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By Gulsen Tozsin, Ekrem Kalkan, Taskin Oztas, Elif Agirman Akturk, Ercument Koc, Ali Ihsan Arol

Marble wastes are generated by quarries (marble quarry waste-MQW) and processing plants (marble cutting waste-MCW). The large amount of marble wastes is becoming serious problem for industry and environment because of discarded into rivers and lagoons, without any treatment. Marble wastes can cause environmental problem and economic loss if the waste is not used. However, this type of wastes has a good potential to be used as an amendment for the neutralization of acid soils. In this study, MQW and MCW were applied to an acid soil at different rates and their effectiveness on neutralization was evaluated by a laboratory incubation test. The results showed that soil pH increased from 4.71 to 6.36 and 6.84 by applications of MCW and MQW, respectively. It was suggested that MQW and MCW could be used as soil amendments for the neutralization of acid soils, and thus the negative impact of marble wastes on the environment could be reduced.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. G. Anderson

Industrially proven and applied nitrogen species catalyzed (i.e. NSC) acidic pressure leaching has been utilized to treat a number of ores, concentrates and recycled materials. This versatile technology offers many advantages including low temperatures, low pressures, low capital costs, low operating costs, faster throughput and less costly materials of construction than conventional pressure oxidation. This paper will elucidate the application of this technology for production of gold, silver, palladium, rhodium, zinc, germanium, gallium, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, rhenium and nickel. Recycled material applications will also be elucidated. In addition, details of an application for treatment of a refractory chalcopyrite copper and gold bearing ore will be presented and pertinent economics discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By Zhen Hu, Chenghang Wang, Jianjian Zou, Xiujuan Li, Hanwen Li, Tai Wang, Baoxu Song

A rare earth deposit in Sichuan, China is rich in wulfenite in addition to bastnaesite and barite, and the deposit has already adopted high intensity magnetic separation technique to pre-enrich the rare earth minerals, during which the wulfenite and barite have been left in the non-magnetic product. Because the chemical composition of wulfenite is only 24.17% Mo and 42.15% Pb, it is very hard to obtain qualified lead or molybdenum concentrates by physical separation process. To pre-concentrate the wulfenite, flotation has been first introduced, and by using 100g/t GY-7 as dispersant, 1500g/t CP-1 as depressant and 160g/t GY-4 as collector, a floatation concentrate assaying 15.52% Mo with a recovery of 86.12% was obtained. Then a leaching process was conducted by using 1.2mol/L Na2S as leaching agent, and molybdenum can be translated into sodium molybdate in the solution with a leaching recovery of 99%. To recover rare earth oxides (REO) and lead from the leaching residue, a magnetic separation process has been conducted. Above all, by the whole process, the molybdenum recovery reaches 86.16% in the sodium molybdate solution, and a lead concentrate assaying 54.59% Pb with recovery of 27.99% could be obtained.

Jan 1, 2014

By I. S. M. K. Ilankoon

In heap leaching the transport of the acid from the drippers to the surface of the ore particles is a major factor in the overall performance of a heap. This flow behavior is complex as the flow is unsaturated and occurs along a tortuous set of inter-particle channels and connections. Previous modeling of this system has used equations from oil and ground water flow to model these systems, but the applicability of these models with the larger particles found in typical heaps is suspect as these systems are not necessarily capillary dominated. In particular, as the characteristic particle size goes from below to above a few centimeters, the flow changes from capillary to gravity dominated. This means that typical heap leaching heaps cover this interesting, but complex, transitional fluid flow regime. In this paper a set of experimental studies of this flow, including PEPT (positron emission particle tracking) based tracer experiments, highly accurate liquid holdup measurements and axial dispersion experiments using salt tracers will be presented. In this study, flow through mono-dispersed particle beds was carried out. In particular, the hysteresis in the liquid holdup as the liquid flow rate into the particle bed is varied is investigated, since this hysteresis means that the relationship between flow rate and holdup is history dependent, an effect not included in models currently used to describe fluid flow in heaps. A theoretical model that describes this hysteresis will also be presented. Keywords: heap leaching, hydrometallurgy, modeling

Sep 1, 2012

By C. Y. Wang

Anodic reaction mechanism of complicated antimony-lead concentrate in Slurry Electrolysis has been investigated by the anodic polarization curves determined under various conditions. The main reactions on the anode are the oxidation of FeCln (2-n), though the oxidation of jamesonite particle on the anode can occur during the whole process, it is less. With the help of mineralogy study and relevant tests, the leaching reaction mechanism of jamesonite and gudmundite during Slurry Electroly-sis has been ascertained also. Because of the oxidation reaction of FeCl3 produced by antimony-lead concentrate itself, the non-oxidation complex acid dissolution of jamesonite, the oxidation complex acid dissolution of gudmundite, and the oxidation of air carried by stirring, the leaching ratio of antimony reaches to about 35% when using HCl-NH4Cl solution to leach antimony-lead concentrate directly. So given the theoretical electric quantity, which to oxide antimony in Slurry Electrolysis, all of antimony, lead and iron, which contained in antimony-lead concentrate, are leached.

Jan 1, 2014

By Yuexin Han, Wenbo Li, Yan Shan, Yanjun Li, Shumin Zhang

"With the accelerating pace of resource extraction, the quality of resources is decreasing, and the old tailing dams which have served for several decades have become the focus of attention. The secondary recovery of valuable metals in the tailings is an important aspect of the comprehensive utilization of tailings. The average iron content of iron tailing is 8%-12% in China. The research aimed at exploring the low-cost and efficient technical route to recycle eastern tailings of Anshan iron mining area. The purpose of the research is to scientifically find the rational conditions of magnetizing roasting and to provide an increase in recovery and quality of concentrates. The eastern tailings of Anshan mining area belong to high silicon bearing iron tailings, iron mainly exists in form of hematite-limonite with an iron grade of 10.60%, the main component of gangue is SiO2 with a grade of 76.22%. In order to reduce the influence of the tailings on the environment, fluidized magnetizing roasting and low intensity magnetic separation for the eastern tailings of Anshan mining area were carried out to improve the utilization of the tailings. The results indicated that an iron concentrate with an iron grade of 65.30% and a recovery of 85.85% could be obtained under the conditions of gas flow rate 8 m3/h, H2 concentration 50%, fluidized magnetizing roasting temperature at 600? for 20s. Phase analysis, magnetism analysis and XRD analysis on roasted materials indicated that hematite-limonite could be transformed to magnetite during the fluidized roasting, then the effective separation of iron and gangues could be made easily by the weak magnetic separation. INTRODUCTION It is universally acknowledged that the grade of iron ore in China is low, the output rate of iron ore tailings is high, usually more than 60%. At present, the comprehensive utilization rate of iron ore tailings is low in China. Generally, the iron ore tailings are stockpiled in the tailings dam. The tailing dams not only occupy a lot of land, but also takes a lot of money to construct and maintain. In addition, the noxious substances in the tailings, such as residual flotation agents and heavy metals, have a severe impact on the ecological environment. There is little doubt that tailing dams have a visual impact on the environment due to their regular geometric shape. Iron tailings can be treated as compound mineral, which is an important component of comprehensive utilization of mineral resources, and is an has been widely concerned. Lots of scholars have done a large amount of research work on a large number of iron ore tailings. Since the iron mineral crystal grain size is fine and the iron grade is low, the iron tailings have failed to achieve good selection criteria."

Jan 1, 2018

By W. Q. Zhao

In order to raise the utilization rate of phosphate resource of Al-Jalamid Mine in Saudi Arabia, a flotation experiment for its phosphate rock was carried out by using WF-01collector that have been produced by Wengfu Phosphate Mine. The results showed that WF-01 collector had extensive adaptability for Al-Jalamid phosphate rock, and the grade of phosphate concentrate could be up to 33% P2O5 mixing the upper, middle and lower beds rock as well as its 80% more recovery.

Jan 1, 2014

By Polezhaev S. Yu, I. V. Ukraintsev, Boduen A. Ya, Saburbayeva L. Yu

"Comparison studies of different technologies are performed when selecting optimum option for gold ore and concentrate processing. Methods of ultrafine grinding, oxidizing roasting, bacterial leaching and pressure oxidation are used to extract gold from refractory ores and concentrates. Refractory gold flotation concentrate produced from pyrite-arsenopyrite ores of Bestobe deposit is a case study in this paper. The results of the experimental tests of the direct leaching of flotation concentrate and pre-oxidation products using different methods (oxidizing roasting cinder, pressure oxidation and bacterial leaching cakes) are the following: - cyanidation of original flotation concentrate provides recovery of Au at 46.6 %; - oxidizing roasting increases gold recovery from 46.6 % to 85 %; - BIOX increases gold recovery up to 86 %; - preliminary pressure oxidation of flotation concentrate ensures steadily high Au extraction in the follow-up cyanidation at 94.9-96.5 %. Pressure oxidation and bio-oxidation has changed dramatically the strategy of refractory gold ore processing. These solutions provided for development of ore deposits that considered earlier non-commercial. However, refractory ore processing has a complex character in terms of developing process flowsheet and requires large amount of studies to be performed for each new project. Gold extraction is the basic but not the only criteria to technology selection for gold ore and concentrate processing. Opex and capex, ore reserves, regional geography, developed infrastructure and skill personnel should be considered. Process studies and feasibility study of the developed technology shall be provided for each specific gold ore deposit. INTRODUCTION Due to changes in available feedstock and depletion of easy-to-process ores, refractory ores containing finely disseminated gold and silver in sulphides (primarily, in pyrites and arsenopyrites) are more and more involved into processing. Experts say that such ores amount above 40 % of the world’s gold reserves. Conventional technologies of gold extraction from refractory ores include flotation, roasting and cinder cyanidation (Fraser etal., 1991). However, today’s best available practice for refractory gold ore processing are bacterial (BIOX) and pressure (POX) oxidation."

Jan 1, 2018

By M. Roy

Coke combustion during sintering process is significantly governed by coke breeze size distribution, which in turn affect sinter quality i.e. sinter granulometry, Tumbler index, Reduction Degradation Index and Reducibility Index of sinter. To know the effect of microfines of coke breeze on sintering process parameters, pot sintering tests were conducted and it was found that when microfines are eliminated and optimum coke size (1-3mm) is used yield of sinter increased by more than 7%. Similarly productivity increased by 9%, the strength of sinter i.e. ISO Tumbler Index increased by 2.3% and +10mm sinter size increased by 5.5%. Controlling of microfines during crushing and by improving crushing index will result in improved quality and productivity of sinter with lesser amount of coke breeze. This paper describes that how to optimize solid fuel i.e. coke breeze consumption in sintering process through granulometry control. Keywords: iron ore sintering, coke breeze granulometry, productivity of sinter, quality of sinter

Sep 1, 2012

By T. X. Hu

Pyrite ore is one of the main raw materials in the production of sulfuric acid. For a long time, the raw material containing the pyrite, which is used to produce sulfuric acid, generally contains S only 32%~45%. A plenty of residue from the sulfuric acid production contains 40%~50% Fe and 1%~2% S. Some of the residue also contains Cu, Pb, Zn and other harmful elements like As, thus it pollutes environment seriously and is solid waste. The research on comprehensive utilization of the residue has been made by many scholars. Through the study, the residue can only be used to pro-duce iron concentrate and the iron oxide red pigment. But because of the complex techniques, the low recovery, the low grade of iron concentrate , high sulfur in iron concentrate, causing second waste residue and the environmental pollution, the residue is mainly used as an accessory material in the production of cement, and is of a low value. Therefore, the iron resource in pyrite has not been used efficiently until now. In the paper, the flotation condition test, the flotation open circuit test and the flotation closed circuit test to produce high-purity pyrite concentrate with the low-grade pyrite ore in oceanic ore deposit have been carried on. Flotation reagent scheme of sulfuric acid used as activator and butyl xanthate as collector is determined. After four times depth cleaning, high-purity pyrite concentrate containing 52.82% S, 44.29% Fe, and only 2.89% impurities has been obtained. The S recovery is 99.13%, and the Fe recovery is 96.00% in the high-purity pyrite concentrate. The oxidizing roasting depth desulfurization experiment of the high-purity pyrite concentrate has been conducted. The results show that the Fe grade in the residue obtained is 68.58%, the content of S is 0.25%, the content of P is 0.0084%, the content of As is 0.0065%. The residue is a kind of high-quality iron-smelting raw material. Based on the above experiments, the industrial experiments on producing high-purity pyrite concentrate with the low-grade pyrite ore, and producing sulfuric acid and iron concentrate with high-purity pyrite concentrate have been done. The results indicate that the high-purity pyrite concentrate with the S grade of 51.24%, the Fe grade of 44.15% has been obtained. The iron concentrate obtained with 65.73% Fe and 0.23% S is a sort of high-quality iron-smelting raw material applied to the production of steel and iron smelting. Through the experimental study, the sulfur and iron resources in the pyrite ore have been recovered and utilized efficiently.

Jan 1, 2014

By R. C. Dunne

As ore grades of existing and new ore deposits continue to decrease there is ever increasing pressure to decrease operating costs to maintain profitabitabitiy at existing mine sites and for new projects. The accepted solution to this dilemma in most cases is to increase treatment rate, leading to a coarser grind, at the expense of marginal decreases in recovery. The recovery loss is usually associated with losses of liberated and composite coarse material. This paper will review the practice of coarse particle flotation, including the reagent chemistry, cell hydrodynamics, froth stability, entrainment and flotation cell design, all parameters important to the recovery of coarse liberated and composite particles. This will provide a better understanding of opportunities to improve the recovery of coarse particles. Some examples will be provided.

Sep 1, 2012

By Mojtaba Ghorbannezhad, Abbas Sam, Soroush Arabzadeh

One of the dewatering methods in mineral processing plant is filtration system. Disk filters are included the porous surface with pressure drop on both sides, Water in the pulp passes through the surface and solid particles remain as a cake on it. Wet concentrate production of magnetite processing plant at Golgohar Mining and Industrial Company with solid tonnage of 160 ton per hour and 49% solid amount contains 166 m3/h of water. In the present study, in addition to studying disc filter performance, the effective parameters on cake moisture were studied using Vacuum Bottom-Feed Leaf method (in the laboratory scale). Optimization was performed using the Taguchi method. The results showed that the cake moisture is reduced by increasing particle size and solid percentage (because of specific resistivity reduction), while the rate of cake formation and its thickness are increased. Also, it was found that by increasing pressure, the cake moisture is reduced and cake formation rate and its thickness are increased. In this study, the effect of fabric texture was also examined. Lowest cake moisture was obtained in condition of using compressed plain fabric with mono-multi filament fibres, pressure at 75kPa, solid percentage of 65 to 70, particle size (D80) equivalent to 123µm and disk rotation speed of 1.25 rpm.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. V. Byvaltsev

Adsorption of cyanide complexes of gold, silver, copper, mercury, nickel, cobalt, iron, zinc and cadmium has been studied. Adsorption isotherms of the mentioned metals from individual solutions for different free cyanide concentrations have been obtained. Values of the constants of Freundlich isotherm equation have been calculated. Metal cyanide complexes affinity to activated carbon was determined.

Jan 1, 2014

By B. Csoke

The Bond and the Hardgrove methods are widely used for the determination of the material?s grindability. Generally, the determination of the Bond work index of inhomogeneous materials can be carried out with high deviation using the conventional apparatuses and methods, because of the highly different grindability of components. This is more significant when the composite cement?s grindability is measured, which highly affects the design and operation of cement grinding mills. A possible solution can be the combined application of the Bond-method with the determination of the component?s weight ratio in the product and perform the Bond measurement until the steady state conditions of grindability coefficient (G) and chemical composition of the components are reached. To prove the applicability of the above mentioned idea systematic Bond and Hardgrove grindability tests were carried out of two phase composite materials. The experimental results showed that the application of the combined procedure is proven in order to have a more accurate and reliable calculation of the Bond work index of composite materials, especially when the components have significant difference in the grindability and concentration. The measurements also showed the possibilities and limits of the grindability test methods.

Sep 1, 2012

By H. R. Zhang

In this paper two optional production processes are presented for reasonable utilization of primary sylvinite in Qinghai province, China. The two kinds of products as chlorine-free potash fertilizers; potassium sulphate or potassium magnesium sulphate can be obtained. In the course of potassium sulphate production, using primary sylvinite from Qinghai salt lake as raw material with impurities such as sodium chloride and insoluble in primary sylvinite, it must be prepared by flotation before being converted into potassium sulphate. This final product has found wide use in tobacco industry in China. However, in some cases Chinese farmers would rather buy the fertilizer of potassium magnesium sulphate than high quality of potassium sulphate. With flotation process which is a little different from above mentioned, the potassium magnesium sulphate fertilizer may be produced by washing one of the flotation concentrate presented as picromerite, while another concentrate containing potassium chloride is treated as by-product.

Jan 1, 2014

By Glaser. C., J. Balz, F. Logsch, R. Heiduschke, M. Leiker, P. Ay

The treatment of iron-hydroxide-containing water from ground water and surface water is achieved by a combination of the process steps of flocculation and subsequent mechanical dewatering. The aim is to create solid pellet structures by extending the structure forming flocculation process with a build-up pelletizing process which can be transferred directly into a drying unit. A Taylor-Couette-reactor (diameter of the inner cylinder – 40 mm, gap width – 5 mm) was used for these experimental studies. To produce the necessary flow profile the inner cylinder was rotated at a speed of 230 rpm. The iron hydroxide-containing suspension (dry matter content: 2 mass %) was added simultaneously with the addition of a cationic high-molecular flocculant in various flocculant dosages and residence times of 5 to 15 min. The pellets were examined for parameters such as geometric dimensions, dry substance content and dewatering behaviour. As the results show, there is a direct relationship between the residence time and the geometric dimensions of the pellets. After a residence time of 5 min, round pellets with an average diameter of 6 mm were formed. With an increase in the residence time up to 15 min, a compaction of the pellets could be observed, which resulted in an increase in the dry substance content of 8.0 to 11.2 mass % on average. After completion of the pelletizing process, the pellets were mechanically dewatered by filtration. By applying this innovative wet pelletizing of iron-hydroxide containing suspensions in a Taylor-Couette-reactor, it is possible to carry out the process of flocculation combined with the pellet formation with simultaneous pellet compaction in a single process step. The resulting pellet structures are distinguished from conventional floc structures by an improved water discharge capacity. After classification the pellets can be marked directly as easy-to-handle bulk material, suitable as feedstock in percolation columns for the purification of contaminated fluid streams

Jan 1, 2018

By G. X. Du

Improving reaction effectiveness of asbestos tailings and acid is main means to increase the productivity of magnesium hydroxide and amorphous silica and to reduce production costs. In this paper, the process optimization of acid-leaching reaction process of asbestos tailings is reported. Through the orthogonal experiments of four influence factors, such as acid consumption, reaction temperature, reaction time and initial acid concentration in the leaching reaction. The experiment results indicated that the optimal process parameters were as follows: reaction temperature was 95?, reaction time was 1.5h, acid consumption was 218.9g hydrochloric acid(37%) per 100g asbestos tailings and initial acid concentration was about 25%. The influence significance sequence of the four factors was as follows: reaction temperature > reaction time > mass concentration of hydrochloric acid > hydrochloric acid consumption. Under the optimum process conditions, the leaching rate of MgO was 97.3%, total iron 98.15% and Al2O3 57.9%.

Jan 1, 2014

By I Brum

Brazil and Colombia have large reserves of coal, those reserves in Brazil are located predominantly in the south and Colombia the main reserves are located in the north. Despite the relative ease of exploitation, these resources have been underestimated as a source of energy. Currently, these countries are developing projects and partnerships aiming to qualify this mineral resource, adding quality to the final product of the processing plants. In this scenario the processing of Brazilian and Colombian coal in flotation columns appears as a promising alternative, having been successful in mineral systems containing fine particles This paper aims to study the overall process of column flotation for a specific Brazilian coal and a specific Colombian coal. The material used in this study consists of fine coal from Brazil (Copelmi) and Colombia (Cerrejon). The objective is to recover carbonaceous matter and reduce the ash and contaminants grade. The two coals were floated using a negative bias in a 5 cm diameter conventional flotation column of 5 m high. Flotation parameter investigated included air velocity in the range 0.6 to 1.5 cm/s. For all runs, a constant negative bias of -0.25 cm/s and a pulp concentration of 8% w/w were used. For Cerrejón coal, 300 g/ton of frother and 907 g/ton of collector was used, whereas for Copelmi coal, 600 g/ton of frother and 1815 g/ton of collector was employed. The frother was a commercial Aerofroth 65 (AF65), whereas the collector was Kerosene. For the Colombian coal, in general, yield, organic recovery, ash recovery and water recovery decreased with the increasing air rate. However, for Brazilian coal the air rate had no significant effect. For Colombian coal, the highest yield (60% w/w) and organic recovery (69% w/w) were obtained at the lowest air rate (0,6 cm/s). Keywords: negative bias, column flotation, coal

Sep 1, 2012

By Sergio Castro, Janusz Laskowski

In the flotation in highly concentrated electrolyte solutions not only ionic strength but also chemical composition, flotation pH and mineral properties play an important role. As a result an improvement or depression may be observed. A strong improvement in the floatability of hydrophobic bituminous coals and other inherently hydrophobic minerals is characteristic for the "salt flotation process", which is carried out in concentrated electrolyte solutions at natural pH and without addition of any flotation reagents. However, pH is a key factor when saline and hipersaline waters with hydrolyzing metallic ions are used as process water. In the case of flotation of Cu-Mo sulfide ores in seawater, molybdenite is strongly depressed by the Mg2+ hydrolysis products when pH is raised to depress pyrite. Process water with a high content of Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions, and this also includes seawater, have deleterious effect on the anionic flotation of industrial minerals with fatty acids. The flotation of potash ores is carried out in NaCl-KCl saturated brine (6-7 mole/L of NaCl and KCl) with the use of long-chain amines. Such a high electrolyte concentration changes dramatically the amine Krafft point making the collector insoluble in brine; its mode of action entirely differs from that in conventional flotation processes.

Jan 1, 2014

By F. Karakas

In this investigation, one of the most energy consuming stage of the cement manufacturing process, grinding stage, was studied. The aim of the study is to reduce the energy consumption. Optimum operating parameters were determined. Experimental studies were performed at three differ-ent stages. Grinding of limestone, clay and marl which are the main components of the cement, to approximately below 90 microns, was the first stage of the cement grinding. At this stage, effect of feed size and ball charge were investigated. At the second stage, the Bond work index of clinker and additives (slag, trass, limestone and gypsum) was found separately. After forming composite cement with clinker and additives, the Bond work index of this mixture was also determined, thus the results of separate grinding and grinding of mixture were compared. The Bond work index of mixture was found as 13.59 kWh/t, while the arithmetic mean of the Bond work index values of components was 14.90 kWh/t. Finally, clinker and additives (slag, trass, limestone and gypsum) were ground under the same conditions. At this stage, laboratory type of ball mill was used in order to understand grinding characteristics of the cement components. As a result of the experiments, it was found that energy consumption for the grinding will be lowered if the mills with 38 % ~ 40 % ball charge are used in the cement grinding. Moreover, grinding with mixture of clinker and additives gave better results than separate grinding of these components in terms of energy consumption.

Jan 1, 2014