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AssigneeBP Australia Limited
InventorsMark D. Cadzow, Graham J. Elkes, Gavin J. Ewin, David E. Mainwaring
Estimating the term…
Gold ore, or any other mineral treated to have a lyophilic surface, (e.g. chalcopyrites), is ground into a slurry in crusher (1) powdered coal and oil are added at location (2), and the mix is conveyed to a contact zone (3), where any micro-agglomerates formed are kept below 500 microns in size. Sequentially, the mix is passed to an agglomeration zone (4), where larger agglomerates of coal-oil and gold or the lyophilic mineral are allowed to form, then separated at (5) from the gangue (8), and recycle continuously via return line (6) and homogenister (7) to the contact zone (3), until a desired gold or mineral concentration in the agglomerates is achieved. Subsequently, the `loaded` coal-oil agglomerates are tapped off the return line (6) at (9), either batchwise or continuously, and the metal values are recovered by pyrometallurgical or concentional separation techniques.
A method of recovering a mineral selected from the group consisting of metal, metal oxide and metal sulfide, having a lyophilic surface, present in low concentration in a mixture of solids, comprising:
A method of recovering a mineral selected from the group consisting of metal, metal oxide and metal sulfide, present in low concentration in a mixture of solids comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.