Abstract
The aim of this study is to apply process mineralogy as a practical tool for further understanding and predicting the flotation kinetics of the copper sulfide minerals. The minerals’ composition and association, grain distribution, and liberation within the ore samples were analyzed in the feed, concentrate, and the tailings of the flotation processes with two pulp densities of 25wt% and 30wt%. The major copper-bearing minerals identified by microscopic analysis of the concentrate samples included chalcopyrite (56.2wt%), chalcocite (29.1wt%), covellite (6.4wt%), and bornite (4.7wt%). Pyrite was the main sulfide gangue mineral (3.6wt%) in the concentrates. A 95% degree of liberation with d80 > 80 µm was obtained for chalcopyrite as the main copper mineral in the ore sample. The recovery rate and the grade in the concentrates were enhanced with increasing chalcopyrite particle size. Chalcopyrite particles with a d80 of approximately 100 µm were recovered at the early stages of the flotation process. The kinetic studies showed that the kinetic second-order rectangular distribution model perfectly fit the flotation test data. Characterization of the kinetic parameters indicated that the optimum granulation distribution range for achieving a maximum flotation rate for chalcopyrite particles was between the sizes 50 and 55 µm.
Highlights
Mineralogical studies on mineral deposits of an ore lead to a proper interpretation of metallurgical problems in the design of the processing circuit [1]
And 4(a), in the first concentrate of the flotation test, the pulp density was 25wt% and the copper sulfide minerals included chalcopyrite (56.2wt%), chalcocite (29.1wt%), covellite (6.4wt%), and bornite (4.7wt%). The order of these minerals’ abundance in the test with a pulp density of 30wt% were approximately the same as in the first test. Chalcopyrite particles in this concentrate can be divided into two types based on their textural features: chalcopyrite without substitution and coated with other copper sulfide minerals; and chalcopyrite that has interacted and is coated with other copper sulfides such as covellite
Chalcopyrite particles in the concentrate of the flotation test with a pulp density of 25wt% exhibited a substantially different composition compared with the other copper sulfides
Summary
Mineralogical studies on mineral deposits of an ore lead to a proper interpretation of metallurgical problems in the design of the processing circuit [1]. Modern process mineralogy has been making substantial advances in methodology and data interpretation since it was first developed in the mid-1980s as a multi-disciplinary team approach to obtaining mineralogical information from drill-core and plant samples to infer the metallurgical processing requirements of an ore. The aim of the process mineralogist is to provide information about specific aspects of the ore mineralogy and mill products and, in so doing, to assist the chief metallurgist in optimizing metallurgical flowsheets [4−5]. Mineral detection technology has been used to reduce the risk of designing new circuits and to detect and correct the low efficiency of flotation and leaching circuits; in practice, it is used to optimize processing operations in mines with different deposits [5,9−10]. Applying process mineralogy could provide inclusive information about the texture and structure of minerals and their behavior during the flotation process, such as their ability to respond effectively to the flotation process, their retrieval, and, the trend of flotation kinetics of ore particles
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