Abstract

In conventional flotation, particles greater than 150 μm tend to float poorly, especially those with high specific gravity.  The development of flotation equipment such as the HydroFloat™ has made it possible to increase coarse particle recovery.  Such equipment has been implemented in the mining industry and has resulted in significant improvements in coarse particle recovery.  In addition to appropriate equipment such as the HydroFloat™, strong collectors and frothers improve coarse particle recovery.  A North American concentrator processing copper-molybdenum ore has been having difficulties in recovering particles coarser than 150 μm.  Presently, the concentrator is using sodium ethyl xanthate and X-133 frother (baseline).  Previous tests conducted using stronger collectors and frothers showed that potassium amyl xanthate and FrothPro 630 increased copper recovery by 3% using a conventional laboratory flotation machine.  In that testwork, the chalcopyrite recovery for particles >300 μm was low (~55%) under a range of testing conditions.  Thus, the HydroFloat™ was used to perform tests using potassium ethyl xanthate (PEX) and potassium amyl xanthate (PAX) in an attempt to increase copper recovery for particles >300 μm.  The results showed that the recovery of chalcopyrite particles >300 μm increased significantly when using the HydroFloat™.In conventional flotation, particles greater than 150 μm tend to float poorly, especially those with high specific gravity.  The development of flotation equipment such as the HydroFloat™ has made it possible to increase coarse particle recovery.  Such equipment has been implemented in the mining industry and has resulted in significant improvements in coarse particle recovery.  In addition to appropriate equipment such as the HydroFloat™, strong collectors and frothers improve coarse particle recovery.  A North American concentrator processing copper-molybdenum ore has been having difficulties in recovering particles coarser than 150 μm.  Presently, the concentrator is using sodium ethyl xanthate and X-133 frother (baseline).  Previous tests conducted using stronger collectors and frothers showed that potassium amyl xanthate and FrothPro 630 increased copper recovery by 3% using a conventional laboratory flotation machine.  In that testwork, the chalcopyrite recovery for particles >300 μm was low (~55%) under a range of testing conditions.  Thus, the HydroFloat™ was used to perform tests using potassium ethyl xanthate (PEX) and potassium amyl xanthate (PAX) in an attempt to increase copper recovery for particles >300 μm.  The results showed that the recovery of chalcopyrite particles >300 μm increased significantly when using the HydroFloat™.