High intensity conditioning mill and method

Apparatus for conditioning an aqueous pulp containing particles of clay and mineral impurities preparatory to subjecting said pulp to froth flotation comprising:

• a conditioning vessel adapted to contain a body of said aqueous pulp;
• a plurality of generally horizontal baffles disposed within said vessel and dividing the interior of said vessel into a plurality of chambers, each said baffle being formed with a central, circular hole and being mounted on the inner wall of said vessel so that pulp travelling upwardly in said vessel must pass through the central hole in each baffle;
• inlet means feeding aqueous pulp to the lower-most chamber;
• outlet means for removing conditioned aqueous pulp from the space above the uppermost baffle;
• a rotatable generally vertical drive shaft centrally positioned to rotate in said vessel and extending generally concentrically through each said hole in each said baffle;
• and
• a plurality of impellers each mounted for rotation on said shaft and generally positioned within each said hole of said horizontal baffles, each said impeller having a sidewall containing a plurality of spaced apart vertical vanes in the periphery thereof such that aqueous pulp is flung outwardly into said chamber, said impellers being of a size relative to said holes to sufficiently provide passageways for said aqueous pulp from chamber to the adjacent chambers whereby aqueous pulp is caused to flow from said lowermost chamber to the space above the uppermost baffle while being subjected to the action of said impellers.