In certain cases, a circuit may be operated as an "open" circuit. In this case, cleaner or recleaner tailing are combined with final tailing and removed from the circuit. Care must be exercised with these circuits to ensure high losses do not occur in the cleaner tailing products. Typical Flotation Circuit Differential flotation With multiple sulphide ores it is often necessary for the mill to produce separate concentrate products of two or more valuable components. Ores may contain Copper, Lead or Zinc; Copper and Molybdenum; Copper and Nickel; or Copper and Cobalt. The type of circuit used to achieve satisfactory treatment of these ores may be Differential Flotation. In this circuit, the ore is first prepared to allow one specie to be floated while the other(s) remain hydrophilic with the gangue components. Depressants are added to aid in separation with the amounts of collector and frother being carefully managed to provide conditions just sufficient to recover the desired mineral(s). Circuit tailing is then conditioned with activators to promote flotation of the remaining values from the gangue in a second flotation circuit. In this way, the valuable minerals are recovered "differentially" from the ore one at a time. This type of circuit is expensive in both capital and operating cost requirements, but will consistently outperform a bulkselective circuit metallurgically. Bulk-Selective flotation If the second valuable component in an ore is of minor abundance, the use of a differential flotation circuit cannot always be justified. A bulkselective circuit can be used to reduce significantly capital and operating

costs. With this circuit, the two components are initially recovered together to produce a high grade bulk concentrate. The concentrate is then treated with depressants to de-activate the more abundant mineral and float off the minor specie. This process is never as efficient as the straight-depression process used by the differential approach. Competition with stripped collector is usually severe and eventually the mineral's hydrophobic nature is restored. Most copper-molybdenum and copper-nickel ores are treated by bulk-selective flotation. Copper-zinc ores on the contrary, are extremely difficult to process using this technique a differential circuit is virtually always demanded. Amalgamation [Ref.6]

The process of adding metallic mercury to an ore to recover coarse gold has been practiced for many centuries. Amalgamation is efficient for particles coarser than 200 mesh (0.074 m) and for free or partially liberated gold. The liquid metal is added to the ore pulp as it discharges from the grinding mill. Addition is made within barrels or on specially-covered plates called strakes. The covering is generally corduroy cloth or copper plate to hold the amalgam paste and gold nuggets. For good results, the gold surfaces must be clean, so reagents such as potassium permanganate, caustic soda or ammonium chloride are often added to polish gold surfaces. A problem known as mercury flouring can also be alleviated by using these agents. Amalgam is removed by scraping the plates periodically. This process was extensively used in South Africa until World War II when it was abandoned because of severe pollution problems - abrasion by pulp particles releases excess Hg from the amalgam which then is discharged with tail pulp. Similarly in North America, amalgamation has not been practiced for several decades with the exception of the Dome Mine in Timmins which did not discontinue mercury useage until the mid-1980s. In third World countries, with the presence of informal or outlaw mining activity, such as the socalled "garimpos" of the Amazon Region, the process is still in use with over 170 tonnes of Hg being consumed annually in Brazil by these operations. The addition of mercury in sluices is a terrible practice followed by some Brazilian garimpos. Contact can take place only between the heaviest nuggets and mercury held in the sluice riffles. Contact time is too short so large amounts of mercury are lost and little improvement in gold recovery is realized. This is one of the main causes of bottom sediment pollution in alluvial gold operations in the Amazon. It is commonly used in dredge operations. Some panning operations with placer gold deposits in river beds and sand bars, add mercury to the heavy mineral concentrate in the pan to recovery the coarse gold as amalgam. Mercury losses can be as high as 15 grams per kilogram of concentrate unless a water box is used to hold all products, both amalgam and heavy mineral sand, for recovery of mercury. Barrel Amalgamation is a more efficient process. Gold recovery from heavy mineral concentrate can be higher than 90%. A contact time longer than 2 hours improves amalgamation but also increases flouring. Click here to see a typical flowsheet of a lode gold ore concentration plant in the Amazon. Note: this example is presented here to emphasis the dangerous practice of

this ancient method. today. Cyanidation GOLD DISSOLUTION

No modern flowsheet design would consider amalgamation [Ref.2]

Cyanidation is a simple process that exploits the solubility of gold in dilute cyanide solutions and its ease of recovery by cementation with zinc dust. The reaction chemistry can be represented by the following equation proposed originally by Elsner in 1852: The major features of the process indicated by this equation are the formaton of a gold-cyanide complex ion, the requirement of air and the sensitivity to pH. The formation of cyanide complexes is not unique to gold and silver. Cyanide can also complex with numerous other heavy metals such as copper, iron, mercury and zinc. Thus, the presence of other ions derived from sulphide or oxide minerals in the ore can present difficulties in processing gold ores. Typical cyanide concentration ranges from 0.02 to 0.2 percent but the presence of "cyanicides" can significantly increase consumption rate required to maintain this concentration. Leaching times also vary from ore to ore with 24 hours being a typical minimum requirement but up to 72 hours being required in some cases. Cyanicides derive from chalcocite, bornite, oxide-copper minerals, nickel and zinc minerals, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite and graphite. Usually, pyrite is not a problem but marcasite can be trouble. Pyrrhotite acts to deplete dissolved oxygen from the pulp preventing Elsner's reaction from taking place while graphite and other carbonaceous material can adsorb gold and silver complex ions onto their surfaces depleting the solution of gold and silver values. The other minerals act to promote cyanide consumption. Aeration prior to cyanidation can minimize the effects of pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite but dissolution during grinding is precluded in this case. The need for pH control is evident protective alkalinity is necessary be predominant as free-cyanide and usually maintained above 11 unless retard the reaction rate but lower from Elsner's equation but moreover, a to ensure that the reagent is ionized to not as dissolved HCN gas. The pulp pH is tellurides are present. Higher values levels reduce the free-cyanide appreciably.

Cyanidation was first used in the South African gold mines in the 1890's to treat tailing dumps. Recoveries were typically 95 percent so the process spread rapidly around the world and today is the single most important method for treatment of gold and silver ores. Amalgamation is rarely used today because of environmental concern but gravity separation ahead of cyanidation within the grinding circuit is often used to recover coarse, free gold which can be upwards of 40 percent of the total gold value. If the gold is associated with sulphides such as pyrite or arsenopyrite, flotation is used to produce a concentrate for leaching. This can reduce plant size significantly as flotation residence times are measured in minutes compared to the days required for cyanidation.

If the ore is appreciably "refractory" due to the presence of cyanicides or due to the extremely fine associations of the gold with the sulphides ( <1 m), the ore or concentrate must be pre-treated in some fashion. Pretreatment processes might include: Roasting Aeration Double-oxidation (acid-leaching) Pressure_oxidation Bio-leaching

All of these processes act to chemically render the deleterious material inert to cyanide solution. Most are very expensive and can give environmental concern. Roasting generates arsenic-bearing dusts and gases which are difficult to control. the other processes dissolve metals into the solution and so precipitation is necessary before discarding tailing water. GOLD PRECIPITATION

Following dissolution the gold must be recovered from the loaded solution. The most common procedure has been to separate the liquid from the solid tailing using mutiple-stage thickeners or filters. The liquor is rogressively washed back into the plant from the solids in a counter-current fashion (CCD Circuits). The loaded solution is then deaerated and treated with zinc dust or its equivalent to achieve the following reaction proposed by Parks: To ensure total gold precipitation, excess zinc is used as some zinc also dissolves according to: In the past decade, this process (known as Merrill-Crowe) has been replaced in a number of mills with Carbon-in-Pulp processing. Coarse pellets of Activated Carbon are added directly to the pulp without L/S separation being performed. The gold and silver complexes are adsorbed on to the surfaces of this carbon and the pellets are extracted by screening. The carbon is then eluted with a hot caustic cyanide solution to recover the values to a rich solution which is treated by electrowinning the gold onto steel wool cathodes. The carbon is regenerated by roasting and recycled back to the CIP tanks. The saving in L/S separation requirements and zinc dust costs more than pays for the small amount of carbon lost by attrition and regeneration. Liquid / Solid separation Dewatering Thickeners Filters Dryers Dewatering [Ref.1]

With few exceptions, most mineral separation processes involve the use of substantial quantities of water and the final concentrate has to be separated from a pulp in which the liquid/solid ratio may be high.

Dewatering, or liquid/solid separation, produces a relatively dry concentrate for shipment. Some moisture must remain to avoid losses by dusting and wind effects during transportation. Partial dewatering is also performed at various stages in a process to control the volume of feed for subsequent flowsheet stages. In some areas, water recycle must be practiced because of environmental concern or lack of water resource, so recovery of tailing water to reuse in the process or to protect the environment are important steps. Dewatering methods can be broadly classified into three groups: (a) sedimentation ------- thickeners (b) filtration ---------- filters (c) thermal drying ------ dryers Sedimentation is most efficient when there is a large volume of slurry to treat and the rate of settling exhibited by the solids is rapid or can be increased with addition of flocculant chemicals. Filtration may be necessary when the liquid density is substancially higher such as in a leaching plant or where the size of mill must be kept small. Thickeners are large units 25 - 100 m in diameter, which must be operated year round. Cold climates do not lend themselves to thickener use on tailing streams. Dewatering in mineral processing is normally a combination of the above methods. The bulk of the water is first removed by sedimentation or thickening, which produces a thickened pulp of perhaps 55-65 %solids by weight. Up to 80% of the water can be separated at this stage. Filtration of the thick pulp then produces a moist filter cake of between 80 and 90 %solids, which may require thermal drying to produce a final product of about 95 %solids by weight. Thickeners [Ref.2] [Ref.9]

Thickening is the most widely applied dewatering technique in mineral processing, and is a relatively cheap, high-capacity process. In thickening, the slurry is fed to the center of a large-diameter shallow tank. Solids settle to the bottom where they are raked to a central discharge point while clear water overflows on the tank circumference. Thickeners may involve flocculation with reagents although the floccs must often be broken up for subsequent filtration. In most cases the concentration of the suspension is high and hindered settling takes place. Thickeners may be batch or continuous units, and consist of relatively shallow tanks with rake-drive mechanisms located at the center or riding around the tank mounted on the perimeter to draw the settled material into the discharge well. Thickeners produce thickened pulp ranging from 20 to 35 %solids by volume. This pulp can be further dewatered in filters to a wet cake containing some 60 to 65 %solids by volume. Filters [Ref.9]

Filters in mineral processing plants are usually vacuum filters of continuous operation. They produce a cake product with water content between 20 to 5 percent. During the filtration cycle, part of the filter is submerged into

the pulp. Clear liquid is sucked from the pulp through a filter cloth by vacuum created inside the unit using an air pump. Solids on the filter cloth form a cake which is air-blown and then forced from the cloth by compressed air the filter dips into the pulp once again. These units are either drum or disc-type filters. Filter cloth on a drum filter covers the cylindrical shell of a perforated drum. In a disc filter, discs composed of several segments, each covered with filter cloth, are mounted on a hollow shaft. A mill may sometimes employ batch-type filter presses as well. In a plate-and-frame filter, the cloth is stretched between alternating plates and empty frames. The solids of a suspension is pressed into these cells at several bars of pressure and is retained in the frames while the clear liquid leaves at the bottoms of the plates through apertures that are opened or closed with stopcocks. Most modern plants today are employing semi-continuous pressure filters that use a continuous filter cloth belt running back and forth through the frames and plates in the unit. The unit is emptied, then sealed. Pulp is pumped in to the frames; the air is blown through the unit to displace the liquid and the frame opens up allowing the belt to wind on to the next stage discharging the cake from the filter. The Larox filter from Finland is a popular unit today of this type and can be used to avoid dryers in some cases. Other high pressure filtation units are becoming more-widely used as well. Dryers [Ref.1]

Drying is the last stage of dewatering practiced in a mineral processing plant. It reduces the cost of transport and is usually aimed at reducing the moisture content to about 5% by weight. The necessity of drying may also be to make the product suitable for sale, or for subsequent processing (e.g., in pyrometallurgical operations). The avoidance of freezing in railcars during the long Canadian winters should not be overlooked either. Rotary thermal dryers are generally used. These consist of a relatively long cylindrical shell mounted on rollers driven at a certain speed. The shell is slightly sloped ( 3-4), so material can move from the feed to discharge end under gravity. Hot gases, or air , are fed in either at the feed end to give parallel flow or at the discharge to give counter current flow. Compared with thickeners and filters, drying is much more expensive, since the solid must be heated, and the water evaporated so that it can be carried away in a gas stream. Sorting Sorting overview Hand sorting Electronic sorting

Sorting overview

[Ref.2]

[Ref.1]

The original sorting systems had men or women sorting pieces of rock by hand. Hand sorting is still practical in certain cases, but generally can not be justified nowadays. Hand sorting is effective only for lump rock where the processing rate is high enough for justification. Recently sorting systems

have been developed to provide electronic sorting or mechanical sorting after discrimination based on colour, gravity, radioactivity, or structural analysis. The sorting process involves appraisal of individual ore particles and the rejection of those particles that do not warrant further treatment. Separation mechanisms include flop gates, pushing rods, air blasts and so on. In all cases, selection depends on the particle size and the time required for separation. There is a lower size limit then, commonly in the range of 2 cm, below which sorting can not be applied. For small particles, it is not practical to build all the separator mechanisms for the numbers of particles that must be examined. Hand sorting [Ref.5]

The simplest, most-direct, and somtimes most effective method of concentration is sorting by eye and hand. Hand sorting has been practiced since antiquity. In the modern context however,hand sorting can rarely be justified. In those applications where sorting is still useful, electronic sorting methods have been developed. Hand sorting may be still considered in low labour cost areas of the world. Some high grade ores may also be considered for hand sorting as a pre-concentration method. The Asbestos mines in Quebec were still using the method as late as the 1970's to preselect lumps containing excesssive-length Asbestos fibres which at the time, had premium value. The principles of hand sorting are based on colour and physical appearance of the particles or lumps of ore. Electronic Sorting [Ref.1]

Electronic sorting is feasible when the ore is economically liberated at a fairly coarse size, usually greater than about 10 mm. Sorters assess the difference in a specific physical property between the particles and send a signal to a mechanical or electronic device which removes the valuable particles from the stream. It is essential, therefore, that a distinct difference in physical property is apparent between the valuable minerals and gangue. The surfaces must be washed before sorting, so that blurring of the signal does not occur. As it is impractical to feed wide size ranges to a single machine, the feed must undergo preliminary sizing. The ore should be fed as a monolayer, since the display of individual particles to the sorting device must take place. There are many ore properties which can be used to activate the sensing device. Photometric sorting is a mechanized form of hand sorting, in which the ore is divided into components of differing value by visual examination. The basis of the photometric sorter is a laser light source and sensitive photomultiplier, using a scanning system to detect light reflected from the surfaces of rocks passing through the sorting zone. Electronic circuitry analyses the photomultiplier signal, which changes with the intensity of the reflected light and a control signal is produced to actuate air-blast valves to reject particles. The sorter is automatic and can be attended by one operator on a part-time basis. Typical throughput ranges from 50 tph for -65+30 mm feed to 200 tph for -150+70 mm material. Photo-metric sorting is mainly applied in treating industrial minerals and less frequently with metalliferous ores. Current uses include the production

of magnesite, barite, talc, limestone, marble, gypsum, flint and recovery of wolframite or scheelite from quartz. Environmental concerns Environmental overview Tailings dams Tailings water Dust control Environmental overview [Ref.1]

Disposal of tailing is a major environmental concern, becoming more important as we continue to mine ever-reduced grades of deposits. Apart from the visual impact on the landscape, the major problem is usually pollution arising from the discharge of water contaminated with solids, heavy-metals, reagents, sulphur compounds, etc. The nature of tailing material varies widely; although usually transported and disposed of as a high-water-content slurry, their size consistency and chemical reactivity can range significantly. Tailing dams are usually constructed to retain the solids safely and control water flows for treatment or discharge. In some cases, simple beaching can be practiced where the solids settle quickly and there is no chemical pollution problem. When dam construction is required, the coarse fractions are generally spigotted in cyclones to build the retaining dam wall with the fine slimes being beached into the dam area behind. An overflow tower may be used to control water level in the dam and prevent runoff and erosion which could be catastrophic. Seepage must also be avoided using polyethylene liners (very-expensive) or clay layers impermeable to water flow. Tailing water must be treated if the overflow contains harmful contaminants such as heavy metals, acids or cyanides. Most can be handled using a multistage treatment system that neutralizes with lime and precipitates metal hydroxides. Acid-rock drainage can be particularly insidious. Pyritebearing tailing can oxidize in surface waters producing sulphuric acid and ferric and/or ferrous sulphate. The acid can leach other metals from the solids intensifying the problem further. Keeping the material submerged under several feet of water can prevent acid formation since oxygen depletion results and acid cannot be generated. This is not always possible depending on the material being retained and on the available free-board in the dump or dam. Air pollution can be an additional environmental concern in mineral processing. Dust and gases produced during dry crushing or grinding and drying and roasting must be watched. Dust control is very important from an occupational health and safety viewpoint. Dust is generally silica-bearing and silicosis dangers for plant personnel is apparent. The control of mill reagents that generate toxic gases such as H2S, SO2, HCN and NH3 should be evident and regular inspections and testing carried out. Roaster offgases must be scrubbed and SO2 recovery attempted.

Marketing sulphuric acid can often pay for such requirements. Tailings dams [Ref.10]

Although tailings ponds are all similar structures, they can be constructed differently. Four basic techniques are used: : : : : Upstream Construction Downstream Construction Centreline Construction Construction with borrowed material

The upstream method has a dam growing in height in a direction upstream i.e. toward the pond. Spigotted solids are used to build the dam wall which progressively moves into the pond. This means that in later years the wall may consist of significant fines, risking instability. In the downstream method, coarse material is used to continually build up the dam wall downstream from the structure. To increase stability mechanical compaction is often employed. Fines are precluded from the wall materi al by using cyclones. With borrowed material, coarse rock can be used from a specific site to build a stable wall. Generally, the entire dam wall is constructed initially to provide retention for the life of the operation. Flexibility is not available with this method to increase capacity should more ore be discovered later. With tailings from uranium ores or from ores leached with cyanide solutions, special precautions are required to prevent groundwater contamination; for example, the lining of the complete tailings pond area with polyethylene sheeting and consolidated clay. A site selected for a tailings pond must meet certain criteria: it must be an economical distance from the mill, it must provide for adequate capacity, the subsurface geology and hydrology must meet certain minimum specifications and it must reflect compliance with all pertaining environmental regulations. Tailing dams may be built across river valleys, or as curved multisided dam walls on valley sides; this latter design facilitating drainage. On flat or gently sloping ground, lagoons are built with walls on all sides of the impoundment. Tailings water [Ref.10]

In mineral processing plants today, the trend is clearly toward maximum recycle of process water. In dry areas, this has always been the practice for economic reasons. Total recycle is certainly an important method to prevent environmental problems with tailing water. It can also be the most economic solution. Waste water treatment for discharge can be exhorbitantly expensive. Large holding tanks are needed to promote precipitation reactions and settling. Pumping costs are high and must be designed to cope with spring-runoff conditions. Chemicals such as alum and/or ferric chloride are added increasing the costs further.

Unfortunately, tailing water recycle can cause milling problems in differential flotation circuits. Residual activator and collector added to the second flotation stage can result in the depressed mineral being floated in the first stage upon the use of recycle water. Testwork must be conducted to show the sensitivity of the process to water recycle practice. Furthermore, tailing water invariably contains significant sulphate ion content. When introduced into the warm, alkaline conditions of primary grinding, gypsum precipitation can result leading to plugged launders and lines. Water treatment to render tailing water suitable for recycle is usually cheaper than treatment for discharge to the environment and should be considered to increase the use of recycle. Dust control [Ref.9]

Dust control can be achieved using devices operating on the same principles as those used in: : classification (cyclones/classifiers) : filtration (screens or bag filters) : electrostatic collection (dust precipitators) In the latter, a corona electrode carrying a high DC voltage imparts an electric charge to dust particles contained in gas flowing across the electric field. The charged-particles are drawn to a grounded electrode on the opposite side of the field and are recovered in chutes. Most crushing plants employ simple classifying devices such as dust settling chambers, cyclones, vortex tubes, baffle dust collectors and water aspirators which slurry the dust into the main separation plant. Bag filters and electrostatic units are required with hazardous dust such as asbestos fibres. Silicosis Silicosis is a type of pneumoconiosis disease of the lungs suffered by workers exposed to dangerous dusts. It can take years for these diseases to manifest themselves and exposed-workers should be examined anually to watch for deterioration in breathing function. Death follows quickly upon the disease settling in. Clearly environmental concern must be practiced where silica dust exposure exists. All sensible dust control methods should be instituted and if a dry process can be replaced with a wet one, attempts should be made to do so. Ore Treatment Ores are categorized into six groups. Base Metals Iron Ores Industrial Minerals Energy Minerals

Precious metals Other Ores Base Metals cobalt copper ( Oxide & Sulphide ) lead (Lead-Zinc, etc. ) molybdenum nickel tin zinc Cobalt [Ref.3]

Most of the world's supply is as a by-product from the concentration of copper or nickel ores. This starts with production of a low-grade matte in which re-cycled slag containing cobalt forms part of the charge. The product contains both Co and Cu and is crushed, ground and calcined. The soluble sulphates produced in fluid-bed roasters, are dissolved and upgraded by leaching and precipitation. A wide range of minerals including the cobalt arsenides can be beneficiated using gravity separation and/or flotation. In flotation, activation with copper sulphate and sodium sulphide with amyl xanthate as collector has been used with success. Copper [Ref.3]

The copper-bearing ores include so wide a range that industrial treatment uses nearly every processing technique, sometimes in highly specialized ways. Copper minerals range from straight sulphides or copper-iron sulphides to oxides, carbonates, silicates and chlorides. Click here to see a diagram of the Highland Valley Copper flotation circuit. Often associated mineral must be recovered separately, including gold, silver, pyrite, cobalt, molybdenum, germanium, lead and zinc. To be a useful commodity, copper must be upgraded to 5-9's Copper. Several practical examples of flowsheets capable of recovering copper are shown in the following diagrams: (1) straight flotation of a typical copper ore. (2) flotation of a copper ore with Au-bearing pyrite. (3) differential flotation of mixed sulphide ores. (4) flotation of a mixed sulphide/oxide ore. (5) chemical extraction (leaching). (6) chemical extraction (L-P-F Process). (7) pyro-metallurgy - The Segregation Process. Important Copper Minerals Copper Minerals: Sulphides: 1. Chalcopyrite 2. Bornite 3. Chalcocite 4. Covellite

Oxides-Sulphates-Carbonates 5. Azurite 6. Cuprite 7. Malachite 8. PseudoMalachite 9. Native Copper Chalcopyrite ( CuFeS2)

Chalcopyrite is the major source of copper in the world. Chalcopyrite has a golden, metallic, colour and like Pyrite, is easily mistaken for Gold. The distinction between Chalcopyrite and Pyrite is often difficult. Pyrite is slightly lighter in colour and has a cubic crystal structure. It is also harder than Chalcopyrite. To distinguish between these minerals and Gold, hardness can give an indication; Gold is soft and ductile, while Pyrite and Chalcopyrite are brittle. Chalcopyrite is a sulphide and is readily flotable. Most copper concentrates produced from chalcopyritic ores are above 25 percent with perhaps 32 percent being an upper limit. The presence or absence of Pyrite generally accounts for this range. Bornite ( Cu5FeS4 ) Bornite is the second most important copper sulphide mineral, after Chalcopyrite. The quantity of Bornite in sulphide copper deposits can be variable with its presence indicating that weathering action in this zone has occurred. Bornite is a sulphide and is recoverable by flotation. Concentrate produced from Bornitic ores has a much higher grade than from Chalcopyritic ores. Smelters need to balance the amount of these concentrates with lower grade concentrates in order to control matte-grade. The mineral's colour is copper-red to pinky-brown on fresh surfaces. When exposed to air it tarnishes to a bluish-purplish colour. Chalcocite ( Cu2S )

Chalcocite is one of the highest grade copper sulphide minerals. The colour of Chalcocite is black. It is generally found in specific areas of an orebody, close to an existing or old water table. It is formed when the altered (oxidized) copper minerals from surface are washed down into the orebody and react with the non-altered copper minerals. Chalcocite is a sulphide and is readily recovered by flotation. Very high grade concentrates are achievable - up to 65 to 68 percent. Afton Mines near Kamloops originally mined a chalcocite-native copper cap that allowed the operation to smelt the concentrate on site using an unusual type of smelter a Top-Blown Rotary Converter. As the mine deepened however, the orebody reverted to the normal chalcopyritic-type deposit and smelting was discontinued.

Covellite

( CuS )

Covellite is a less important copper mineral, but is often found in a deposit with bornite and chalcocite. The colour of Covellite is Indigo-blue or darker, often iridescent in brassyellow and dark-red. It does not show its crystals well, but occurs with a thin platey structure. It can be distinguished from Chalcocite and Bornite by the platey structure. Covellite is a sulphide and is recoverable by flotation. Azurite ( Cu3.(CO3).(OH)2 )

Similar to Malachite, Azurite is a Carbonate, altered from copper-sulphide minerals by the influences of air and water. It is mainly found in the oxide zone of the ore body. Azurite has a distictive blue colour - described as azure-blue. When found in crystals it is dark blue; in small quantities it can be pale blue. Since Azurite is a carbonate, it is difficult to impossible, to recover by flotation without using an activating agent such as Sodium Hydrosulphide. Cuprite ( Cu2O )

Cuprite is an oxide and is difficult, if not impossible to recover by flotation. It is present in the oxide caps of many sulphide copper deposits both in crystalline and amorphous forms. The colour of Cuprite is red, sometimes black. It is often found with the minerals Malachite and Azurite. However, only the crystalline variety reponds to sulphidization in the same manner as these carbonates. The amorphous variety can also cause a reduction in the recovery of the sulphide component of the ore as reagent consumption is increased. Malachite ( Cu2.(CO3).(OH)2 )

Malachite is an altered copper mineral. A copper sulphide mineral was altered to a copper carbonate through the combined action of water and carbon dioxide. As such it is difficult to recover malachite in a flotation circuit without using an activating agent such as Sodium Hydrosulphide. Its response to sulphidization is extremely good with high recovery at reasonable collector levels. The colour of Malachite is bright-green with sworls of banded dark and light rings. It is often found together with the blue-coloured mineral known as Azurite. Native Copper Strictly speaking, element - Copper. Native Copper is not a mineral. It consists of only one

It's colour is light rose (pink) on fresh surfaces which can quickly oxidize to copper-red then brown and oftentimes green sulphate crusts. It is highly ductile and this is the major feature distinguishing it from other minerals.

By pressing the edge of a knife on a particle, it should yield to the pressure and not break. Native copper can usually be found in the oxide/sulphid transition zone of a copper orebody. The Afton mine near Kamloops initially mined an ore that was extremely rich in Native Copper and Chalcocite. This allowed the mine to operate a rather unusual smelting process known as a Top-Blown Rotary Converter. As the mining continued into lower regions of the orebody, the mineralization changed to chalcopyrite and smelting was discontinued. Lead [Ref.3]

Lead ores can be categorized according to the predominance of: galena (PbS), partially oxidized galena, anglesite (PbSO4), and cerussite (PbCO3). Galena usually occurs in association with sphalerite and other sulphides, from which it is differentially floated. The mineral floats readily with Aerofloat-type collectors or ethyl xanthate, in a pulp made alkaline with sodium carbonate. It can be depressed when using lime or when the pH is above 10.4 at normal concentrations of ethyl xanthate. Potassium dichromate forms a PbCr2O4 coating on galena and so, can be useful to depress lead from a bulk float. If Aero 25 or 31 are used, frother can be avoided although this is not recommended. Where galena surfaces are tarnished, a mercaptan-type collector can be used because of its sulphidizing action. Alternatively, sodium hydrosulphide can render the surface attractive to xanthate collectors. However, too much of this reagent can depress lead mineralization completely, so care must be taken. Because of the strong depression of clean lead and silver sulphides by NaHS, these minerals are generally removed in an earlier flotation operation. The activating effect of hydrosulphide is transient, and froth should be removed quickly to avoid reversion of the mineral surface to its oxide state. The use of copper sulphate to control and stabilize the newly sulphidized mineral particles is favoured by some operators. Two conditioning stages are employed, first sulphidizing and following with the copper salt. With calcite gangue, interferences with slimes can occur causing recovery loss unless a dispersant such as sodium silicate is used. With most oxidised lead ores it is good practice to use gravity concentration to perform a preliminary upgrade so as to minimize the production of slime values. Galena is susceptible to over-grinding and recovery of galena slimes by flotation is poor. Molybdenum [Ref.3]

In a number of plants, molybdenite is recovered as a by-product from bulk flotation with sulphide copper. In typical operations in Arizona, rougher concentrates are reground to - 200 mesh and cleaned. The clean concentrate is thickened and steamed, ferro-cyanide or hydrosulphide being added to depress the copper. Three stages of flotation are then used, following which

the rough molybdenite froth is again reground and recleaned - often in as many as 18 multiple stages. One major straight "moly" operation is that of the Climax Concentrator in Colorado. Advantage is taken of the strong natural flotability of MoS2. Molybdenite ( MoS2 )

Molybdenite is the most important mineral source for molybdenum. Being a sulphide, it is can be recovered with the copper sulphides in bulk flotation of copper/moly ores. The colour of Molybdenite is lead-gray with a bluish tinge. It has a greasy feel due to its platey structure. This plate-like structure gives Molybdenite natural flotability. It will even float without a collector or with only the addition of Fuel Oil. Platey Crystal Structure Minerals such as Molybdenite, Graphite, Talc, Mica and Clay minerals have a crystal structure which breaks into thin plates. In some cases such as Mica, this is easy to see, while for others such as clays, a microscope is needed. For the minerals Molybdenite and Graphite, this feature is useful in lubricants. Molybdenite is used as an additive in lubricating oils, while Graphite is used to lubricate door locks. The platey structure also has the effect of making the edges of the crystal chemically active. For Molybdenite, this means that it will float witout collectors. For clays, this characteristic means that excessive reagent is adsorbed. Nickel [Ref.3]

The main source of the world's nickel is from copper-nickel sulphide ores with those mined at Sudbury, Ontario being by far the most extensive. The principle nickel sulphide is pentlandite (NiFeS2), which is usually associated with chalcopyrite and iron sulphides. International Nickel (INCO) and Sherritt Gordon use a bulk Cu/Ni float, followed by selective flotation of the two elements into separate concentrates. Other Canadian producers leave separation to the smelters. Sudbury ores carry large quantities of pyrrhotite (FexSy). Pentlandite which occurs as large grains can be liberated by comminution However a variable fraction of the pentlandite is intergrown with pyrrhotite as "flame" pentlandite. The copper mineral chalcopyrite, is almost totally liberated at coarse sizes. As well a significant amount of the nickel can be found in solid solution within the pyrrhotite itself. Past practice has recovered pyrrhotite for treatment by smelting to extract the associated nickel values using a combination of magnetic separation and flotation. Pyrrhotite occurs as two distinct crystalline forms - hexagonal and monoclinic. The monoclinic form generally predominates and can be extracted quite well magnetically.

With hexagonal pyrrhotite, flotation must be used. Very long flotation times typify a nickel recovery plant as pyrrhotite floats slow - often requiring an activator like copper sulphate. Primary recovery produces a bulk Cu/Ni concentrate and a Ni-rich pyrrhotite concentrate. The pyrrhotite concentrate is reground to release "flame" pentlandite and at one time, was treated in an Iron Ore Recovery Plant by roasting and leaching to extract nickel values, produce an iron oxide concentrate and recover sulphur for H2SO4 production. Today, the quality of the Fe-concentrate is insufficient to be marketed and such processes are discontinued. The bulk Cu/Ni concentrate can be treated to produce separate Cu and Ni-rich concentrates for separate smelting. Misplaced metal is eventually returned to the correct smelting stream by employing a very unique process known as Matte Separation. The nickel matte produced during nickel smelting is slowcooled for about 4 days to allow the copper and nickel to segregate into separate phases; a Copper sulphide phase, a Nickel sulphide phase and a metallic Ni/Fe alloy in which the precious metal content is concentrated. The material is crushed and ground, treated by magnetic separation to extract the metallic phase with the remainder floated to return the copper sulphide to the copper smelter. A special collector know as DiPhenyl Guanadine is used in a high-lime circuit at pH 12. This method will soon become the sole means for copper/nickel separation used at INCO as environmental concern with Acid-Rain and SO2 production has forced significant flowsheet modifications. ( see Matte Separation Flowsheet ) Tin [Ref.3]

Gravity treatment of cassiterite-bearing sands and gravels is the preferred industrial practice. Where hard-rock mining is used, or a rough gravity concentrate must be upgraded after further liberation, over-grinding must be avoided since slime cassiterite is difficult to recover and tailing losses may be high. Current methods include jigs, tables, spirals and tilting frames which are integrated with closed-circuit screening and classification. Among the chemical methods which have shown laboratory promise is volatization of tin as its tetrachloride - the Segregation Process. Another proposal is based on the leaching reaction: Sn + CuCl2 = Cu + SnCl2 cassiterite being reduced by carbon monoxide at 850 C before leaching. In England, the tin mines in Cornwall have been worked for the past 200 years and have produced much of the manpower and many of the modern gravity separation methods for hardrock mines worldwide. Most plants use gravity methods but where the cassiterite is highly-disseminated, flotation is employed. Zinc [Ref.3] Conventional flotation of sphalerite, usually follows that of galena or chalcopyrite. Most flotation circuits employ a differential circuit. Sphalerite is not naturally reactive with xanthate collectors so depression

is usually easy. Once active however, sphalerite can be very difficult to depress selectively. The surface is activated by copper sulphate in a pulp brought to a pH of 8-9 with lime, and flotation with Amyl Xanthate follows. Higher pH levels are used when pyrite and/or pyrrhotite contents are high. The problem of oxidized zinc ores is more complicated. With a mixed ore of lead and zinc sulphides and oxides, the treatment starts with sulphide flotation. Tails are then conditioned, sulphidized and conditioned with collector. If amines are used, slime material must first be removed or neutralized to avoid heavy reagent consumption and contamination of concentrates. These contaminants can be controlled somewhat with soda-ash, sodium silicate and polyphosphates such as calgon. Organic colloids like starch and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) are also helpful where desliming in cyclones is not practiced. As slimes carry zinc, the question of their handling is one of economy and depends partly on the zinc market price. Unlike its action with sulphide minerals, sodium sulphide in reasonable excess has no depressing effect on oxide Zn minerals. It acts as a regulating agent and controls pH, working best with amines at pH 10.5 - 11. See Sphalerite Flowsheet. Iron ores [Ref.3]

The process selected depends on the relative abundance of magnetite in the suite of minerals present in the ore, or on the extent to which ferromagnetic properties can be developed by reduction roasting. Gravity separation is also extensively practiced and there is some use of flotation for certain lower grade hematite or limonite-type ores. At Stora Kopperberg's mill in Sweden, ore is crushed to -25 mm, rod-milled to -8 mesh, and passed through a wet permanent-magnet which removes about 47 percent of the feed as a 64 %Fe concentrate. The pulp is then passed to a battery of 80 five-turn spirals which rough out a middling product and discard a tailing assaying 4 %Fe and 2 %P; the ore containing about 1 %P. The middling is sent to a battery of three-turn spirals for cleaning, its tailing being returned to the rougher spirals. Canada's Carol Concentrator uses spirals on an ore which liberates at 14 mesh. Aerofall mills work in closed circuit with 14 mesh screens to eventually produce a coarse and fine product at a split size of 150 mesh. These fractions feed separate rougher-cleaner-recleaner spiral circuits. De-sliming was practiced with the Moose Mountain ores of Capreol, Ontario, which was ground through 325 mesh for liberation before producing a 66.5% Fe concentrate. After a rough magnetic separation of the rod mill discharge, the concentrate was reground and given a second magnetic treatment. This concentrate was reground again, then magnetically flocculated and sent to hydro-separators where the non-settling fraction (predominantly silicious) overflowed. Industrial Minerals asbestos clay

diamond fluorine graphite mica phosphorus potassium sands and gravels sulphur talc Asbestos [Ref.3]

The objectives in milling asbestos are to free the potential fibre from the slabby gangue in which it is sandwiched; to maintain the maximum length of fibre in the end product; and to remove dust and grit at each stage of release and progressive opening of the fibres so that as little gangue as possible is trapped in the final product. Up to 10 tons of air are required for each ton of fibre produced. Special problems of dust control and disposal arise. Comminution may start with impact crushing, autogenous grinding, cone crushers, impactors, ball mills or hammer mills as feed size is decreased and fluffiness increases. After rough drying, broken ore is repeatedly screened and recrushed. It stratifies during passage along the screens with the undersize being waste or a middlings of gangue and unopened short fibre worth further treatment. Screen discharge goes on for finer comminution and fiberization while freed fibre is lifted by air elutriation, using aspirators placed over the screens to trap the lifted fibre in cyclones. Clay [Ref.3]

Kaolinite or "china clay" is a hydrous aluminium silicate, of formula Al2O3.SiO2.nH2O. Its crystalline mode is plated-hexagonal and most particles are plate-like in shape. Its main uses are as inert fillers, as a constituent of ceramics and as coatings in the paper industry. If the endproduct is ground to less than 2 microns, the best unit price can be obtained, provided it can be bleached for use as paper coating. Coarser particles are saleable as fillers up to 325 mesh. More exacting specifications are satisfied by the Cornish china clays, which meet the demand for a non-staining clay low in fluorine, these requirements being basic to production of chinaware not discoloured by kilning nor liable to contaminate the atmosphere or corrode the brickwork during that process. China stone, an undecomposed granite used in connection with clay manufacturing, can be stripped of its fluorine by flotation of part of its mica. China clay is either dug out or slurried from the working faces of quarries by high-pressure jets and washed through sand traps, sluices and settlement pits to remove most of the unwanted sand. The balance is separated using mechanical classifiers, hydroseparators or cyclones and/or centrifugal classifiers. Typical American treatment first pulps the pit clay with water, adding a dispersant such as sodium tetra-pyrophosphate before pumping to the treatment plant. Overflow from de-gritting is screened to remove mica.

Crude kaolin is usually classified into two grades, coating (fines) and filler (coarse). Bleaching with zinc or sodium hydrosulphite is carried out at pH 3.5 to 4, with H2SO4 being added to the naturally acid slurry. Dewatering of the fine grade may start with thickening through a high speed centrifuge and then by filtration, either on roll-discharge or stringdischarge drums. Heating may be needed to reduce the viscosity and speed up filtration. The cake is then dried and bagged for shipment. In pilot-scale tests, anatase has been partly removed from a - 2 micron kaolin pulp together with some staining limonite. The carrying agent was 325 mesh magnetite conditioned with alkali, tall oil and fuel oil. This was added to a conditioned pulp and removed magnetically or by froth flotation . With magnetic separation, the degree of upgrading was a recovery of 26% in a concentrate weighing 5.4% of the feed. Using flotation, 53% recovery resulted to a product that was 28% of the feed. This led to development and use of a better carrier agent, -325 mesh calcite. This works well with fatty acids and removes almost 90% of the titania (anatase) with very good clay recovery. Clay minerals can also occur in abundance as gangue minerals in base-metal sulphide ores. As such, serious beneficiation problems can result. Diamond [Ref.3]

Three main deposit types are exploited - Kimberlite or "blue ground", marine terraces and alluvial gravels. Kimberlite is an ore of volcanic origin with pipes and fissures of a blue-grey matrix consisting mainly of serpentine, with the subsidiary minerals calcite, diopside, enstatite, ilmenite, phlogopite, pyrite, pyrope and "rarely!", a diamond. Marine terraces and alluvial gravels need only screening before treatment, but Kimberlite must be disintegrated. At Kimberley, upgrading with washing pans worked at a 32:1 ratio is followed by heavy media separation at a 6:1 ratio. The sink fraction is reconcentrated on greasy surfaces at a 50,000:1 ratio and hand-sorting at 2:1 completes the work. At the Rand Premier Mine, greased vibrating tables take over from a 25:1 concentration by heavy media to yield a 80,000:1 ratio. Although diamonds from freshly-mined Kimberlite respond to grease tables, those from alluvial and marine deposits do not. Surfaces are restored to water-repellancy by gently scrubbing the heavy media product and conditioning with a fatty acid if grease tabling is to follow. For electrostatic separation, one mine in S.W. Africa sends the concentrate to screens after drying at 130 C. Dust and O/S are removed and the -6 +2 mm fraction is separated at 22 kv. Fluorine [Ref.3]

The commercially-floated ore called fluorite, occurs in association with silica, calcite, barite and sometimes - the sulphides of lead, zinc or iron. These last are floated or removed by gravity concentration before dealing with the fluorite. The market for acid-grade CaF2 demands a high purity, and treatment involves recleaning to remove the last traces of calcite and silica. Conventionally, pH is controlled with soda-ash or sodium hydroxide. The principal gangue depressants for calcite, are quebracho (a tannin extract from the bark of a Central American tree of that name), dextrin or sodium silicate. The collector is oleic acid or one of its modifications. In some plants a mildly acid pulp is preferred. The frother used is pine oil while potassium dichromate depresses any of the sulphides not removed in the first

flotation step. The important factor for high-grade concentrate is a froth in which particles are not agglomerated by excess oleic acid or calcium oleate. Sodium silicate is used as a dispersant in such cases. Graphite [Ref.3]

Usual treatment starts with a pulp of about pH 8, made alkaline with sodaash, with sodium silicate added to aid in dispersion. The collecting agents for graphite which readily floats, are paraffin or diesel oil, sometimes aided with pine oil. Pine oil alone may suffice with finely ground graphite. When clean coarse flakes can be liberated by primary grinding in a rod mill they are removed by screening. If the product is insufficiently clean, it can be upgraded as shown in the accompanying Graphite Flowsheet. Coarse flake commands the best market price, so overgrinding is avoided. Madagascar graphite sets the standard worldwide with very coarse product quality. Impact crushing may be followed by screening with tables used on the screen U/S to produce coarse flake, a tailing and a middling which goes with the screen oversize to rod milling. The mill discharge is classified, with the U/S being floated while the O/S is tabled. The flotation concentrate may need treatment with tables as well, since graphite is greasy and tends to smear gangue minerals which then report to the float. Removal can be achieved by gravity separation. Mica [Ref.3]

Premium grades of mica are obtained by hand-sorting and trimming with the value being proportional to the size of sheets. Sizes below 25 mm, called "punch" or "scrap", can be concentrated by screening and careful comminution. If the compressive crushing force is light, mica is sufficiently flexible to remain unbroken while associated quartz and spar are detached. Jaw crushers, rolls and hammer mills are used, with intermediate screening to separate liberated flake at the largest possible size. Flotation can be used to remove fluorine-carrying mica from kaolinite, where excessive amounts would constitute a health hazard in the kilning of china ware. A cationic collector agent such as an amine acetate and an alcohol frother are used at a pH of up to 11 in a moderately dilute pulp, to float the mica. Phosphorus [Ref.3]

An important branch of non-sulphide flotation is concerned with the flotation of apatites and phosphatic deposits. Both froth and agglomeration flotation are used to upgrade these incredibly slimey ores. The general formula Ca3(PO4)2 of true apatite may be modified by intergrowth with carbonate, and the term "phosphate rock" embraces the group of minerals as follows: chlorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3Cl) fluorapatite (Ca5(PO4)3F) and hydroxylapatite (Ca5(PO4)3(OH)). The Florida deposits, known as collophanes, lie roughly in a thirty-mile circle under a sand cover. They are composed of clay slimes, silica and phosphate pebble in equal proportions. "Pebble" ranges from 25 mm in size down to 400 mesh varying from welldefined, hard particles to soft, weathered rock. The clay in this matrix

aids in the pumping of the quarried material to a distant washery but perhaps, that is its only asset in the treatment process. Waste disposal is a major issue with these ores as the tailings are often greater in volume than the feed. Settling difficulties generally result in a maximum tailing slurry density of 25 to 30 %solids. Pebble ore is scarce and fine sands are the main source of flotation concentrate. The deposits are stripped and delivered to sluices feeding a pumping and pipeline system. Prior to pumping the slurry is screened. The oversize at about 40 mm is hammer-milled to break down pebbles and mud balls. All products then go to screens, hydrosizers and/or log product (-12 mm +14 mesh) is recovered by screening and slimed, -150 mesh material being rejected. Oversize is mesh pebble, -20 + 35 for agglomeration tables and - 35 to froth flotation. washers. A pebble the undersize is declassified into +20 mesh material is fed

Agglomeration feed is further de-slimed and conditioned at 70% to 75% solids in rotary drums with fuel oil, fatty acid and sodium hydroxide. It is then concentrated using tables, spirals or on specially adapted conveyor belts, silica being discarded. The -35 mesh material is conditioned at 65 - 70 %solids, diluted to 25% and then floated to produce a + 68% grade of bone phosphate of lime (BPL). The flotation cells must have good resistance to abrasion, such as Neoprene linings, good sand relief and copious overflow. To reach a 72% BPL, reverse flotation is used. The froth product is de-oiled by the use of sulphuric acid and the residual silica is then floated by use of an amine collector. Ideally, the head feed is thickened to 70% solids and agitated with acid, and thoroughly rinsed to remove previous reagents. Potassium [Ref.3]

Potash is mined in Saskatchewan for use as fertilizer. The major mineral is sylvite (KCl) while halite (NaCl) makes up the majority of the waste or gangue material. The presence of clay can further complicate the processing alternatives. Since sylvite and halite are soluble salts, processing must take place in a saturated brine solution. After de-sliming to remove clay, which interferes seriously with cationic flotation, an amine is added to float sylvite from halite. Although physically adsorbed, this collector is preferentially attached to sylvite because of the different sizes of the K+ and Na+ ions. Additional recovery of fine mineral is achieved through the use of a crystallizer to selectively grow sylvite crystals from the brine using temperature as a driving force.

Potassium salts can be also be extracted by means of "solution mining" where the beds lie between impermeable covers. One such operation, at Kalium in Saskatchewan, draws the resulting mixture of saturated halite (NaCl) and sylvite (KCl) from underground to surface ponds where solar evaporation produces differential crystallization. Sands and Gravels [Ref.3]

Beneficiation of siliceous material has two main objectives - improvement for use in structural engineering or for production of high-purity glass sands. Gravels are required for use as ballast material for railroad and vehicle roads or as concrete aggregate. Specifications vary considerably, depending on use requirement and environmental conditions to which the gravel is exposed . Factors such as moisture absorption and subsequent freeze/thaw cycling can cause problems due to particle disintegration. The maximum quantity of deleterious stone and/or the overall deleterious content of the aggregate is usually specified together with the particle size distribution. Silica Sand may simply require removal of staining coatings, or flotation of iron minerals and other minerals of which small traces are unsuitable for optical glass. Scrubbing with sulphuric acid or sodium hydroxide is used to remove clay and organic coatings, and the sand may be conditioned to float off unwanted minerals. See a typical glass sand flowsheet. The purity of a glass sand ore must be well above 90 percent with the upgrading requirements often approaching 99 percent. Some gravels consist of inert limestone which in Canada, makes up a major source of ballast material for road, foundation and railway construction. other parts of the world, granites are mined for ballast. In

Garnet deposits are often exploited for the manufacture of abrasive products such as sand paper and sand-blasting powders. Sulphur [Ref.3]

The majority of sulphur is recovered in natural form from underground wells using the Frasch Process with injected steam and air causing the material to flow to surface. As well, a very significant amount of production comes as a by-product from the extraction of petroleum. Sulphur is widely used as sulphuric acid for leaching and refining metals in the mineral industry. As such, the use of flotation to provide a ready supply of acid from sulphide "gangue" minerals like pyrite or pyrrhotite is widely accepted. The main requirement is a grade of pyrite that will burn autogenously. Generally a sulphur content of at least 25 percent is necessary. Concentrate is burned in a rotary kiln or fluid-bed roaster at a temperature of 700 - 900 C. The off-gases are collected and fed to an acid plant which contacts the gases with water in the presence of a catalyst to produce SO3 and eventually H2SO4. The required minimum SO2 concentration in the off-gas stream is about 8 to 12 percent.

Talc

[Ref.3]

Talc is mostly processed by dry grinding and air classification. The specification for the paint industry requires more that 98.5% to be minus 325 mesh. Where exceptional purity is needed, flotation with alkyl sodium sulphonate can be used.

Talc of course, is a naturally-flotable material which can cause processing problems when it is present at significant quantities as a gangue mineral. The use of organic dyes to depress the mineral is the preferred practice. Attempts to perform a pre-float generally results in recovery losses of the desired mineral. Energy minerals Coal Oil-Sands Uranium Coal The objectives in coal preparation include: (1) Grading into sizes for sale. (2) Removal of undesirable constituents. When produced by mechanized mining, coal is sent to surface in an assortment of sizes from dust to coarse lumps, with random inclusions of chalk, clay, slate, ankerite ((Ca,Mg,Fe,Mn)CO3), and pyrite. Its main uses are: to produce heat, light and power in the electrical and gas industries; as coke in the metallurgical industry; or in the domestic consumption of solid fuel. Mined coal contains two kinds of ash-forming dirt- "fixed" and "free". Fixed ash is derived from inorganic matter which grew in the tissues of of the original coal-forming plants, together with fine silt entrained during deposition of the seams. The free ash is extraneous to the true coal seam, coming from the adjacent rock. The coal can include clay, shale, locked-gangue and other mined rock. Fixed ash is not removable by standard cleaning methods, but free ash can be reduced by suitable treatment. Sulphur also occurs in two forms: as carbonaceous sulphur intimately associated with the coal and as Pyrite. Pyritic sulphur can be removed by Flotation - Chemical Leaching methods have also been studied but are too expensive. Eastern North American coals are predominantly mined from underground sources and generally have high sulphur content ( > 2 %). Western coals, in the US and Canada derive from open pit operations and have low sulphur content (< 0.5 %). With the increased mechanization in open pit mines, coal is tending to become finer requiring increased attention to the recovery of fine coal. Much Western Canadian coal is shipped overseas (Japan, Korea, etc.) as transportation costs to eastern markets are too high. The four main operations in coal preparation are: (1) (2) (3) (4) Screening or sizing. Mixing and blending. Cleaning (removal of incombustibles). De-dusting or de-watering. [Ref.3]

CLEANING TREATMENT: The purpose of cleaning is to remove "free" ash. Coal varies widely through a seam, and even more markedly between various

associated seams being worked. The wash plant must be adaptable. The roof and floor of a seam and the inter-laminated shale are often carbonaceous and easily mistaken for true coal, and so these are mixed in with the coal during mining. Pure coal varies in density. Gradation from light coal to heavy shale is exploited in gravity separation down to about 10 mesh, below which flotation is used. Sulphur was once controlled by hand-picking but today, wet methods are used. Finely disseminated impurities (fixed ash) cannot be removed by simple washing. Flotation is required to upgrade wash plant fines and slurries. Free ash removed in normal treatment must be sufficiently liberated to be separable at a size acceptable to the customer. Coarse rock is removed by gravity treatment based on density differences. Today, Heavy media separation is an important method used to remove coarse ash. FLOTATION: Compared with hard-rock treatment, coal flotation is rather straight-forward and can be applied to a coarse mesh-of-grind, giving good results at 48 mesh. Current practice has extended froth flotation to coarser sizes - up to 2 mm. See Coal Plant Flowsheet Evolution. The flotation reagents most used are conditioners rather than collectors as coal is initially, naturally flotable. These may include cresyls, pine oil, kerosene, creosote, fuel oil, and aliphatic alcohols. The bulk of the feed floats, so withdrawal arrangements for the froth must be able to handle a large volume. The value of the concentrate is far lower than with metallic ores, so high percentage recovery is less important than good product grade. Being of low SG, coal can be treated in a dilute pulp. This reduces interference with clay slimes. Apart from its importance in cleaning contaminated dense-media and in upgrading high-ash coals in washery slurries, flotation is being increasingly used for direct treatment of low-rank coal. Oil-Sands The Athabaska Tar Sands (more correctly - oil sands) in Northern Alberta represent one of the most vast petroleum deposits that can be recovered by mining. In recent years, production of petroleum-based products from the mining of these oil-sands has become a significant energy source for Canada. Conventional oil production occurs from oil drilling and the pumping of liquid petroleum from oil reservoirs located deep beneath the earth's crust. Extraction of petroleum by mining and mineral processing techniques only became a competitive reality following the large oil price increases in 1973 and the fears of a scarcity or depetion of conventional reserves. The recovery of bitumen from oil sands involves a hot-water treatment process that incorporates flotation as a significanty unit operation. Today, two main plants are in operation - Syncrude and SunCor. Syncrude' s daily production is 350,000 tonnes of ore with about 12 % Bitumen content generating about 150,000 barrels of crude per day. Oil sand can be considered a 4-phase system - a dense interlocked skeleton of predominantly quartz sand particles with the pore volume occupied by bitumen, water, gas and clay. The sand grains are hydrophillic and are surrounded by a thin film of water. The bitumen is not in contact directly with the sand grains but has clay fines intimately associated especially after processing. Bitumen content is variable ranging between 6 and 18 percent although the bitumen and water content is constant at about 16 -18 percent. The fraction

of solid material present as clay fines is also extremely variable. The presence of these fines plays an important role in the efficiency of the processing plant. Certain clay minerals are difficult to remove from the hot bitumen and require extensive cleaning and dilution with naptha. As well, the presence of fines cause significant settling problems in the tailing disposal pond. Generally, the total volume of tailing and associated water exceeds the volume of the original ore meaning that extremely large tailing ponds are being constructed. Although other liquids can be used to suspend and disperse the tar sand components for separation, the Hot Water Separation Process is the only commercial method in use. An extraction plant consists of several lines, each with a tumbler mill, a primary extraction vessel, secondary flotation cells and froth cleaners. The first step transfers the oil sand into a hot, pumpable liquid slurry. This is carried out in a conventional tumbling mill. These mills or conditioning drums are horizontal cylindrical vessels that rotate at relatively slow speeds. The tar sand is contacted with hot water, steam and a caustic wetting agent. Residence time is about 10 minutes with an inside pulp temperature of 90 to 95 C. The pulp at a density of about 70 %solids, flows onto a vibrating screen where any oversized coarse rock is removed. About 1 to 2 percent of the bitumen is lost with this waste material. The wetting agent can be sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate or sodium silicate. Normally caustic soda is used, although some success has been found with ammonium hydroxide. This reagent does not disperse clay slimes to the same extent as caustic, thus decreasing the carry-over of solids into the froth. In the primary extraction vessel, flotation takes place much like any conventional mineral flotation process with the exception that no air is introduced into the cell - flotation results naturally from the air and stean bubbles entrained in the bitumen droplets during conditioning. The froth is skimmed off by rakes to a peripheral launder from where it is sent for de-aeration by vacuum. The concentrate is then reheated and sent for froth cleaning. The heaviest hydrophilic particles are removed from the bottom of the cone-shaped vessel and pumped to the tailing pond. A middling stream is removed from the side of the extraction vessel. Composed of clay, silty sand particles and minute droplets of bitumen, middlings are sent to a secondary extraction process also known as the Scavenger flotation stage. The scavenger stage uses conventional air flotation to process the primary extraction middlings. Normal mechanical cells have been used although Column cells are now being employed. The froth from the scavengers are combined with the primary concentrate after settling and deaeration. From an average feed of 12 %, the Hot Water Process recovers 90 percent of the feed bitumen at 27 %water and 11 %solids. The concentrate is then cleaned using a centifuge. First the bitumen is reheated to 70 C with steam and diluted with naptha to reduce viscosity. The solid waste from the centifuge is repulped with water and sent to the tailing pond. Hydocarbon losses during cleaning amount to 2 % bitumen and 2 % naptha. Typical naptha consumption is 10-15 kg/t of bitumen.

The bitumen now goes on for upgrading with a total solids content of less than 1 percent. Uranium [Ref.3]

The most important uranium-bearing minerals economically are the oxides, pitch-blende and uraninite. These minerals are usually highly-disseminated with other minerals. Primary extraction processes is by chemical leaching with either acids or alkalies. Physical pre-concentration aims at reducing the volume of ore to be treated and the removal of interfering ore constituents. With the low head value of these ores (as little as 0.1%), any step which can remove substantial fractions without substancial loss is useful, since methods of physical separation are generally cheaper than leaching. Interfering species in acid leaching include acid-consuming carbonates (more than about 4%), chlorite, earthy-hematite, apatite and fluorides. Selective sorting has some practical use here, since a detector can be used to monitor the radioactive level of a lump of ore. Heavy media is used at Radium Hill to separate the heavier sulphides associated with the uranium from barren gangue. Froth flotation has also been used in certain cases. Both direct and reverse flotation methods have protential with most processes focussing on Pyrite removal. The dominant chemical treatment is by acid leach. In this case, a thick pulp (60% solids) is agitated with sulphuric acid and oxidizing agents such as manganese dioxide and sodium chlorate (to maintain the uranium in its reactive state as U3O8). The pregnant liquor is then removed and stripped. Uranium is precipitated as "yellow cake". Where excessive carbonate in the ore precludes this method, an alkaline leach with sodium carbonate and bicarbonate is used. Oxidation is obtained either by pre-aeration or with permanganate. Hot pulps are sometimes needed (70 C or more). Carbonate leaching does not entail the costly materials of construction required to prevent corrosion in an acid leach plant, and treatment of the "pregs" can be simpler, but both processes have operating difficulties particularly with L/S separation. Recovery of uranium from pregnant solutions can be performed by chemical precipitation, static-bed or fluid-bed ion exchange or by the use of organic solvents. The first of these methods which uses hydrogen peroxide, fluoride, phosphate, or carbonate in an alkaline liquor, is simple but costly. Ion exchange using anionic resins, is applicable to acid-leach liquors. The uranium is seized by the anions on the resins and periodically removed by nitrates and nitric acid. Final precipitation is conducted with ammonia, NaOH, or magnesia. A Solvent Extraction process can be seen in the accompanying Uranium Flowsheet. Precious Metals Gold Silver

Gold

[Ref.3]

In its ores, gold is usually present as the metal, alloyed with metallic silver and perhaps, copper. The high S.G. (19.3) of gold means that that gold particles, even when of subsieve size, settle readily from pulps in which the main gangue mineral is silica. Gold is malleable, and during grinding to liberate the gold from associated gangue mineral, the particles of gold become flattened without being reduced in size. In fact considerable agglomeration can occur during grinding which leads to an increase in the particle size of the gold. This differential grinding effect can assist in the recovery of gold by gravity separation within the grinding circuit itself. Against this however, the weight and malleability of gold particles can lead to significant retention in the pump and sump boxes in a closed grinding circuit. In addition to "native" gold, the element may occur as inclusions with sulphide minerals such as pyrite, pyrrhotite, stibnite, arsenopyrite, and galena at sizes as small as only 1 micron in diameter. Such minerals are called "auriferous". It is not always practicable to grind these sulphides to the fineness required to liberate this finely-disseminated gold. The usual practice in such cases, is to concentrate the gold-bearing sulphides at a relatively coarse size, regrind the concentrate, a nd then extract the gold by cyanidation. A third class of gold ores has its values in the form of tellurides. These compounds are not malleable and they slime readily. Gold is extracted directly by leaching with cyanide at lower pH's than normal (about 10). Process selection depends then, on whether the gold can be freed from its gangue at a coarse size, or whether it is carried in sulphides which can be similarly freed. If the ore contains other valuable minerals, it may also be necessary to provide for their recovery . A notable example is the flowsheet used in a number of mills in South Africa, where half the gold is recovered from strakes (a form of sluice), the balance by cyanidation after which the tailings are re-treated to recover uranium. Gravity separation of gold is practiced on strakes, shaking tables, and in sluices and jigs. Mercury amalgamation can be used in these circuits but is losing its appeal because of environmental concern. Froth-flotation can be employed to remove gold and sulphides from a finely ground pulp. Hydraulic traps can catch coarse gold in a spigot product. This type of hydraulic classifier is usually placed between the mill discharge and the mechanical classifier. It removes particles of gold and other metallics from the circuit. Jigs , unit flotation cells, and tables are similarly employed. Even when the entire mill feed is to be "cyanided" (treated with cyanide to dissolve the gold), it is important to trap large particles of gold by gravity methods, since dissolution proceeds slowly and would be incomplete for such gold particles even after many hours of leaching. Cyanidation for gold recovery is used world-wide for various ore types. process of cyanidation proceeds in four stages: 1. 2. 3. 4. Preparation of the ore to expose its gold. Dissolution of gold using low strength NaCN solutions (0.05%). Separation of gold-rich liquid from residual solids. Recovery of gold from pregnant solution. The

The gold is recovered from the loaded solution by precipitation with Zn dust. This demands a clarified and de-aerated liquor. Today, modern practice utilizes Activated Carbon to strip the gold from solution. This process, known as Carbon-in-Pulp or Carbon-in-Leach can replace the expensive dewatering steps required of conventional methods. Gold is extracted from the carbon using elution with the eluate treated by electrolysis for recovery onto steel-wool cathodes. The chief methods for treating gold ores are available for viewing. Refractory Gold Ores A number of gold ores are classified as "refractory" - i.e. thay do not release their valuable content with ease. Gold in these ores occurs as highly disseminated grains (almost in solid-solution within sulphide minerals) or a number of components are present in the ore which make gold and silver recovery extremely difficult. Gold associated with telluride requires special pH conditions for recovery by cyanidation. Ores that contain significant carbonaceous material or graphite can adsorb gold-cyanide ions from solution leading to gold losses. The presence of pyrrhotite and other oxygen-consuming minerals prevent cyanide from leaching gold and silver effectively. Still other sulphides such as copper and nickel minerals can cause cyanide consumption to rise exhorbitantly. Many of these ores require special pretreatment processes to allow gold and silver to be recovered. Silver [Ref.3]

Silver can occur in native form as pure nuggets or as alloys with gold(electrum) and/or copper. More freqently, silver ores consist of sulphide minerals such as: argentite polybasite proustite pyrargyrite stephanite and tetrahedrite ( Ag2S) ( Ag2S.CuS)9(Sb2S3.As2S3) (3Ag2S.As2S3) (3Ag2S.Sb2S3) (5Ag2S.Sb2S3) (4Cu2S.Sb2S3) in which some Copper is replaced by Silver.

Most of these sulphides respond well to ethyl xanthate or a dithiophosphate in natural pH pulps. Depressants include sodium sulphide, sodium hydrate, lime, and starch. Slimes containing iron oxide or talc can interfere with concentrate grade and recovery. If free gold is present, Aerofloat 208 can be helpful. Copper sulphate may help to activate if zinc is associated with the silver sulphides. Where selective depression of silver away from base-metal sulphides is needed, this is best performed after bulk flotation, using lime, cyanide, or zinc sulphate. Oxidized silver ores are aided by sulphidization. Silver sulphide concentrates are difficult to dissolve in cyanide, if not impossible. Likewise, the presence of manganese minerals or "wad" causes significant problems with both flotation and cyanidation. Many of these ores require roasting or pressure oxidation prior to extraction by cyanide.

Increasingly, the trend today is toward heap or dump leaching of low grade ores of gold and silver. Ore is placed on impermeable pads (generally claylined or plastic-lined) and cyanide solution is gently sprinkled over the piles for several months. The solution is collected in specially constructed drains and the silver is removed by precipitation with sodium sulphide and lime or zinc dust, while the gold is recovered by electrowinning. Other ores Aluminium Antimony Barite Beryllium Calcite Carbon Chromium Germanium Lithium Manganese Mercury Niobium Titanium Tungsten Aluminum ( Bauxite ) ( and Arsenic )

( or Columbium )

[Ref.3]

BAUXITE: The formula is Al2O3.2H2O, but this clayey or lateritic mineral includes among its impurities - iron oxide, phosphate, titania and silica. Preliminary treatment often consists of a wash-scrubbing which leads to the discard of a substantial amount of alumina-rich tailing. This can be treated after conducting a coarse grind and de-sliming with an 800 series collector in an acid (sulphuric) circuit, with fuel oil to aid froth stabilization. In cases where the concentrate carries iron or titanium oxides, tables or high intensity magnetic separation can be used for final cleaning. Most conventional Bauxite ores are processed by leaching using the Bayer Process to produce Alumina which is then electrolysed at high temperature to produce aluminum metal. The essential reaction in the Bayer process is Al2O3.3H2O + 2NaOH == 2NaAlO2 + 4H2O + red mud. In the normal Bayer process, ferrous oxide is roasted to ferric before leaching with sodium hydroxide. An alternative process has been proposed by CSIRO of Australia to treat low-grade clay ores not amenable to Bayer treatment. The key variation is reduction of the pregnant leach liquor with SO2 followed by hydrolyzation under pressure at 220C. without air, until basic aluminium sulphate(3Al2O3.4SO3.7H2O) is precipitated. This is filtered off and calcined to produce fairly pure Al2O3 and the exit gases are returned to the first stage of digestion. Antimony [Ref.3] Antimony sulphide (stibnite) and arsenopyrite are among the metal sulphides liable to contain sufficient gold to justify flotation as a stage in its recovery. The response of these minerals to a xanthate collector is much improved by activating with copper sulphate in a pulp rendered alkaline using soda-ash. The specific dosage, reaction time, pH, etc. are unique in every case. If the concentrate must be roasted before gold recovery, depression of

the antimony minerals may be needed or they must be removed by alkaline leach before cyanidation . Barite [Ref.3]

Treatment is aimed at producing BaSO4 of a quality dependent upon end use in the paint, paper, pharmaceutical, oil and other industries. Where colour is important, the product must meet rigid specifications, while lower grade concentrates can be used as blended drilling muds in oil well drilling. In this case the S.G. must be at least 4.25, and the particle size of 98% 200 mesh. A viscosity of less than 60 cp is also demanded. These ores always contain iron carbonates, quartz, iron oxides, calcite and sometimes fluorite. A generalized Barite flowsheet is available, in which gravity separation at the coarser liberation sizes is followed by froth flotation. Sodium silicate is used as a dispersant in a pulp of pH 8 to 10 with soda-ash and/or hydroxide. The collectors for the iron minerals can be R824 or R825, with a tall oil or sodium oleate. Pine oil is usually the preferred frother. Beryllium [Ref.3]

The pure mineral beryl (3BeO.Al2O3.6SiO2) contains 14% BeO, and the market calls for 10% BeO minimum. The pegmatites in which this mineral is found contain as major gangue minerals quartz, albite and muscovite, while associated "heavy minerals" include cassiterite, columbite and tantalite, but rarely in economic quantities. Spodumene, a lithium mica, may occur in viable quantity. After floating off muscovite, the pulp is conditioned at pH 5 with a tallow amine acetate and beryl and feldspar are bulk-floated, using an alcohol frother. These minerals are separated by conditioning with calcium hypochlorite followed by flotation of beryl with petroleum sulphonate. Calcite [Ref.3]

Limestone is the general term for rocks rich in calcium carbonate. Upgrading is achieved either by comminution and the production of an enriched slime fraction by classification, or by flotation of calcite (& dolomite, if present) from silica and sericite. Sodium silicate is used as a dispersant with oleic acid as collector, in a pulp made alkaline with soda-ash. Sulphonated fatty acids may also be used. A secondary flotation stage is used when calcite is to be removed before leaching an uranium ore with acid.

Most limestone is produced from quarries to produce construction materials for road building or for concrete work. Material processing uses crushing and screening to produce different grades of stone based upon the particle size distribution. Products range from coarse-sized material of + 19 mm to a product known as "dust" ( all material less than 6 mm). Carbon

This is dealt with under the following topics: Coal Diamond Graphite Chromium ------See Energy Minerals See Industrial Minerals See Industrial Minerals [Ref.3]

The industrial mineral chromite (FeO.Cr2O3) is marketed either in terms of total Cr content or its Cr/Fe ratio where metallurgical grade is concerned. Chromite brick is assessed on the refractory character of the raw material. Beneficiation by gravity methods include heavy media, screening , tables and the use of spirals to raise the Cr2O3 content above 40 percent. Gangue minerals are mainly serpentine or olivine. From an ore containing 30% Cr2O3 with associated oxides and sulphides, when ground to 100 microns, the serpentine was concentrated into the fines, the chromite into the medium-size particles and olivine into the coarsest fraction. A pulp pH of 10 was used, with sodium oleate/oleic acid as collector at 500 g/t for the serpentine. The pulp was then acidified (pH 3) and the chromite was floated with 750 g/t of a fatty acid-amine collector mixture. Olivine, which floats at neutral pH levels under these conditions, remained in the final tailing. The final concentrate grade was 45% CrO3. Both pyro- and hydrometallurgical methods are used to increase the Cr/Fe ratio to that required for ferrochrome. In one approach applied to a table concentrate, the ore is ground to -48 mesh and mixed with coke ground to -200 mesh before reduction roasting at 1,250 C. The product is acid-leached in 10% boiling H2SO4 to yield a residual ratio of 11:1. Germanium [Ref.3]

Germanium production is usually as a by-product during the refining of other metallic sulphides. It occurs in very low (ppms) concentrations in the sulphides of copper, nickel and iron. A method to recover Renierite (Cu,Ge,Fe,Zn,Ca)4(S,As)4 by flotation with copper sulphides has been developed. This mineral occurs as finelydisseminated inclusions in copper and zinc sulphides and can be found at concentrations as high as 220 ppm in the copper concentrate. By passing this through a high intensity magnetic separator such as a Ferro Filter, a fraction assaying 0.919% Ge can be obtained. The germanium is later extracted by volatilization during smelting of the high grade copper concentrate in an electric furnace. The fume from this process assays from 4% to 9%.

Lithium

[Ref.3]

Lithium is mainly extracted from spodumene, which has a theoretical lithia content of 8%, and a practical one of about 6%. This pyroxene mineral (Li,Al,Si2O6) has a density of 3.15 but transforms on heating to 1,050 C to beta-spodumene with a density of 2.4, a state in which it can be readily pulverised. Sulphuric ion exchange above 250 C is one method of extraction,

with acid roasting for about 10 minutes before leaching lithium sulphate. Lithium is then precipitated as a carbonate. In another process, spodumene is sintered for 2 hours with a gypsum-limestone mixture. Quebec Lithium Corp. reacts beta-spodumene with about 6 times its weight of soda-ash at between 130 to 300 C. The material is cooled, slurried and then treated with CO2 under pressure to form soluble lithium bicarbonate. Manganese [Ref.3]

Concentration methods include hand-sorting with magnetic cobbing, heavy_media, or treatment with jigs or tables. When flotation is used, the concentrate must reach the specifications required for use furnaces - 48% Mn, low iron and phosphorus and below 11% SiO2 plus Al2O3 after pelletization. Three types of ore include those with a high calcite gangue, those intermediate in calcite and silica, and those with a siliceous gangue. With the first two, calcite is floated with 0.5 to 2.0 kg/tonne of oleic acid; the pyrolusite or manganite being depressed with 0.25 to 1.5 kg/t of dextrin. With the third type, if there is low clay content or the ore has been de-slimed, the thickened pulp is conditioned at about pH 7 with SO2 and tall oil is used as collector. The manganese minerals are then floated after dilution of the pulp with fresh water. Mercury [Ref.3]

The main mineral treated is cinnabar, from which mercury is usually extracted by direct distillation. One Californian producer that has worked a 6 kg/t deposit intermittantly since 1870 feeds minus 38 mm ore to rotary furnaces down-sloped at 8 percent, and turning at 1 r.p.m. Heating is by fuel oil and the mercury-laden gases leave the furnace at 260 to 315 C. The offgases are drawn by suction fans to cyclones and condensers. Condensates are collected daily and batch-treated with quicklime, where 80 % of the mercury drains away. The rest is recovered by batch distillation. Mercury from both operations is filtered through a bed of quicklime and sold as "prime virgin" mercury at + 99.9% pure. Pre-concentration by gravity methods or by flotation may be used with a complex or low-grade ore before retorting. Slimes and clays must be dispersed before flotation, but sodium silicate and sodium carbonate have proven unsuitable, as they depress cinnabar. An organic chemical based on lignin (called Palcotin), has been used successfully in amounts varying from 20 to 50 g/t. Pulp pH is not critical, but should be kept between 6 and 8. Cinnabar readily accepts surface activation by ions of lead or copper. A secondary butyl xanthate and AF65 are a good collector and frother to use respectively.

Niobium

[Ref.3]

Niobium processing is one of the more difficult applications of the flotation process. The flowsheets are generally multi-staged; each being responsible for the the removal of one or more specific specie. One mill which started production in the Oka district in Quebec in 1961 removes ferro-magnetic

minerals before floating successively pyrite, apatite, calcite, mica and silicates, leaving pyrochlore as a tailing. There are reports of work done to float the minerals pyrochlore and perovskite using mixtures of amines and di-amines together with a sulphonated wetting agent to produce a low-grade concentrate. Reagents are mixed hot and used as an emulsion in warm water. Ammonium bicarbonate depresses some gangue mineral and aeration is deliberately kept low, to prevent apatite collection and flotation. In the cleaning stages, a stronger addition of bicarbonate is made (3-4 %) to depress diopside and mica further. The pulp is heated to remove collector from the pyrochlore, after which pyrite is floated. The tailing from this stage is tabled to yield a concentrate of 50 %Nb2O5. Titanium [Ref.3]

The minerals recovered for titanium production are rutile (S.G. 4.2, nonmagnetic) and ilmenite (S.G. 4.5-5.0, weakly magnetic). As beach sands, they are recovered by high tension electrostatic or magnetic separation. Ilmenite ores are usually treated by flotation, possibly with a stage of wet magnetic separation although the Quebec Iron and Titanium Corp.'s mill at Tracy, Quebec use a spiral circuit to upgrade. In this case, the concentrate is processed for both iron and titanium recovery by electric furnace smelting. Slag from these furnaces contains titanium while iron is removed as pig iron. When flotation is used, the pulp is conditioning with sulphuric acid and sodium fluoride (to depress associated apatite). Oleic acid or tall oil is used as collector with a rougher float conducted at pH 6 to 6.5 with cleaning at a lower pH of 5 to 5.5. Tungsten [Ref.3]

The principal minerals treated are wolframite (S.G. 7.1 - 7.9) which may be feebly magnetic, and scheelite (S.G. 5.9-6.1) which is not magnetic at all. In gravity treatment, care must be taken to recover the values at the coarsest possible grind, avoiding over-grinding as these minerals are extremely friable and slime easily. Jigs, tables, rag frames and spirals are used. Flotation has only been successfully applied to scheelite (CaWO4). It floats readily at pH 10.5 in softened water, using a carboxyl collector, sodium silicate as dispersant and tannin as a depressant for associated calcite, fluorite, dolomite, and apatite. The major difficulty is to obtain sufficient separation from the gangue minerals to produce an economic grade of concentrate, as the scheelite itself is readily depressed. Roasting and/or leaching of tungsten ores and concentrates involves complex treatment to remove impurities which include tin, arsenic, phosphorus, manganese, bismuth, molybdenum, copper, lead, antimony, zinc and iron. A shorter route for scheelite starts with a sulphuric acid leach followed by

re-leaching the resulting tungstic acid with ethylene glycol. These plants are known as APT (Ammonium Para-Tungstate) after the form in which the tungsten precipitates. The People's Republic of China currently control the tungsten market worldwide. Since 1985 no western world mine has produced tungsten because of the export and production policies of the PRC which have been holding the price of tungsten concentrate at very low levels.