Flotation separation of valuable minerals
AssigneeBOC Gases Australia Limited
InventorDavid William Clark
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Abstract
A process for separating minerals of different mineralogical character. A milled slurry or flotation concentrate is subjected to a first conditioning step (20) followed by a first flotation step (30) followed by a second conditioning step (50) followed by a second flotation step (60). One of the conditioning steps is with an oxidising gas, the other of the conditioning steps being with a non-oxidising gas and an oxidisable surface modifying reagent. The process allows separation of mixtures of valuable minerals by tailoring both the first and second conditioning steps and first and second flotation steps to particular mixed mineral ores.
Claims9
A process for the recovery of valuable minerals of different mineralogical character from an ore wherein the process comprises:
- subjecting a milled slurry or flotation concentrate to a first conditioning step followed by a first flotation step to recover a valuable mineral from the slurry or concentrate,
- withdrawing a tailing stream from the first flotation step,
- subjecting the tailing stream to a second conditioning step followed by a second flotation step to recover any valuable mineral in the tailing stream,
- wherein the first conditioning step comprises conditioning the slurry or the flotation concentrate with an oxidising gas containing a gas selected from the group consisting essentially of oxygen and ozone, and the second conditioning step comprises conditioning the slurry or the flotation concentrate with a substantially non-oxidising gas and an oxidisable surface modifying reagent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.