Abstract
Spodumene flotation in the presence of oleate is widely used in the lithium mining industry. However, there is no study investigating flotation behaviour of calcined spodumene. Thus, the main focus of this technical note is to address this matter. The results showed that the increase in the calcination temperature led to fractured spodumene surfaces as found using MLA (mineral liberation analyser), probably resulting in higher oleate adsorption on spodumene surfaces. Another reason for higher oleate adsorption on calcined samples could be due to the changes in surface properties of calcined spodumene (i.e. α to β transformation of spodumene). Therefore, the higher the calcination temperature, the higher the flotation recovery of calcined spodumene. This work shows that calcination before flotation can be highly beneficial pre-treatment for improving the lithium recoveries and grades.
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