Recently, Met-Solve Laboratories, in conjunction with Sepro Mineral Systems, has conducted a number of pilot scale test programs utilizing the Condor centrifugal, multi-stage, dense media separation system. The mechanical design, operational advantages and findings from pilot plant tests and heavy liquid test results are presented herein. The use of heavy liquid for bench scale simulation and results are also discussed. Bench Scale Simulation-Heavy Liquid Separation Although not economically feasible in large scale operations, bench scale heavy liquid separation (HLS) testing is an ideal preliminary step to pilot scale DMS testing. Past practices of HLS test work utilized heavy organic liquids such as tetrabromothane, diiodomethane, and bromoform (Meyer & Craig, 2010). All three solutions are known to have toxicity issues and require careful handling and extra safety precautions during testing. For this reason, most industries have moved away from using these solutions and are instead utilizing newer tungstate based liquids. The development of these tungstate based solutions such as lithium metatungstate, sodium polytungstate, and lithium heteropolytungstate have made the bench scale testing safer and consequently easier to carry out. The solutions are made of inorganic compounds which dissolve readily in water. They are non-toxic, non-corrosive and reported to be ecologically safe. Dense Media Separators Dense media separators can be categorized into two groups (Wills & Napier, 2006): gravitational (static) and centrifugal (dynamic). In gravitational units, the feed and medium are introduced into the vessel and the mixture is gently agitated to maintain a fluidized bed. The less dense minerals are removed by overflow or a paddle, while sink removal varies depending on the vessel. The most common gravitational units include the Wemco cone, Drum, Drewboy and Norwalt (Wills & Napier, 2006). Centrifugal units utilise high speed and tangential pumping to create a vortex within the vessel. Any mineral with a higher density than the medium will be subject to greater centrifugal forces and be pulled to the outer edge of the vortex, while any lower density mineral will remain at the center of the vortex. The differing minerals are removed through separate discharge lines. There are many different centrifugal vessels in the mining industry; however, the two most common vessels are the Dutch State Mines (DSM) cyclone and the Tri-Flo type multi-stage dense media separator. The Condor is based on the Tri Flo design.
This article is a continuation of the authors’ research on improving the flotation process for fine tin products using zeta potential measurements on particle surfaces. The aim of the research is to establish the possibility of using certain reagents to intensify the flotation of fine cassiterite particles and to identify the mechanism behind the effect produced by the reagents on the surface of slurry particles in cassiterite flotation using zeta potential measurements. The results of experiments to select the best collector are presented, with salicylhydroxamic acid identified as the best option. Sodium hexametaphosphate pretreatment of a flotation slurry consisting of fine particles enables a more efficient cassiterite flotation, which is explained by the negative value of the z-potential for the particle surface. The use of sodium hexametaphosphate improves the yield by up to 3 %, with the mass fraction of tin growing from 1.2 to 1.75 %, and the recovery improving from 40 to 75 %. The results of z-potential measurements for the particle surface in the process of flotation indicate that its positive values are not always required and that the combined action of oxalic and sulfuric acids with salicylhydroxamic acid at a z-potential of –0.7 mV renders the maximum tin grade of 2.22 % in the froth flotation product. Gravity treatment of the flotation concentrate on concentration tables allows obtaining conditioned concentrates with the mass fractions of tin of 23.4 and 30.6 %. Finding the extremum of the z-potential for the particle surface during the flotation of tin minerals allows predicting the concentration results.
Introduction. The use of flotation for tin additional recovery and in order to increase integrated use of raw materials is one of the main trends in tin ores beneficiation technology development. Research aim is to identify the mechanism of reagents action on the pulp particles surface during the flotation of tin-containing products containing cassiterite. 78 "Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedenii. Gornyi zhurnal". No. 3. 2020 ISSN 0536-1028 Methodology. Pulp absorption potential was measured on Dispersion DT-310 electro-acoustic spectrometer from Dispersion Technolodgy Inc., USA. The object of research was the cleaning products of the collective concentrate obtained from beneficiation sludge tailings of Solnechny enrichment plant (the Khabarovsk Territory). The surface of the initial product was sequentially treated with the following reagents: sodium hexametaphosphate, kerosene, liquid glass, aluminum sulfate and the Asparal-F collector reagent with measurements of the absorption potential. At the same time, open flotation experiments were carried out with fractionated removal of the foam product. Results. The research results have shown that the main influence on pulp absorption potential is exerted by a depressor - aluminum sulfate. With its consumption of 800 and 1600 g/t, the value of the absorption potential decreases to the level of minus 1.3–1.4 mV, having a negative extremum. With a further increase in depressor consumption to 2400 g/t, there is a abrupt jump in the absorption potential to positive values. The study of absorption potential value dependence on Asparal-F reagent-collector consumption has shown that an increase in the collector flow rate to 400 g/t causes a abrupt jump and alternation of the potential from + to – (– 0.05 mV) and the intersection of the curve with the zero point allows to determine its optimal flow rate 360 g/t. Flotation of the initial product with fractional removal of foam has shown that it was this jump that led to an increase in the quality of fractions from 0.40 to 1.04% in terms of tin content. Further processing of the obtained flotation tin product according to the gravitational scheme made it possible to obtain conditioned tin concentrate with a tin content of 24.8%. Conclusions. The study of thin intermediate products tin flotation process in the tailings processing flow chart of Solnechny enrichment plant with pulp ζ-potential evaluation revealed some regularities of this indicator influence on the flotation results and the optimal consumption of flotation reagents.
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