Abstract
Mining extraction operations generate a large number of tailings that contain different mineral phases such as quartz (principally), complex silicates, metallic elements, etc. Tailings impose a serious concern as it is possible to have acid mine drainage potential, leaching, and percolation events of heavy metals into the environment under certain conditions. The objective of this work was to evaluate the technical feasibility of producing ceramic foams from gold and silver tailings with high sulfide gangue through a previous flotation process to eliminate impurities associated to this gangue, as it can produce SO2 in the foaming process, and to analyze the effect of the sintering time and the temperature on the characteristics of foams obtained with this type of waste. The results showed that the inverse flotation reduced the presence of impurities associated to sulfides. In addition, it was possible to observe that in the absence of a foaming agent, it was possible to obtain ceramic foams with an apparent density and a mechanical strength near to 1.0 g/cm3 and 0.5 MPa, respectively, when a higher sintering temperature and time were used. On the other hand, the presence of the foaming agent reduced the apparent density to 0.5 g/cm3 without decreasing to a great extent the mechanical strength of ceramic foams at lower sintering temperatures.
Highlights
Objective of this work is to evaluate the technical feasibility of producing cerami Thefrom objective thissilver work is to evaluate technical of producingthe ceramic foams goldofand tailings withthe high sulfurfeasibility gangue considering study of eff foams from gold and silver tailings with high sulfur gangue considering the study of and th ciency of the flotation process to eliminate impurities associated to iron and sulfur efficiency of the flotation process to eliminate impurities associated to iron and sulfur and analysis of the effect of the sintering time and the temperature on the characteristics o the analysis of the effect of the sintering time and the temperature on the characteristics of foams obtained with this type of waste
Figure33presents presentsthe theparticle particlesize sizedistribution distributionofofthe thegold–silver gold–silvertailings tailingssample sampleused used to produce the foams, in which it is observed that the samples used have an approximate to produce the foams, in which it is observed that the samples used have an approximate dd8080 of of about 40 microns and a density of 2.6 g/cm3
The use of gold and silver tailings with a high content of pyrite to elaborate ceramic foams was possible, using a previous process of inverse flotation to reduce the presence of these minerals
Summary
Mining extraction operations generate a large amount of tailings. Tailings contain different mineral phases such as quartz (mainly), complex silicates, metallic elements, etc. The metallic elements that can be found in tailings are iron, sulfur, copper, and zinc. The presence of those elements can generate environmental pollution [3]. Gold–silver tailings usually have a large proportion of pyrite or other sulfides. The presence of those could form sulfuric acid under the combined effect of water and oxygen. How to dispose tailings properly has become a matter of increasing interest in recent years
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