Abstract

Norway has newly seen an upsurge of interest in exploiting its mineral deposits influenced by fresh Government focus and survey support for previously under-prospected areas. One of the major areas of interest is a huge copper deposit, operated by Nussir ASA, located in the Repparfjord tectonic window in the Caledonides of west Finnmark. The latest mineral resource estimation is from July 2014, which states that Nussir consists of 5.8 million tonnes of indicated resources and 60.2 million tonnes of inferred resources, giving 66 million tonnes of copper ore. This paper represents the first study on processing characteristics of this ore to date. Our parallel studies using xanthates and dithiophosphates as collectors for Nussir ore flotation examined the grade and recovery of copper, silver, gold, and platinum group (PGM) minerals. Therefore, in this subsequent study, a chelating agent n-Butoxycarbonyl-O-n-butyl thionocarbamate (BBT) is used as a collector and it was found that the recovery and grades of the economically interesting minerals are improved at as low as 2 × 10−5 M collector concentration. Zeta potential, Hallimond flotation and adsorption studies were initially performed in order to assess the selective interaction of BBT and its blend with SIBX (Sodium Isobutyl xanthate) on the three copper minerals of the ore. The bench scale flotation experiments were performed using mixtures of xanthate and thionocarbamate collectors of the Nussir ore and both the resulting copper recovery and grade employing these collector mixtures is observed to be 2–8% superior to the use of a single collector system. Additionally, the current study revealed that the metallurgical results are strongly influenced by the ratio of the collectors in the mixture and particularly the sequence of the collector addition.

Highlights

  • There is a growing demand for copper and it is projected that current copper demands will exceed production by 2050 [1]

  • Pure mineral interaction with butyl thionocarbamate (BBT) collector is assessed by zeta potential, Hallimond flotation and adsorption ore sample using: XRF and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis

  • The adsorption mechanisms of BBT on copper sulphide and gangue minerals were studied by quantitative adsorption studies, zeta-potential and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

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Summary

Introduction

There is a growing demand for copper and it is projected that current copper demands will exceed production by 2050 [1]. Primary copper sulphide ore reserves are declining while the new ore deposits are complex in nature and are primarily of a low copper grade. More selective collectors are being used in the froth flotation process for high recovery of the existing resources. As mentioned in the earlier work [2,3], a new Nussir copper mine located in northern Norway is planning to begin its production in the near future. The copper minerals (chalcopyrite, chalcocite and bornite) are uniformly distributed in all size ranges in the ore sample under study. Gold and PGM (Platinum group minerals) are closely associated with these copper sulphides, in minor amounts

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