Research on Technological Mineralogy and Beneficiation of an Ag-bearing Copper Ore from Sichuan Province, China

Abstract

This paper studied the mineralogy and mineral processing of a copper mine bearing-silver in Sichuan province. The raw ore contained 0.77% of copper, 8.2 g/t of silver and other gangue mineral. The research contents included: mineral properties and process mineralogy, grinding fineness, type and dosage of collector, type and dosage of inhibitor, opening and closed circuit test, etc. In the grinding fineness 70% of -0.074 mm, the copper concentrate contained copper grade of 25.76% and copper recovery rate of 85.84%, silver grade of 258.21 g/t and silver recovery rate of 80.83% was obtained by two roughing, one scavenging and one cleaning closed-circuit processes. The agents were sodium silicate and sodium hexametaphosphate as inhibitors of gangue minerals, butyl xanthate as collector, 2# oil as frother in roughing I, butyl xanthate as collector, 2# oil as frother in roughing II, sodium sulphide as oxide copper sulfide agent, butyl xanthate as collector, and 2# oil as frother in scavenging I.