Abstract
A full factorial experimental design was conducted to investigate the effect of temperature and depressants on the flotation of monazite and bastnaesite from carbonate gangue minerals. Temperature, sodium silicate, and guar gum dosage were examined. Mineral reconstruction from energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) data was performed to quantify bastnaesite, monazite, and gangue mineral recoveries. Bastnaesite and monazite both follow first-order rates of recovery, with bastnaesite recovering faster and to a larger extent than monazite. The main gangue minerals were depressed together. Optimal separation efficiency was achieved using a larger Na2SiO3 dosage (2400 g/t), no guar gum addition, and a high temperature (75 °C). The rate of bastnaesite recovery increased with the temperature, while sodium silicate improved the ultimate recovery. An economic analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of increasing Rare Earth Element (REE) recovery by allowing a lower grade concentrate to be generated. Despite the high value of REEs, increasing recovery by producing a concentrate bearing more than 68 wt % carbonaceous gangue was uneconomical.
Highlights
Bastnaesite CeFCO3 and monazite CePO4 are the main minerals exploited in the production ofRare Earth Elements (REEs) [1,2]
One of the projects where REE are hosted in bastnaesite and monazite is the Niobec REE zone [5], which represents one of the world’s largest resources in tonnes of REE [6,7]
This study aims to improve performance assessment procedures for use in flotation experiments and to identify optimal operating conditions for the flotation separation of REE minerals from carbonate gangue minerals
Summary
Bastnaesite CeFCO3 and monazite CePO4 are the main minerals exploited in the production of. Rare Earth Elements (REEs) [1,2]. These minerals are usually recovered from ore using direct flotation, as is the case at the Bayan Obo and Weishan mines in China, and the Mount Weld mine in Australia [3]. Flotation kinetics and the impact of depressants and temperature on gangue recovery are seldom discussed. These aspects are important since many proposed REE projects intend to extract REE from deposits containing both bastnaesite and monazite [4]. The deposit bears similarities with other Canadian REE projects, including Montviel
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