Beneficiation of Aggregate by Heavy Media Separation

Many types of gravity concentration equipment have been employed throughout the years since beneficiation of materials has been practiced. These include jigs, concentrating tables, vanners, sluice boxes, heavy media cyclones, and static heavy media separators or sink-float separators. In the beneficiation of coarse aggregate for concrete mixes, static heavy media separation employs the same principles of gravity concentration involved in separating lead-zinc ore, dolomite, limestone, diamonds, manganese, iron, and many other minerals. In aggregate beneficiation, as in most metallurgical operations, sink or heavy fraction is the product. The undesirable portion of coarse gravel is usually much lighter than the desirable particles, allowing most aggregates to be amenable to gravity concentration methods.