Abstract
A thermodynamic approach was adopted to the assessment of commercially available organic reagents that are capable of reacting selectively with single cations commonly encountered in metalliferous minerals present in complex sulphides. The work formed part of a larger research project promoted by the European Community to identify reagents that could be used as modifiers in the xanthate flotation of complex sulphide ores from the Neves-Corvo region of Portugal. Conditional constants of metal-ligand reactions were calculated as a means of identifying potentially selective reagents for the removal of minor elements and for the separation of copper from zinc.Aminoacids, amines and other organic ligands were chosen and flotation tests were performed on pure minerals corresponding to those contained in the Neves-Corvo ore with the aim of verifying their selectivity in the presence of xanthate as the collector. The promising results obtained provide partial confirmation of the possibility of using particular functional groups present in the reagents that were selected on the basis of the theoretical calculation. The findings provide a guide for the design of molecules to be employed as modifiers, or perhaps even as collectors, in the selective flotation of complex sulphide ores. It is possible to envisage the design of organic molecules containing not only functional groups selective towards specific minerals but also a hydrocarbon portion that can render these minerals hydrophilic, and hence depressed, or hydrophobic, and hence floatable.
Published Version
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