Benchmarking the flotation performance of ores

Muganda, S.; Zanin, Massimiliano; Grano, S.R.

doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2011.11.002

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Sulphides may show a different value of the contact angle within individual grains, which is probably caused by heterogeneity of particles [7]. A value of contact angle on the mineral surface is also affected by surface roughness [8], both at micro [9] and macroscopic scale [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal Number of Contact Angle Measurements on Pyrite Surface

Koval¹,

Drozdová²

2014

AMR

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Contact angle measurement is a simple and quick method that expresses the surface wettability. Resulting values vary and depend on many factors that significantly affect the interpretation of results. In this paper a set of seventeen samples from different deposits with different genesis were subjected to a statistical evaluation, to determine the optimal number of measurements needed to obtain the desired standard deviation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal Number of Contact Angle Measurements on Pyrite Surface

Koval¹,

Drozdová²

2014

AMR

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“…All of the milled ore feeds, collected from the swirling pulp in the flotation cell prior to flotation, were sieved to −75 + 38 µm in order to exclude any fine materials that may report to the concentrate through entrainment and entrapment, rather than true flotation [41,42]. The −75 + 38 µm fraction most likely contains material that reports to the concentrate by true flotation, while the coarser particles (e.g., >75 µm) and the finer materials (e.g., <38 µm) float poorly [43,44]. Although optimization of the flotation kinetics may still result in the efficient recovery of both fine and coarse particles [45,46], this is not the primary focus of the present contribution.…”

Section: Automated Mineralogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Process Mineralogy as a Tool to Investigate Blending Potential of the Pentlandite-Bearing Ores at the Nkomati Ni Mine in South Africa

et al. 2022

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The mineralogy and texture of Ni-sulfide ores at the Nkomati nickel mine are highly variable, and this results in often erratic nickel recovery at the mine. The variability of the ore presents an opportunity to study the influence of grind size on the flotation-based recovery of Ni in highly heterogeneous sulfide ores, which would be applicable to this ore type at many other mines worldwide. In view of this, a process mineralogy investigation was conducted on thirteen mineralogically and texturally different nickel-sulfide ores from the Nkomati Nickel Mine, with a view on the influence of grind size on the flotation performance of pentlandite. Ore types presented include medium- and high-grade variants of the bleb, disseminated, massive, semi-massive, and net-textured sulfide ores of the Main Mineralized Zone (MMZ), as well as disseminated chromite-rich nickel sulfide ore and massive chromitite ore of the Peridotitic Chromitite Mineralized Zone (PCMZ). Laboratory scale metallurgical test work, comprising of sequential grinding and bench-top flotation testing of the ores, was conducted in combination with quantitative mineralogical investigation of the flotation feed and associated flotation products, using a FEI 600F Mineral Liberation Analyzer. The ore types under consideration require a variety of grind sizes (i.e., milling times) in order to attain optimal recovery of nickel through flotation. This is predominantly controlled by ore texture, and also partly by the abundance of the major constituent minerals in the ore, being pyroxenes, base metal sulfides, and chromite. Liberation of pentlandite is directly correlated with grind size (milling time), which is also positively correlated with the level of nickel recovery through flotation. A grind size of P80 at 75 µm results in the highest concentrate nickel grades of 7.5–8.1% in the PCMZ ores’ types which is the current grind for the PCMZ ores at Nkomati. A grind size of P77 at 75 µm yields the best overall pentlandite liberation, Ni recoveries of 84–88% and grades of 5.3–5.6% in the MMZ ores. This holds the potential to produce the best overall pentlandite liberation, nickel grades, recoveries from blending the MMZ and PCMZ ore types, and milling the composite ore at a target grind of P80 at 75 µm.

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“…It is important to note that attachment time depends on particle size (Yoon and Yordan, 1991;Gu et al, 2003). However, it was not possible to use the narrower sized fraction for bubble-particle attachment measurements because the amount of collected fraction (53-106 lm) was less than 1 g. Additionally, the selected size fraction is in the range of optimum floatability (Muganda et al, 2012) and thus was considered suitable for the bubble-particle attachment measurements.…”

Section: Flotation Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%