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By M. D. Kaizer

PETROBRAS started its Oil Shale process development in 1953, the PETROSIX process which was developed and tailored to Irati Oil Shale formation. Since 1991, the industrial plant called MI (Industrial Module) has been operating, producing more than 20 million barrels of oil. In order to continue the oil shale exploration, a new shale mine is been opening. This article reports the planed measures taking in order to limit the environmental impacts and to return the land as close as possible to the original condition, as well as with the disposition of the process waste and the city garbage. It shows that the remediation process starts during the mining activities and continues after the mine exploration. Another characteristic of the Petrosix process, the pyrolysis of tires will be focused.

Jan 1, 2014

By Z. Pokrajcic

The traditional comminution circuit is a major consumer of energy ? both as electrical energy and through consumption of media and wear resistant liners. Up to 40% of electrical energy con-sumed at a mine site is attributed to comminution however only a few percent of this energy is used in the generation of new surfaces from size reduction. This paper describes the evaluation of modifications using simulation models based on two operating comminution circuits. The aim of these modifications is to decrease both the amount of electrical energy consumed in the size reduction process, known as direct energy, as well as to decrease the consumption of grinding consumables such as steel grinding media and mill liners, designated as indirect energy. The approach is two-fold: ??Employ, where possible, autogenous grinding techniques to eliminate the need for grinding media and reduce mill liner wear. ??Optimise the use of the grinding energy distribution in the comminution circuit by using more energy efficient grinding devices to target typically problematic features of a comminution circuit such as critical size material from the primary mill and overgrinding in the secondary mill. The investigations show that significant total energy savings, as high as 50% in some cases, can be achieved by employing the techniques described while maintaining circuit throughput and product size. Investigations also show potential benefits in downstream flotation processes as the product size distribution generated from the eco-efficient circuit is generally ?narrower? in shape for improved flotation performance and containing less material in the coarse fraction for overall better liberation.

Jan 1, 2014

By T. Wallmach, S. B. Blancher, A. Delaporte, P. Goncalves

"Fe-Ti oxides concentrates produced from heavy mineral sand deposits are widely used for the production of titanium dioxide pigments that are critical components of white paint, plastics and paper. According to mining industry, the Fe-Ti concentrates mostly consists of three phases: ilmenite, leucoxene and rutile. However, a few mineralogical studies have shown that the variety of Fe-Ti oxides found in sand deposits is far more complex, mostly due to alteration processes. The aim of this contribution is to characterize in detail by means of Qemscan analyses the mineralogy of the three main concentrates (ilmenite, leucoxene and rutile) produced by the Grande Côte Operation (GCO) mineralurgical plant in Senegal. The ultimate goal is to characterize the different products and textures formed during the natural ilmenite alteration processes, to localize the phases carrying the main impurities (Cr and P), and finally to determine the physical properties of each mineral component to improve metal recoveries. Along alteration processes, Ti content increase. Ilmenite (FeTiO3) is progressively transformed into pseudorutile (Fe2Ti3O9) particles which could also be altered and transformed into hydroxylian pseudorutile [FeTi6O12(OH)3.3H2O] or complex blends of anatase microcrystals (TiO2). These transformations are accompanied by significant changes in particle textures. Microporosity and fractures appear and the impurity content also increases. Anatase rich microcrystal assemblages, so far described as Leucoxene, could be identified to consist of grains with higher porosities, water contents and higher intrapore impurities. These particles are the main carriers of chromium and phosphorus. The observed mineral transition textures have a significant impact on the ore dressing processes. During these transformations, the physical properties of these phases change, the magnetic susceptibility as well as densities decreases, due to the increase in porosity. The separation of particles, especially those with high porosity will help improving the GCO mineralurgical plant performance and to reduce the impurity contents in finals products."

Jan 1, 2018

Over the last four years, a major collaboration between CSIRO-MIS, UCT and JKMRC has produced two significant advances in the modelling of comminution. The Universal Comminution Model (UCM) uses parametric SPH/DEM studies of comminution and separation devices to calibrate mathematical models which are suitable for industrial use. The Virtual Comminution Machine (VCM) uses the same computationally intensive techniques based on discrete element modelling (DEM) and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) to directly model any comminution device by combining a CAD file describing the machine design, sophisticated ore characterisation methods and advanced particle scale flow and breakage simulation. The UCM should be useful for process analysis and optimisation of existing equipment and circuits while the VCM should make a major contribution to the evaluation and development of new machines. Progress to date is encouraging with several processes now well described using DEM. This paper also reports on progress towards combining DEM for particles with a realistic slurry model based on SPH for different types of comminution devices. In due course, this combination should allow accurate modelling of particle transport in wet mills to be combined with DEM models.

Jan 1, 2014

By Z. He

Based on full investigation of the characteristic of sphalerite in the residue obtained from cyanidation leaching process and the study of the mechanism of the interaction between flotation reagents and sphalerite with the aid of electrochemical analysis, the reagent named YO was developed for eliminating the depression effect of CN- on sphalerite and reducing the dosage of CuSO4. The achievements have been used in commercial production for the treatment of the cyanidation residue to recover the zinc minerals, obtaining a zinc concentrate with grade of 56.49% Zn and recovery of 86.63% Zn.

Jan 1, 2014

By L. C. Zhou

The floatability of andalusite and associated minerals are studied and their action mechanisms of andalusite and associated minerals with collector alkyl benzene sulphonate are also studied. Through the mensuration of electrical potential and the infrared spectroscopy, as well as desorption tests, it is confirmed that the interaction of andalusite with sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate (SDBS), is in addition to physical adsorption, but also is chemical adsorption. The study results of the pure minerals are used for the flotation of actual andalusite mineral. By flotation from contain-ing 45.68% andalusite ore, the fine andalusite concentrate is gained which Andalusite grade is 85.88%, containing Al2O355.29% and Fe2O3 less than 1.5%.

Jan 1, 2014

By Dongyun Liang

Process mineralogy focuses on the chemical components and mineral composition of ore, dissemination size of valuable minerals, the occurrence of valuable and detrimental elements as well as the behavior of each mineral in the process. Through determining process mineralogy parameters and analyzing the characteristics of minerals, the results of process mineralogy study can provide mineralogy data for making a reasonable mineral processing technology program and optimizing the process. A detailed process mineralogy study is carried out for a complex rare metal ore in this paper and the results show that niobium mainly exists in the form of ferrocolumbite as well as nioboaeschynite and zirconium primarily occurs as zircon. The valuable minerals including Th-nioboaeschynite, ferrocolumbite, zircon, etc. have the characteristics of fine dissemination size, wide size range, complex chemical composition and variable physical properties, which mean it is a refractory ore. According to the results of mineral composition of ore, chemical composition of minerals, dissemination size of minerals, magnetism ranges of minerals and the distribution of niobium and zirconium, the process of ?desliming-Nb-Zr bulk flotation? is designed for this ore and the niobium-zirconium bulk rough concentrate with the grade of Nb2O5 9.43%, ZrO2 24.95%, Ta2O5 0.36% and the recovery of Nb2O5 77.66%, ZrO2 76.70%, Ta2O5 75.13% to crude ore can be obtained in the whole process closed-circuit test.

Sep 1, 2012

By R. ?. Shishmarjov, Yu. ?. Davidenko, S. V. Bukhalov, ?. S. Baksheev, M. S. Shkirya, N. ?. Aikasheva, D. V. Bogdanovich, ?. Yu. Faustova

"The goal of prospecting operations in the Republic of Altay was to locate gold-sulfide-quartz mineralization. For this purpose we applied the technology of electromagnetic sounding and induced polarization (EMS-IP). These operations resulted in localizing promising sites with presence of sulfidization. The EMS-IP method proved to be highly efficient amongst other prospecting methods targeted at recognizing zones of sulfide mineralization making up 91%, considering that in more than half cases the ore intervals were the case. In the Yakutian diamondiferous province the EMS-IP technology was approbated during three field seasons to accomplish the assignments on searching for kimberlite bodies under conditions of various geological types. As a result, the reference objects were distinguished, and geoelectric parameters of kimberlite pipes of explosion were defined.INTRODUCTION In the time span 2015-2016 in Gorny Altay the EMS-IP technology was approbated in the Novokuznetsk area. The on-land areal geophysical survey was performed by EMS-IP method applied to identify, outline and locate promising sites with Au-Ag-bearing polymetallic mineralization within surveyed areas. Compared to the hosting rocks, the sulfides contained in polymetallic mineralization are typified by low specific electrical resistivity (SER) and high polarization. The areal survey conducted via EMS-IP method provided spatial characteristics of searched object. From July 2016 to August 2017 our expedition group carried out serial test works and laboratory investigations intending to define performance capabilities of EMS-IP technology in searching for kimberlite bodies under conditions of diverse geological types. The prerequisites for serial work were operations accomplished at the «Listvenichny» site lying 35 km away from Mirny town in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), where the EMS-IP technology was probed for locating position and measuring geoelectric parameters of tuff pipe «Buardakhsky». After successful completion of operations it was decided to evaluate geoelectric parameters of kimberlite pipes of explosion."

Jan 1, 2018

Ca-containing gangue minerals such as Fluorite, Calcite have same surface activity point--calcium ions and approximate floatability with scheelite, it is difficult to achieve good dressing index of rough concentrate of scheelite. Mono-mineral experiments and ore tests indicate that, according to mineral composition, gangue minerals can be inhibited selectively by adopting suitable regulators, then the separation of scheelite from gangue minerals can be realized effectively. Mechanism analysis was taken by zeta potentials measurements and FTIR tests. Good dressing indexes are also obtained in practical ore tests and industrial tests. Keywords: scheelite, fluorite, calcite, regulator, flotation separation

Sep 1, 2012

By T. Bhambhani

Research at Cytec over the past two decades has shown that the traditional approach for ore metallurgical characterization (typically conducted via laboratory-scale batch flotation tests), which involves changing reagents and conditions one-factor-at-a-time, leads to several pitfalls. The chemical solution thus selected has a narrow un-optimized window of performance and will likely fail in the plant. A holistic approach, called the Flotation Matrix 100? process for ore metallurgical characterization, was developed at Cytec about a decade ago and has been successfully used to develop robust reagent solutions for several operations around the world. The premise for the approach is that flotation outcome from ores is variable and is determined by complex interactions between various physical, chemical and operational factors. A key component of the process is the use of efficient multivariate designs focused on the chemistry aspects (reagents and pulp chemistry), which helps identify the best processing conditions for each ore type, as well as the conditions resulting in poor performance. It also includes advanced statistical methods for dealing with the complexity and variability of experimental data. The holistic approach is illustrated in this paper with a case study on Pb/Zn ores. Using just 18 carefully designed batch tests, it is possible to partially simulate the behavior of each ore type in the plant. The best conditions for each ore type, along with the conditions to avoid, are identified. Along with this, insights are obtained into the reasons for high reagent dosages for certain ore types, and interactions between variables. Keywords: flotation, holistic approach, metallurgical characterization, multivariate experimental designs, base and precious metals recovery, sulfide collectors and modifiers, Pb/Zn sequential flotation

Sep 1, 2012

By Kevin Galvin, James Dickinson

"The Reflux Flotation Cell (RFC) consists of an inverted fluidized bubbly bed, located above a system of parallel inclined channels. This novel arrangement enhances the hydrodynamics of flotation in a number of ways. Firstly, the free-surface of the flotation cell is enclosed via a fluidized bed distributor, ensuring uniform application of wash water to promote desliming. Secondly, foams can be variable in their stability and lack permeability. Hence this system is preferably operated in the absence of foam, instead opting for a bubbly zone of high bubble volume fraction through the use of a very high gas flux and/or wash water flux. Discharge of the product proceeds upwards through a central port of narrow cross-sectional area. Thirdly, the system of inclined channels increases the segregation between the bubbles and the water, ensuring the bubbly zone remains contained within the upper vertical zone, and the liquid flux reporting to the overflow is low. The expanded operating regime of the RFC was investigated by covering a very broad range of gas fluxes, up to 5.5 cm/s, and wash water fluxes, over 2 cm/s. Both laboratory and pilot plant performances were quantified by the recovery of hydrophobic particles and rejection of the hydrophilic particles, using model and industrial coal feeds. The new system hydrodynamics was found to offer significant advantages in flotation kinetics, desliming, and particle recovery across a broad particle size range. Bubble interfacial flux reached as high as 600 m2/m-2s-1. The upper system consists entirely of a high volume fraction of bubbles, which provides a "safety-net" to protect against the detachment of coarse particles, and a highly permeable zone for counter-current washing of the flotation product. Under relatively extreme conditions selective stripping of the product is observed, resulting in grade recovery values beyond those achievable using the tree flotation method."

Jan 1, 2014

By Venkataramana Runkana, Aditya Pareek, Vishnu Masampally, Nagaravi Kumar Varma Nadimpalli

"Recovery and grade of the ore produced are two important metrics, which define the profitability of a mineral processing plant. Achieving high grade and high recovery at the same time in a mineral processing plant is difficult due to conflicting nature of the two objectives. To explore the operability limits of the plant operations and find the set of operating conditions that can help achieve the best possible recovery and grade, there is a need to solve a multi-objective optimization (MOO) problem. Past research focused on building a plant-wide simulation model or on optimization of individual units or a part of a mineral processing plant like grinding circuit, crushing circuit, etc. However, it is necessary to consider optimization of the complete plant in order to optimize the plant performance. Here, we have formulated the mineral processing plant performance optimization as a MOO problem. We have applied machine-learning algorithms such as random forest to build models to predict the recovery and grade of the ore. A non-dominated sorting-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm called NSGA-II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II) was employed to solve the MOO problem. Since the number of parameters that influence recovery and grade are quite large, we have applied machine-learning algorithms for feature selection or identification of key process variables. Pareto optimal conditions were determined for manipulated variables like grinding mill throughput, speed ratio at SAG mill, speed of centrifugal pump, water addition at different locations etc. The results obtained are useful in identifying the operability of a mineral processing plant to achieve the optimum grade and recovery for a given feed grade and the processing circuit. INTRODUCTION Copper is majorly mined or extracted as copper sulfides from large open pit mines in porphyry copper deposits. Among all the available ores, sulfides are the most commercial ores, especially chalcopyrite (Greenwood and Alan, 1997). Copper grade in these ores generally lies between 0.4 to 1.0%. In order to perform smelting operation, the grade of copper has to be improved to around 30% (Biswas et al. 2013). This targeted copper grade is achieved through two stages of mineral processing. Firstly, the copper in the ore has to be liberated by crushing the mineral rock. Secondly, the liberated copper in the crushed ore is then physically separated from other minerals like nickel by froth flotation techniques."

Jan 1, 2018

By E. Scheepers

The process under investigation is the large-scale production of phosphorus. Gravity delivers the feed, consisting of pelletised apatite, coke and silica (in the form of gravel), to a submerged arc furnace through ten, evenly distributed feed chutes ensuring constant packed bed volume. Within this packed bed, solid-gas reactions are dominant in generating the gaseous product. These reactions, as well as the packed bed itself, were the main focus in the development of a fully three-dimensional CFD model in which fluid flow and energy distribution are represented as functions of chemical reactions, heating and melting of material and heat losses. The associated complex process interactions necessitated the creation of two process-specific, user-developed models that integrates accurate, thermodynamical data with computational fluid dynamics calculations, as well as reaction kinetics. The boundary conditions are provided by industrial measurements, and the key model parameters of reaction kinetics were obtained by laboratory experiments for different feed mixtures. Thirteen temperature probes installed inside the refractory lining of the furnace especially for this project allowed parameter fitting and validation to be guided within the constraints of real measurements. Simulation results reveal a thin, dome-shaped, reductive zone where conditions are optimum for maximum phosphorus recovery, as well as evidence of a thermal reserve zone similar to an ironmaking blast furnace located above this reduction zone. When compared to actual operating data, the CFD model can successfully predict the specific power consumption, the phosphorus in the slag and gaseous product flowrate under given operating conditions. This CFD model forms part of a larger project that aims to create a Dynamic-CFD hybrid control model.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. R. Hasankhoei

Water recycling is of prime importance in mineral processing due to consumption of large amount of water. This issue is vital in areas with a low rainfall such as Shahre-Babak (Kerman, Iran). Deep cone thickeners, unlike conventional thickeners, have a low diameter to height ratio where large amounts of flocculants are used to increase particles settling rates. The high bed heights (over 10 m) produce enough pressure to create a paste type underflow indicating maximum water recovery. Flocculent preparation, conditioning, and distribution along with the bed height are among the important factors affecting the performance. Four deep cones are used to recover water from the tailings of the plant. Plant data indicated that the thickener never reached the target underflow percent solids (63%) and the average underflow concentrations were between 49 and 57%. By modification and optimization of flocculent preparation and distribution methods the underflow percent solids increased by 3-4%. This translated to an increase of water recovery from 67 to 73%. This was equivalent of 53000 m3 saving in monthly water consumption. Keywords: deep cone thickener, water recovery, flocculant, copper tailings

Sep 1, 2012

By B. Courtaud

Uranium plants are generally located quite far from conversion plants, resulting in high transport costs. One way of reducing such costs involves putting more uranium in each drum by increasing the final product?s bulk density, which can be achieved via mechanical compaction of the powder and/or improved precipitation. For most of its plants, AREVA has adopted the latter approach, involving a new precipitation process applicable to all kinds of yellowcake produced (via uranates, uranium peroxide, etc.) that achieves bulk density of 3 for soda uranate, for example, instead of the 1.5-2 density available via conventional processes. At present, this process is being undertaken on an industrial scale and will become the norm for precipitation processes at all AREVA U plants. In addition to producing dense yellowcake, the process also delivers a product with no fines, a spherical particle shape (which allows for high-quality powder flow) and superior post-precipitation filterability

Sep 1, 2012

By Shi Shuaixing Zhang Yuejun, Fan Xuesai Zhangming

"For the traditional principle of flotation cell design, or in the perspective of some researchers, the mixing effect of impeller for flotation cell is not only to suspend the particles off the bottom, but also to mix slurry well to achieve a uniform system. But for some special processing conditions, the depth profile of slurry concentration and particle size demonstrates an obvious difference. In the part around of the impeller in the cell, the slurry concentration is much higher than the part below the lip.For the vanadium titano-magnetite flotation process, distinguished with high concentration and large coarse particle size fraction, even though the concentration is very high, it can reach good gas dispersion, which is a fundamental principle for flotation cell design and application. The gas dispersion is not a challenge in the high slurry concentration environment, not only in the vertical direction, but in the cross section. Different levels (the distance from the lip is 400mm, 700mm, 1200mm, 1700mm, 2200mm, 2700mm) slurry in the flotation cell is sampled and analyzed. The slurry concentration of the 3 levels(1700mm, 2200mm, 2700mm) is about 55%, but the slurry concentration decreases from 55% to 25% sharply towards the lip.Therefore, a new understanding and viewpoint is presented, that the uniform system of slurry is not always reasonable for all of the flotation process. For some special process, if the coarse particles are needed to agitated well and transported to the upper cell, the quiescent zone in the upper cell will be destroyed and enhance the detachment probability for the coarse particles. The difference of slurry concentration and particle size fraction benefits the air dispersion and coarse mineral particles recovery.1.INTRODUCTIONNowadays, flotation is the most widely used separation process in the mineral processing industry. The importance of flotation technology in the global economy is significant. A rough estimate of the quantity of crushed ore treated by flotation is about nine billion tons per year, and the portion of base metals processed using this method is approximately 95% (Brewis, 1996)."

Jan 1, 2018

By M. Saghaeian, R. Hejazi, A. Dehghani Ahmadabadi, M. Zare

"In the most iron ore beneficiation plants, reverse flotation is the best method for removing silicate gangues from final iron ore concentrate. Many previous studies show, if the major portion of impurities include quartz minerals, the flotation process is simple, but if iron silicates are dominant, reverse flotation is so complicated and mostly not very effective. In this study which was performed on the Sangan iron ore concentrate, the performance using of reverse flotation and magnetic flotation separator for elimination of silicate gangues from the magnetic iron concentrate was investigated. The operational parameters for reverse flotation are considered as: collector and frother types and dosages and also modifiers. But for magnetic flotation separator parameters were magnetic field intensity as well as overflow and underflow water rates. Results showed that reverse flotation has not a significant effect on the elimination of impurities. Because of the silicate gangues of Sangan concentrate including a mixture of quartz and iron silicates (amphibole, pyroxene and feldspar), so downgrading of the SiO2 content for the flotation concentrate was rather low and only average reduces of 20.60% were possible. But the findings of using magnetic separator was more satisfactory. Results of the weight recovery, iron grade and also SiO2 and S grades of final concentrate were better with magnetic flotation device. So at the best and optimum condition, we could reduce 51.01% of the total silicate (SiO2~ 2.19%) along with 74.66% of sulfur content (S~ 0.076%) and concentrate weight and Fe recoveries of 92.04% and 94.51% respectively, final Fe grade of 68.73%.INTRODUCTION Chemical/traditional flotation is one of the most effective methods for separating valuable particles from waste minerals, which is used in most mineral processing industries. In the iron ore processing industry, the major impurities present in iron ore concentrate include sulfur, silica and phosphorus (Bruckard et al, 2015), which are often carried out by reverse flotation methods for the removal of sulfide and oxide impurities (Donald, 1967: Araujo et al., 2005: Ma, 2012)"

Jan 1, 2018

By X. P. Guo

In this paper the test results of flotation of the kyanite ore from a Chinese mine are described. The objective of this work is to determine effective recovery process to obtain kyanite concentrate with high quality and high recovery for a new concentrator design. The valuable minerals of the ore are kyanite, garnet and magnetite, contents of them are 14.0%, 5.9% and 1.2%, respectively. The gangue minerals are mainly biotite, feldspar and quartz, contents of them are 33.8%, 17.8% and 25.6%, respectively. The kyanite in the ore contains a little iron. In laboratory flotation tests the factors affecting the flotation such as slime, alkalinity of pulp, and flowsheet configuration are studied. The interference of biotite on kyanite flotation as well as selective flotation of garnet is examined. On the basis of above-mentioned results the flowsheet of ore treatment comprising de-sliming, mica flotation, low intensity magnetic separation of magnetite, high intensity magnetic separation of garnet and coarse biotite as well as flotation of kyanite is pre-sented for comprehensive recovery of kyanite, garnet and magnetite. The kyanite concentrate con-taining more than 59% Al2O3 is obtained with a kyanite recovery of 70.0%. The contents of Fe2O3and biotite in kyanite concentrate decreased from 2.02% and 5% to 1.30% and 1%, respectively. The disadvantage of low kyanite grade in raw ore is compensated by accessory recovery of garnet and magnetite in the ore.

Jan 1, 2014

By P. N. Mohan Das, K. Harikrishna Bhat

"The major ilmenite reserves are located in India at Chavara (CH), Manavalakurichi ( MK) and Chatrapur, Orissa (OR). India stands first in terms of ilmenite reserves, which are estimated to be 278 million tonnes out of which, 142 million tonnes are processable. Mineralo-chemical analysis shows that Chavara ilmenite is the most weathered one with about 60% TiO2 while Chatrapur is the least weathered with about 50% TiO2. Co-existence of ilmenite with pseudorutile, rutile and haematite is observed in substantially varying amounts in the three deposits. It is observed that the tropical weathering rather than the source rock difference has apparently played an important role in imparting major compositional and structural dissimilarities among ilmenites in different places.In processing of ilmenite through the Becher process, aeration rusting of pre-reduced ilmenite is found to be the rate limiting step thus, affecting the productivity of the process. Investigations have proved that the addition of some organic compounds such as glyoxal, sucrose etc., to the system accelerates the reaction to such an extent that the rusting time has been reduced to less than half.A new route of processing ilmenite for synthetic rutile has also been developed in which, ilmenite is carbothermally reduced and then processed through plasma route. The slag thus obtained is processed further to get high-grade synthetic rutile, metallic iron and high purity iron oxide. The process has been scaled up in a continuous moving bed plasma reactor. It is technologically and economically more viable where, all the iron values are recovered as salable byproducts. This paper describes the salient features of the technologies developed for the beneficiation of ilmenite to synthetic rutile."

Jan 1, 2003

By W. Yao, M. L. Li, R. Cui

"The purpose of this research is providing a flotation process for recovery of lead in lead silver residues from a zinc smelting plant with a new hydroximic acid collector (HOC). The collecting ability and reaction mechanisms of HOC were investigated based on pure mineral flotation tests and analysis of zeta potential. The pure anglesite flotation tests showed that HOC has a good collecting ability for anglesite. Zeta potential measurements proved that HOC adsorbed on anglesite surface physically and chemically. The lead-silver residues in a zinc smelting plant with lead grade about 17.5% was used as raw material for flotation tests. The results showed that under the conditions of pH adjusting agent lime 500g/t, inhibitors sodium silicate 2000g/t, collector HOC 1500g/t, frother alcohol oil 75g/t, the grade of the lead concentrate can be reach 47.18% and the recovery was 76.39% by one roughing-one scavenging-three cleaning and middles back to the flow-sheet in turn after the lead-silver residues were washed by two stages of cleaning-filtration.INTRODUCTION Nowadays, with the increasing exploitation of natural mineral resources, more and more secondary resources should be researched and used for the valuable metals. Hydrometallurgical zinc leaching residues, which contain a considerable amount of zinc, lead, silver and other minor valuable constituents, is a typical and abundant secondary resources (Zhang et al., 2011). A huge quantity of zinc leaching residues (ZLR) had been produced per year (Jiang et al., 2017).This residues not only occupy precious land but also threaten the environment because of the dissolved heavy metals especially in rainy days (Han et al., 2014). Consequently, it is urgent to develop an effective and clean method to dispose this residues which can benefit not only in economical but also in environmental (Jha et al., 2001)."

Jan 1, 2018