Document Type : Original Research Paper
Authors
- Abolfazl Karami 1
- Marzieh Hosseini Nasab 2
- Mohammad Noparast 1
- Zahra Zarei 1
- Mohammad Hossein Eksiri 1
1 School of Mining Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, 1417466191, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan Tel: 0098-541-8056441; Fax: 0098-541-8056441
Abstract
This research examined the flotation of lead and zinc oxide-sulfide complex ore, in order to produce desired concentrate. The grades of lead and zinc of prepared sample were 0.51% Pb Total, 0.45% Pb Oxide, 1.04% Zn Total, and 0.93% Zn Oxide. The main minerals of this ore were cerussite, smithsonite, and hemimorphite, and 90% of the lead and zinc in the ore were oxide type minerals. Moreover, 85% of cerussite particles were liberated in sizes finer than 75 microns. The main target of this study was to achieve the optimum conditions for lead and zinc flotation and optimizing relevant parameters. For this purpose, chemical reagents including depressant, activator, collector, collector aid, and frother were tested, using chemicals at various dosages. By running different experiments the optimized flotation parameters were 2000 g/t of sodium sulfide as activator and sulfidizing agent for the surfaces of oxide minerals, zinc sulfate depressant with 1000 g/t, copper sulfate activator 500 g/t, potassium amyl xanthate collector 150 g/t, Aero407 collector aid 150 g/t, and A65 frother 50 g/t, which resulted in producing of concentrate with the highest possible recovery and grade. The rougher, cleaner, and re-cleaner flotation experiments were implemented under optimal conditions to obtain the final lead concentrate with a grade of 41.79% Pb and 42.20% recovery, and final zinc concentrate with grade of 4.68% Zn and 0.55% recovery. The low zinc grade and recovery was due to the high abundance of smithsonite and hemimorphite minerals particles with clay and silicate type gangues.
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