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By I. A. Agapov, I. S. Anisimov, N. V. Rylov, A. M. Sagitova

"The smelter slags represented silicate crystalline rock with medium to coarse-grained structure with spinifex skeletal network of olivine in hedenbergite matrix. Accessory magnetite, pyrrhotite and copper sulfides chalcopyrite, bornite, covellite, chalcocite and digenite occurred in dissemination in silicate matrix. The sample was studied by optical and electron microscopy with support of quantitative XRD. Modal mineralogical composition included olivine, pyroxene, magnetite, chalcopyrite, quartz, pyrrhotite. Copper deportment showed copper distributed in chalcopyrite (40 %), cuprite (22 %), covellite (21 %), bornite, chalcocite, digenite (5 %), Cu-bearing pyrrhotite (4 %) and spinel (2%). Liberation of copper minerals in the material ground to P80=71 µm was good with over 90 % sulfides in free grains and floatable binaries. The results showed theoretical possibility of 65 % copper recovery by flotation. Conclusion based on mineralogical data was precisely confirmed with flotation tests studies that proved to recover around 60 % of copper to commercial grade concentrate. INTRODUCTION Annual world copper matte smelter slags production is estimated to be millions of tones and contain thousands tones of unrecovered Cu, Zn and significant amounts of Ag and Au. Mineralogical study of one large processing sample of material of historical piles of Cu matte smelter slag was carried out to find possibility to recover copper and define theoretical recovery by flotation. The study of the slag material was aimed to determine possibility of upgrading the material on existing copper flotation plant to develop additional mineral resources. The objectives for mineralogical investigation were to target for best liberation fineness, determine theoretical recovery and possible concentrate quality for sulfide flotation tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS Large representative processing sample was collected by mixing of 120 t of slag material representatively excavated from historical piles of Cu matte smelter slag. The sample was used to define the processing technology to recover copper and gold from the material."

Jan 1, 2018

By T. Wajima

"A novel carbonaceous immobilizing agent for heavy metal contaminated soil was prepared from rice straw using sulfur immersion and pyrolysis, and the lead immobilization in artificial contaminated soils using sulfur-impregnated carbonaceous material was estimated. The rice straws were cut to 1 cm pieces, and then immersed in 0.1 - 1 M K2S solution for 0 - 24 h to prepare sulfur-immersed materials. The immersed-materials were heated at 400 oC for 1 h in nitrogen gas to produce the sulfur-impregnated carbonaceous material by pyrolysis. The abilities of the product to immobilize lead from aqueous solution were examined to obtain the product with high lead immobilization ability. With increasing K2S concentration, the immobilization ability of the product for lead gradually increases and then above 0.5 M K2S those are almost constant, while 15 min is sufficient for the immersed time to obtain the product with high lead immobilization ability. The product prepared from material immersed in more than 0.5 M K2S solution for less than 15 min has a maximum immobilization ability for lead ion. The lead immobilization using the sulfur-impregnated product is sustainable due to the formation of leadhillite [Pb4SO4(CO3)2(OH)2] and anglesite [PbSO4]. The product can immobilize lead ion in various artificial lead contaminated soils. By mixing artificial lead contaminated soil with the sulfur-impregnated product, the eluted solution became neutral, and the eluted concentrations of lead ion dropped below the Japanese elution standard for soil.INTRODUCTION Soil contamination with heavy metals is a worldwide problem. Accumulation of heavy metals in soils affect soil ecology, agricultural productivity, quality of agricultural products, water resources, and serious health problems for human and animal (Raicevic, et al., 2005). In the United States, for example, approximately 63 % of the sites on the National Priority List (NPL) for the treatment of contaminated soils are contaminated by metals, and lead is the most common metal, found at 15 % of the sites. In Japan, according to a report by the Ministry of Environment, 43 % of the contaminated sites that exceed the environmental quality standards are contaminated by lead compounds. Soil contamination by lead compounds is also prevalent in other developed and developing countries where lead compounds are used extensively in industrial activities without careful contamination management. Lead is a ubiquitous heavy metal pollutant in soils due to their use widely. The primary sources of Pb contamination include industrial activities such as mining, smelting of metals, and the use of Pb-containing products such as paints, lead-acid batteries, bullets, gasoline and pesticides (Cao, et al., 2009). It can damage human nervous (especially children) and reproductive systems (ATSDR, 2007). The high concentration of Pb in the soil poses risks to human and animal health by the leaching of metals from the soil into water and the consumption of edible plants growth in the contaminated soil. Therefore, proper remediation is necessary to reduce metal availability in soil for protecting human health."

Jan 1, 2018

By Weiran Zuo, Narayan Krishnan, Frédéric von der Weid, Emmy Manlapig, Fengnian Shi, Klaas van der Wielen

Laboratory study has identified a new application of high voltage electrical pulse technology for pre-weakening ores. In recent years, the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), Newcrest Mining and SELFRAG AG have conducted joint research in validation of pre-weakening of SAG mill feed through the pilot scale tests and comminution circuit simulations. Ten tons of SAG mill feed with a top particle size 150 mm were tested with two pilot scale SELFRAG machines installed in Switzerland. A simulation study using JKSimMet software was carried out to find where the high voltage pulses pre-weakening technique can be best applied in a gold-copper ore comminution circuit, based on the data of the pilot scale SELFRAG tests. A novel comminution circuit was designed, which incorporated SELFRAG to pre-condition part of SAG mill feed (9.5 to 150 mm) and to treat the circulating SAG mill pebbles. The high voltage pulse technology effectively reduced the amount of ‘critical size’ particles in the SAG mill and pre-weakened particle strength for grinding. Attributing to the nature of bi-modal size distribution and the significantly reduced F80, the simulations showed that the SAG mill had spare capacity to process part of hydrocyclone underflow from the secondary ball mill grinding circuit. The simulations indicated that the novel comminution circuit had the potential to remove two MP1000 pebble crushers and one 10 MW ball mill from the existing 2000 t/h grinding circuit. A 5 kWh/t energy reduction by adopting the novel comminution circuit in a gold-copper operation may be realized. This would result in substantial savings in operation costs.

Jan 1, 2014

By S. F. Kaplan, A. S. Dolotov, V. N. Kovalev

"The proportion of refractory sulphide ores and concentrates in world gold mining industry is growing every year. Pressure oxidation of these materials (in autoclave) allows to oxidize gold hosting minerals. Traces of halides and pseudohalides present in the slurry liquids contribute to formation of complex gold compounds. Sorption-active carbon present in ores leads to irreversible adsorption of complex gold compounds and their loss. The objective of the research is to study gold extraction dependence on the concentration of chloride-, cyanide- and thiocyanate-ions in the slurry liquids during pressure oxidation. Double refractory flotation concentrate of the Bakyrchik deposit was used for the testwork. The research was planned on the basis of a full factorial experimental design with additional refining experiments. Ligand concentrations (0 – 1000 mg/l Cl-, 0 – 600 mg/l CN-, 0 – 1200 mg/l of SCN-), temperature (200 – 240 °?) and retention time (1 – 6 h) were used as variables of pressure oxidation process. It was determined that sulfide minerals oxidize much faster than ""organic"" carbon. Under the conditions of T = 240 ?C, t = 2 h, sulphide sulfur oxidation was 95.6%, while ""organic"" carbon oxidation was 46.1 %. Each of the examined ligands has a significant adverse impact on gold extraction. Analysis of the experimental data demonstrated that with a high degree of confidence (R2 = 0.883) gold extraction does not depend on the ligand type, but only on its concentration and the ""organic"" carbon oxidation degree. In case of complete oxidation of ""organic"" carbon, the presence of the ligand (L = Cl-, CNS-, CN-) in the liquids at a concentration of up to 20 millimole/L does not significantly affect gold extraction. The assumption that the main factor of preg-robbing in ???-CIL treatment of double refractory concentrates is the natural ""organic"" carbon sorption-active to gold has been confirmed. INTRODUCTION In recent decades, placer gold mining has been gradually declining and hardrock gold mining, including ""refractory"" gold mining, has been growing all over the world, as well as in the Russian Federation (http://www.miningworld.ru, 2015). One of the main reasons why gold ores are refractory is gold adsorption on natural carbonaceous materials (""organic carbon""). Only a few technologies are suitable for processing such ore concentrates (a significant amount of gold is contained in refractory hardrock ore both in Russia and worldwide) (Vorob'yev-Desyatovskiy N.V., Yepifanov A.V., 2014)."

Jan 1, 2018

By T. Surkova

For the moment reserves of high-grade ores are practically depleted requiring ever-increased involvement of low assay raw materials, such as black-shale ores, in industrial operations. Black-shale ores are constituted of minerals containing such valuable components as vanadium, uranium, molybdenum, manganese, and rare-earth elements (REE). We studied technogenic solutions of black-shale ores processing, after uranium, molybdenum, and vanadium were recovered. Mentioned solutions contain rare-earth elements in substantial quantities (S REE 70-100 mg/dm3) that is very important factor taking into consideration the world demand ever-increasing last years. Higher concentrations of iron and aluminum inhibiting REE sorption and extraction recovery are found in solutions. We propose a method of hydrolytic deposition to cleaning solutions from impurity elements (Fe, Al). Study of hydrolytic deposition kinetics allowed identifying optimal conditions to run this process. Rare-earth elements may be recovered from purified solutions through sorption process followed by their further deposition from eluates in form of concentrates. Keywords: black-shale ores, rare-earth elements, a method of hydrolytic deposition, impurity elements, sorption

Sep 1, 2012

To extract the gold from refractory gold concentrate with high sulfur and arsenic, the gold concentrate was catalytically oxidized to expose the gold for cyanide leaching. The effects of reaction temperature, initial nitric acid concentration, reaction time and initial gold concentrate concentration on the conversion rate were studied. The results show that the appropriate conditions for the catalytical oxidation of this gold concentrate are: reaction temperature of 65 oC; initial nitric acid concentration of 25% (wt.); reaction time of 1.5 hours; initial gold concentrate concentration of 10% (wt.). Under such conditions, the conversion rate of gold concentrate is 92%. The solution can be used to prepare nano-iron oxide red pigment. Gases released in the process can be recycled and reused by oxidation absorption. A chemical background of catalytic oxidation is proposed.

Jan 1, 2014

By E. N. Levchenko, K. V. Bulatov, G. I. Gazaleeva

"The article highlights the new procedure of choosing special methods of disintegration for very complicated rare ores. Especially, there is a complex approach to criteria of comparing different types of crashing machines. Criteria are as follows: degree of crashing, degree of grinding, degree of slime creation and the new creations criteria for selection. The procedure is tested on tantalium and zelestinium ore. A new methods was shown the preference impact crashing machine MD-7 for zelestinium ore. In product of crashing 0,050 mm size are 9.4 %, 0,005 mm size – 2.5 %.This is gut result, and show the best indexes of slime creation. The check of the proposed new methods was done when comparing the crushing of tantalium ores of the Otboynoe deposit in cone inertial and centrifugal impact crushers and roller press. A research was conducted different crashing machines under laboratory and semi-industrial conditions. Different operation modes of crushers were also checked. The comparison of the crushing selectivity criterion and degree of crashing showed that the centrifugal impact crusher (CC) and roller press (RP) has the lower indexes than the cone inertial crusher (CIC). Degrees of crashing for different crashing machines are:centrifugal impact crusher – 10.1;roller press – 10.8;cone inertial crusher – 14.2. The crusher CC the selection criterion is 0,632 units, RP – 0.730, where as for the crusher CIC – 0.848 units. The best crushing mode for the crusher CIC-300? is as follows: turning angle of debalance is 0°, peripheral speed of a cone rotation – 1420 r.p.m, specific energy consumption- 4.99 kW*t/t. Crusher CIC-300? is the best for tantalium ores of the Otboynoe deposit. The new methodic are verification.INTRODUCTION Rare metal concentration circuits are complex, energy-intensive, and costly. The reasons for this include the multimetal nature of the rare metal ores, their volatile material composition and low grade. That is why careful selection of ore preparation circuits is of great importance for minimizing the energy inputs and maximizing the liberation of the valuable minerals. Recent research (Khopunov, 2011, Gazaleeva, 2015) has demonstrated that the most efficient comminution processes available to the mineral processing industry are selective disintegration, crushing and grinding, allowing to liberate the mineral particles along the cleavage in the comminution process. These methods are indispensable for the processing of finely disseminated refractory ores prone to slime formation. Many rare metal ores found in Russia are of this type."

Jan 1, 2018

By Victor Avdokhin, Ivan Kovlekov

"Studies of the process of concentration of gold-containing sands and technogenic resources show that the main reason of gold losses is misbalance between size of gold particles and degree of roughness of mineral bed. This results in free circulation of small gold particles in pores with following washing off the particles from the bed by turbulent flows.We elaborated design of magnetic sluice, intended for improving efficiency of recovering fine gold by optimizing magnetic field of a magnetic system on the base of forming catching coat from magnetic mineralsThe magnetic sluice includes trough-shaped body from magnetic-conducting material. On the bottom of the trough, magnets are placed, and opposite poles of the magnets are oriented outwards. Thickness of the bottom is determined to be sufficient for locking magnetic lines of force of the magnets on each other. The magnets of rectangular plate shape are placed on the rough bottom, covering the whole surface or with spare areas; the magnets are placed across the trough with alteration of rows with the same pole orientation.Catching coat is formed of natural magnetic and weak-magnetic placer minerals in field of magnetic system of the sluice. Magnetic minerals, placing along magnetic lines of force, form rough coat of fluffy structure. Size of the magnetic particles is chosen taking into account expected size of gold particles, which are to be fixed on the rough coat or between the magnetic particles. Changing coarseness of particles of mineral bed allows to regulate selectivity of recovering heavy minerals.Forming artificial fleece from magnetic minerals of initial sand, increasing capacity of the bed and relative hydraulic proportionality of mineral particles of the bed provide for the most effective recovery of fine gold."

Jan 1, 2003

By G. Dodbiba, T. Fujita, M. Kawata, S. Yamasaki, K. Mitsuhashi, J. Ponou, Y. Iwazaki, T. Atarashi

"The grade of copper ore and concentrate is recently decreasing and it will continues decrease further in the future. The effective liberation treatment for low grade copper ore and the removal of arsenic from copper concentrate is becoming even more important. In this work, the magnetic separation of copper concentrate by heat treatment and the flotation of low grade copper ore by microwave irradiation was studied. The heat treatment of copper minerals in the air atmosphere, the magnetization of most copper minerals increases and especially the magnetization of chalcopyrite shows the largest magnetization, after being heated at 500 oC. The wet HGMS of copper concentrate has been studied and the results have then been compared with the ones when calcined concentrate was used instead. The microwave treatment before ball milling increased the degree of liberation up to 100%, especially when compared with the case when only ball mill was applied to the as-received ore. The flotation of ground copper ore after microwave irradiation showed that the grade copper minerals such as chalcosite and bornite in froth part is much larger than that of tailing part.INTRODUCTION The copper has been used many kind of technological fields and will be more important for the future technology. The global copper production from mine is predicted as shown in Figure 1 (Northey, S. 2014). The copper production peak will be appeared in 2030 and the demand peaks in 2040. In the future the recycling of stocked copper and copper alloy will be necessary to satisfy the demand (Yoshimura, A. 2018). Changes in the grade of copper in copper concentrate, exported from several countries are shown in Figure 2. The copper grade in copper concentrate after mineral processing is gradually decreases every year and it is less than 30% nowadays. On the other hand, the copper ore grade change and prediction are shown in Figure 3. The grade of copper ore is also decreasing to less than 1% in 2010 (Northey, S. 2014). In the future the copper grade gradually decreases, reaching to less than 0.5% in 2080 and the energy to produce the copper metal will increase. The effective liberation treatment for low grade copper ore and the removal of arsenic from copper minerals become more important, nowadays. The microwave irradiation of copper ore for the liberation, energy etc. has been reported by several researchers (for example, Batchelor, A.R. 2017). The magnetization change of copper ore by heating has been reported to remove the arsenic (Sawada, M 2015). In this report, the magnetic separation of copper concentrate by heat treatment and the flotation of copper concentrate by microwave irradiation are discussed after the characteristics of secondary copper minerals are investigated by these treatments."

Jan 1, 2018

By C. Hazotte, M. -O. Simonnot, V. Houzelot, B. Laubie, M. Guilpain, B. Jally

"More than 400 plants in the world are able to accumulate nickel (Ni) in their aerial parts at concentrations higher than 10 g per kg of dry biomass. Then, Ni can be recovered from the biomass of these hyperaccumulator plants. Agromining is a chain consisting in growing such plants and producing metal. It has been developed thanks to the combined know-how of agronomy and hydrometallurgy. Hydrometallurgical processes have been designed; two different pathways were developed: i) acid leaching of ashes after biomass combustion and ii) direct Ni water extraction after biomass grinding. Experiments with 2 species of Ni hyperaccumulators (A. murale from the Balkans and R. bengalensis from Malaysia) have shown that the first process is very robust and transposable. For the second one, the way Ni is stored in the plant has a strong influence on extraction. A. murale transformation was explored in more details from the lab scale to the pilot scale. Results proved that Ni is totally transferred into the aqueous phase after 2 hours at 90 °C. A life cycle assessment has clearly shown the environmental interest of this approach (especially by detoxifying agricultural soils). INTRODUCTION Agromining is an emerging phytotechnology aiming at recovering metals thanks to hyperaccumulating plants (van der Ent et al., 2018). These plants are able to accumulate very high concentrations of metal in their aerial parts. For example, for nickel, the hyperaccumulation threshold is 0.1%, i.e. 10 grams of metal per kilogram of dry biomass. There are some advantages to use this technology instead of conventional mining techniques: •,Treating unconventional metal resources: they can be (i) natural soils with low concentrations but also low fertility because of the metal presence (like serpentine soils for Ni) (Bani et al., 2015), (ii) mine tailings or (iii) industrial wastes (like surface treatment sludge) after soil construction (Rue, 2017);"

Jan 1, 2018

By S. Banisi, A. Ghasemi, S. Zare, F. Ghorbani, E. Nematollahi

"Comminution is the most energy intensive operation which constitutes the major portion of operating and capital costs of the mineral processing plants. Working at the maximum operating capacity of comminution equipment plays a significant role in the efficiency of the circuit. Appropriate design of cone crusher feed box could result in the choked crushing which is known as a vital factor in achieving target performance. In this research, the non-uniform cone crusher feeding at the Sarcheshmeh copper complex was studied and appropriate measures were taken to solve the problem. The problem resulted in non-uniform and high wear rate of crusher liners and high fluctuations of power draw. In recent decades, the discrete element method (DEM) has been applied successfully to study the effect of different factors on the behavior of particles flow. In this work, various designs for feed box were tested using an in-house developed DEM software called KMPCDEM©. The best feed box design obtained from the simulations was selected, constructed and installed in of the cone crushers. The new feed box design resulted in more uniform feed distribution on the distributor plate of crusher indicated by a reduction of the standard deviation of power draw measurements from 13 to 3 kWh. The better control of the crusher, 49% increase in the crusher throughput and finer and narrower product size distribution were the main outcomes of the installation of the new feed box. Furthermore, the wear rate on mantle and liners of crusher not only decreased but it also became uniform.INTRODUCTION Comminution is the most energy intensive operation which constitutes the major portion of operating and capital costs of the mineral processing plants. Reaching the maximum operating capacity in comminution equipment is a key sign of approaching the nominal productivity of the process. Due to the effect of crusher efficiency on the downstream circuit performance, optimization of the crushing circuits has received considerable attention (Herbst, & Potapov, 2004; Quist, & Evertsson, 2010; Li, Huiqi, McDowell, Glenn R, Lowndes and Ian, 2014; Cleary, Sinnott, Morrison, Cummins, & Delaney, 2017). Improving the performance of crushing circuits not only decreases the capital and operating costs but also increases the efficiency of downstream grinding circuits (Jacobson, Janssen, & Urbinatti, 2010). In cone crushers particles can be subjected to two different modes of compressive breakage; single particle breakage (free feeding) and inter-particle breakage (choked feeding). The maximum efficiency of the cone crusher directly depends on the type of feeding arrangement (Operation Manual, 1977). An appropriate feeding must lead to choked feeding the cone crusher. If the rate and method of feeding the crushers are correctly be executed, the maximum efficiency of the crushers could be available (Jacobson et al., 2010)."

Jan 1, 2018

By T. Niedoba

The ash contents in coal particles were examined in the paper dependably on particle size and its density. So, the two-dimensional regressive function Z=Z(?, D) was the searched object, where Z is random variable describing ash contents, ? - density and D ? particle diameter. This dependence is determined basing on experimental data concerning the coal of type 31. For this coal, the method of ordinary kriging is applied to calculate the values of a random variable Z. This method requires the proper selection of so-called variogram function, which 4 forms are considered in this paper in purpose to select the best solution. The given results were then evaluated by the residual deviation value and so compared with empirical data.

Sep 1, 2012

By Garren Edwards, van der Westhuizen. Andre

"Due to the depletion of easily treated coarser ores, more mineralogically complex ores with smaller valuable mineral grain sizes are treated, the means to liberate these minerals lies in grinding finer (Partyka & Yan, 2007). Grinding to these fine sizes is energy intensive, and using standard ball mills are energy inefficient at these sizes (P80 < 75µm). Therefore, stirred mills are becoming increasingly prevalent in the mineral processing industry. In order to optimize these mills, the effects and mechanisms of the significant variables need to be understood. This paper investigates a laboratory scale vertical stirred mill (Deswik mill) in an ultra fine grinding application of a South African platinum ore. The operating variables that are considered are stirrer speed, media size, media filling, and slurry density. The resulting grinding efficiencies are considered in two ways. Firstly, a statistical model is fitted to identify the effect of the significant variables on grinding efficiency, and secondly, the grinding efficiencies are also considered in terms of a stress energy model to determine whether this can partly explain the grinding mechanism in this mill. A factorial design of experiments was used on three levels for each variable, such that only linear interactions, second order interactions and two variable interactions are included in the statistical model. The results show that tip speed, media size, percent solids and mill filling are all significant to the grind, at differing energy inputs in the grinding process. The interaction effects of these variables are also dependent on the energy inputs. The results also found that the Kwade stress energy model is applicable to this mill and can be very useful to find the most efficient operating conditions for this system. The most energy efficient operating conditions in terms of mill speed and media size were typically somewhat below the standard operating conditions and it is expected that this is most probably done in order to increase the grinding rate, but at the expense of sacrificing some grinding efficiency."

Jan 1, 2014

By Arkady Senchenko, Andrey Vasiliev, Alexander Aksenov, Metodi Zlatev

"This paper considers the issue of treating argillaceous oxidized ores with low gold grade (around 1.0 g/t). These ores according to their gold recovery level can be treated by heap leaching and agitation cyanide leaching, but low gold grade makes this treatment uneconomic. Heap leaching of argillaceous ores requires high consumption of binding agent for pelletizing to create suitable hydro-physical properties of material, which leads to increasing process cost and makes the material treatment unprofitable. Agitation cyanide leaching of this ore requires grinding processes; these expenses would not be paid back by the amount of gold recovered. Considering the above, poor argillaceous oxidized ores are recommended to be treated according to a combined technology including fractionation of ore, heap leaching of coarse fraction and agitation leaching of argillaceous fraction. Complex approach application allows one to avoid expenses incurred for material grinding and high consumption of binding agent for pelletizing. The success of this technology implementation will firstly depend on the quality of material fractionation, therefore the section of disintegration and division of ore into different components will be the most important part of flowsheet development for gold production. When disintegrating minerals at positive temperatures both standard (mechanical disintegration - scrubbers) and innovative (hydraulic method of disintegration - HydroClean units) equipment is applicable. HydroClean units are characterized by lower energy and water consumption. In a number of cases it is required to treat frozen ores. When treating frozen material standard approaches to disintegration are not reasonable due to their low efficiency. In order to treat frozen material a two stage disintegration flowsheet with screening after each stage is recommended. The first stage is recommended to be performed in a scrubber, the second - in a HydroClean unit. This technological flowsheet will provide high and steady values for ore separation into fractions at low energy consumption for disintegration."

Jan 1, 2014

By Francisco Cubillos, Jorge Menacho, Cesar Gomez, Juan Rodríguez

Mineral flotation is the most used process to selectively separate particles of one or more minerals of interest. The process uses natural or induced hydrophobicity to collect particles on the surface of rising bubbles through collisions and formation of bubble-particle aggregates. Flotation machines must keep particles in suspension and well distributed, while at the same time, disperse a mass of air into a population of small bubbles. The efficiency of the separation depends primarily on the characteristics of the bubble population generated in the machine and its distribution and flow throughout its volume. The formation and separation of bubble-particle aggregates create two zones, with strong interactions between them, and with markedly different hydrodynamics conditions. A model describing two-phase hydrodynamics of the continuous and dispersed phases (frother solutions and bubbles, respectively), moving along the whole unit, is proposed. Bubble populations are characterized at the formation stage including the effect of the presence of frothers. Flow through the aggregates formation zone, where bubbles move freely and are closely spherical, is modeled using drift-flux analysis. In the aggregates separation zone, bubbles initially pack maintaining a water layer thick enough to prevent capillary forces to affect their shape. As water drainage proceeds, bubbles deform, capillary channels form, and a network of channels with a diameter size distribution develops; channels become narrower (permeability is reduced) as the distance from the interface increases. Froth hydrodynamics is characterized using models originally developed to describe unsaturated flow through porous solid particle beds. Effects of hydrostatic pressure are considered.

Jan 1, 2014

By Andrey V. Yevdokimov

The results of the test work on gold leaching using high strength of cyanide solution in the presence of activators are presented. The major physical and chemical relationships of gold leaching were determined. Intensive cyanidation results of gravity concentrates with various material compositions using an activator are given. Process design criteria for intensive cyanidation unit were developed on the base of pilot plant test results. Keywords: gold, activators, intensive cyanidation, gravity concentrates

Sep 1, 2012

By I. Y. Titov, Victor D. Samyguin, A. Y. Nikitin

"It is suggested that improvement of separation process efficiency in machines and circuits of selective flotation should be based on application of the principle of technology individualization (PIT). This principle is grounded on the following provisions.The mineral composition of ores is used to establish the correlation between the selective reagent mode and the individual value of hydrodynamic conditions of flotation machines together with individual structure of the process flow diagram. The individuality of all sorts of particles identified by methods of process mineralogy was characterized by their distribution according to the rate of flotation (or spectrum). The spectrum identification is carried out by modeling and by experimental and computational method on the data obtained on various types of laboratory flotation machines.The computer-aided test is used to determine the optimal fraction distribution, which reaches the highest possible level of concentration data. The direction of hydrodynamic factors action on concentration data is estimated based on comparison of design base and experimental spectrum. The improvement of separation efficiency in devices is achieved in special-purpose flotation machines (SFM) the design of which provides optimization of hydrodynamic regime in spatially isolated zones. It is demonstrated that the main parameter of SFM operating mode individualization is the rise rate of bubbles going from the chamber into the froth. During this time the composition of particles optimum for separation is formed on its surface. Additionally, it is necessary to coordinate in the zones the residence time of pulp and foam streams with the air consumption. The improvement of separation efficiency in flotation process flow diagrams may be achieved by making several cascades with SFM installed in them. The individual effective structure of the scheme for a definite ores material composition depends on the ratio of particle varieties in the spectrum and is revealed by modeling."

Jan 1, 2018

By Susanna A. C. Stadler, Chris Aldrich, Jacques J. Eksteen

Slag foaming occurs in several pyrometallurgical processes. These processes include steelmaking in basic oxygen steelmaking furnaces and electric arc furnaces as well as various non-ferrous operations like sulphide smelting/converting and base metal slag cleaning. Although slag foaming in steelmaking processes has been extensively researched, little attention has been given to slag foaming in non-ferrous operations. Slag foaming phenomena are complex because often the system consists of three or more phases. With this in mind, factors previously identified as influencing slag foaming were investigated. These include the slag basicity, physical properties of the slag, namely viscosity, surface tension and density, the formation of particles due to undercooling of the slag and the FexO concentration in the slag. The effect of increasing FexO concentration was found to decrease the foam index due to lower viscosities, but higher surface tension depression appears to have led to increased foam index values at high FexO concentrations. The foaming index decreases with increasing basicity, until precipitation of solids occurs. After this point, the foaming index was found to increase with increasing basicity due to increased solids precipitation. In general, increasing amounts of slag-wettable solids led to higher foam indices, but the precise nature of the effect on slag foaming was dependant on the nature of the solid precipitate.

Jan 1, 2003

By K. Lillkung

The use of secondary sources has become a very attractive option in the production of platinum group metals as the demand for these metals has increased. One of the promising sources are the spent catalysts, which provide an attractive source as they have relatively high metal content compared with the ores where the metal is originally extracted from. The concentration of platinum group metals in catalytic converters is in the range of 0.1-1 mg/g as the concentration in ores is usually less than 10 ppm. Aqueous chloride solutions are claimed to be a cost effective way in which platinum group metals can be brought into solution and concentrated. In this work the effect of different parameters on the dissolution rates of Pt, Pd and Rh were investigated. The parameters investigated were the Cl- concentration, the temperature and applied potential. Chloride concentrations used were 62.5, 90, 125 and 250 g/l. Temperatures were 25, 40, 60, 80 and 94°C. Potentials were 950, 1050, 1150 and 1250 mV vs. SCE for Pt and Rh and 380, 410, 440 and 470 mV vs. SCE for Pd. Dissolution rates were calculated from the current densities determined by potentiostatic measurements. Thin wire electrodes were used in the measurements. As expected, higher temperature, higher potential and higher chloride content generally increasedthe dissolution rate. However, the effect was nonlinear and slightly different for different metals. The results show that strongly oxidizing conditions are needed in order to achieve reasonable dissolution rates. With the highest chloride content and at potential of 1250 mV vs. SCE and 94°C the dissolution rate of Pt was nearly 1 mm/h, whereas in similar conditions Rh achieved a rate of only nearly 100 µm/h. Similarly, with the highest chloride content and at potential of 470 mV vs. SCE at 94 °C the dissolution rate of Pd was nearly 1 mm/h. Keywords: Pt, Pd, Rh, redox potential

Sep 1, 2012

"The research aimed at solving the problem of measuring instantaneous local physical quantities for multiphase flows in mineral processing, which are common in minerals industry and with significant challenges. Due to the lack of proper measurement tools currently in minerals industry, multiphase flows (such as in flotation cell) are treated as in a “black-box”. It is crucial to develop measurement technique by which the acquired processing data can be used for process optimization and control. By measuring the conductivity distribution across a measurement area, Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) has been adopted by many researchers to monitor and investigate many processes involving multiphase flows in other industry sectors. A compact ERT probe was built and then used to measure the conductivity distribution within a few flotation machines. In a flowing foam flotation column, the results showed that ERT can accurately measure the change of liquid content (high conductivity fluid distribution). In another part of work, based on the Green-Kubo relations, ERT can measure turbulence via the fluctuation of conductivity caused by bubbles moving through the measurement area, changing the density of the fluid. The tests with the Metso 3 m3 RCS flotation cell were also carried out for turbulence measurement under different air rates and impeller speeds. The results of flotation cell from ERT measurement showed that varying impeller speed had more pronounced influence than changing air rate. When impeller speed is increased, the size of the high turbulent zone increases. ERT is a powerful technique that has the potential to be used for a wider range of applications. The future work will be carried out with more case studies and expanded to more processes such as leaching process, high temperature flows in further downstream production chain (steel making process and alloy manufacturing process).INTRODUCTIONMultiphase flows constitute a majority of the naturally-occurring and industrially-relevant flows, especially in mineral processing. Some of the measurement techniques have been used for the study of fluid characteristics. Optical techniques such as Laser Doppler Anemometry (Kyselaa et al., 2013) and Particle Image Velocimetry (Nobach and Bodenschatz, 2009) can produce accurate measurement results with high spatial and temporal resolution, but their applications are limited to transparent flows. Hot wire probes (Amini et al., 2013) have high spatial and temporal resolution in turbulence quantification, but they are susceptible to environmental factors."

Jan 1, 2018