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Flotation of clay in concentration of non-ferrous

minerals

S-K-I -K

Zoran Petkovic
Santiago de Chile, 2016
Content:

Introduction

State of the art on the subject

Technological innovation developed by Alkomin

Annex: results in the application of innovation


Introduction:

Clays are a mineralogical sediment originated from the decomposition of igneous rocks and silicates, derived or produced by atmospheric,
mechanical, chemical, organic decomposition, among other factors, being the most important: kaolinite, illite, montmorillonite and other
silicates of aluminum.

These clays, in nature, are generally found as part of the mineral deposits, either:

Surrounding the ore, in these, the level of clay is less.

Containing ore, in these cases, the mineral presented as points inside the mass of clay and therefore this level is the majority.

A combination of both, that is, in part of the deposit the clay surrounds or covers the ore and other parts of the deposit, the material is
mainly composed of clay and contains ore points.

Clays, due to their physico-chemical characteristics, ie their high surface area, chemical and mechanical stability, laminar structure and high
cation exchange capacity, make them an excellent absorbent material, but unfortunately due to their absorption capacity they produce serious
problems in The different stages of the mineral concentration process, that is, grinding, flotation, thickening and filtration of the ore, affecting
its efficiency and negatively impacting the recovery and the resulting concentrate law.

The clays impede the recovery of minerals, because they "dirty" the process of concentration.

It should be noted that flotation processes are the most important aspect of the concentration of non-ferrous metal ores,
which in turn is the most important industry in the world production of non-ferrous sulphide minerals, reaching 90% of
the market.
Introduction (continued) :

The main problems generated by the presence of clay for the process of concentration of noble nonferrous minerals are the product of:

The plasticity of the clay, which makes it difficult to grind in a ball mill, making it necessary, in some cases, to carry out a pre-
concentration process by gravitation, involving a greater energy expenditure, among others.
The preferential adhesion of the clays to the surfaces of the bubbles "displaces", wholly or partially, the noble minerals outside the latter
Moving sludge slurries to concentrates may also have significant concentrate dilution problems as well as requiring much longer flotation
residence times to ensure a high recovery of the copper ore. In a plant where flotation capacity is fixed, this means lower copper recoveries.
Its colloidal characteristic hinders the process of gravimetric separation in thickener.
Its high absorption capacity affects the viscosity of the water, which hampers the flotation process, reducing the efficiency of the reagents
and, consequently, requiring the application of larger quantities of these, on the one hand, and on the other, hinders the process of filtered.

The negative effects of the clays in the process of concentration of non-ferrous minerals translate into a lower
effective efficiency of the milling, flotation, thickening and filtration processes, which is reflected in higher
production costs and lower operating income for the mining industry.
State of the art on the subject

The serious problems that the presence of clays in the process of concentration of nonferrous minerals, to date, have
been faced using the following measures:

Cleaning of the ore by meshes before grinding and even crushing.


Purge the sludge after grinding.
Selective granulometry of the clay by hydrocyclones, before flotation, even before grinding
Use of depressants, such as sodium metasilicate and polyphosphates, before flotation
Use of flocculants and coagulants, such as aluminum sulphate, iron sulphate, polyacrylamides and aluminum
hydroxychloride, among others, respectively, in thickening process.
Filtration of tailings

These actions, although they partially mitigated the problem, none of them, either alone or as a whole, have managed to
solve it in its entirety, so that the negative effects on the results of the concentration process still persist, with the
economic consequences that these entails.
In this respect, it is important to note that most of these actions are of a corrective nature, that is, when the process is
already being affected by the negative effects of clay, which is clearly not efficient.
Technological innovation developed by Alkomin:

From the above, it is clear that the mining industry needs new ideas to solve "the problem of clays". Alkomin took on this
challenge and developed a new technology that allows preventive mitigation of the negative effects of clays that
complicate the process of purification of nonferrous minerals, increasing the recovery of metals Cu, Pb, Ag, Mo, Au .

Our technological innovation consists in the invention of a selective flotation method and in the invention of a clay-
collecting reagent, both duly patented as "Selective Clay Collector and Method of Selective Flotation of Non-Ferrous
Sulphide Clays and Minerals" and therefore , Protected by the Intellectual Property Law.

The inventions of the selective clay collecting reagent and the method of selective flotation of all clays present in non -
ferrous metal minerals, such as Cu, Pb, Zn, Mo, Ag and Au, take advantage of the physico - chemical characteristics Of
the clays, that is, the different type of mixture of them, the size of their particles (1-10 microns) and their great buoyancy,
to achieve their total or partial elimination before proceeding to the extraction of the noble minerals that the Accompany,
maximizing their recovery by achieving the improvement of their Flotation process, by the absence or minimization of
the presence of clays in the mineral entering the process of concentration of these noble minerals.

The inventions of the selective flotation method of clay in nonferrous minerals and of the selective collecting reagent of
clays allow to diminish the volume of solid clays that will be sent to process of concentration of these nonferrous
minerals. The amount of this lower volume of solids will be equivalent to the volume of clay concentrate that was
obtained from the application of this invention. All this contributes efficiency to the use of the global circuit
Technological innovation developed by Alkomin:
In simple terms, we propose to perform first the flotation of the clays and then, the sulphide minerals, maximizing the
recovery of Cu, Mo, Ag, Au. With this we were able to improve their respective processes of flotation, precipitation,
thickening and filtration, thanks to the absence or minimization of the presence of clays.

This technological innovation results, firstly, in a better ore concentrate and as a by-product, a purified clay concentrate,
which could be used as raw material in other industrial processes.

This method of selective flotation of clays allows to recover the water of the tailings and to return it to the process.

The method of selective flotation of clay in non-ferrous minerals can be carried out in different positions of the
concentration circuit, as shown in the schemes presented in the following pages.

Laboratory tests of patented inventions such as "Selective Colector and Method of Selective Flotation of Non-Ferrous
Sulphide Clays and Minerals" are presented in Attached Annex
Scheme No. 1: Selective flotation of clays before the SAG mill
Clay Flotation
Colector
PETKOM 342Ar Floculants Non-ferrous mineral
Crusher SAG mill Ball Mill flotation

Water
returns Relave Mineral Thickener
Clay
to the
Thickener or
process
Filter

Clay Concentrate

Mineral concentrate
Filtration
Scheme No. 2: Selective flotation of clays prior to ball milling.

Clay flotation
Colector
PETKOM 342Ar Floculants Non-ferrous mineral
Crusher flotation
Ball mill

Water Relave
returns Clay thickener
Clay concentrate to the or filter Mineral
process thickener

Mineral concentrate
Filtration
Scheme No. 3: Selective flotation of clays after the ball mill and before flotation of the mineral sulfide.

Clay flotation
Non-Ferrous mineral
Colector Floculants flotation
Crusher Ball Mill PETKOM 342Ar mineral thickener

Return
water Relave
Clay concentrate into Clay thickener
process or filter

Mineral concentrate
Filtration
Scheme No. 4: Selective flotation of clays after flotation of the mineral sulphide and before the thickener.

Non-Ferrous mineral
flotation
Crusher Ball Mill mineral thickener

Filtration

Clay Flotation
Return
water to Floculants
Clay thickener or filter the
Colector
process
PETKOM 342Ar

Tailings thickener Relave

mineral concentrate

Clay concentrate

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