Abstract
Gravity concentration is the separation of minerals based upon the difference in density. Techniques of gravity concentration have been around for millennia. Some believe that the legend of the Golden Fleece from Homer’s Odyssey was based upon a method of gold recovery, which was to place an animal hide (such as a sheep’s fleece) in a stream containing alluvial gold; the dense gold particles would become trapped in the fleece and be recovered. In the various gold rushes of the nineteenth century, many prospectors used gold panning as a means to make their fortune—another ancient method of gravity concentration. Gravity concentration, or density-based separation methods, declined in importance in the first half of the twentieth century due to the development of froth flotation, which allowed for the selective treatment of low-grade complex ores. They remain, however, the main concentrating methods for iron and tungsten ores and are used extensively for treating tin ores, coal, gold, beach sands, and many industrial minerals.
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