Mineral concentration

Initially, the first two principal components were calculated. This yielded the principal components which are given in Figure 9-9 (left) and plotted in Figure 9-9 (right). The score plot shows which mineral water samples have similar mineral concentrations and which are quite different. For e3oimple, the mineral waters 6 and 7 are similar whUe 4 and 7 are rather dissimilar. 

Flotation or froth flotation is a physicochemical property-based separation process. It is widely utilised in the area of mineral processing also known as ore dressing and mineral beneftciation for mineral concentration. In addition to the mining and metallurgical industries, flotation also finds appHcations in sewage treatment, water purification, bitumen recovery from tar sands, and coal desulfurization. Nearly one biUion tons of ore are treated by this process aimuaHy in the world. Phosphate rock, precious metals, lead, zinc, copper, molybdenum, and tin-containing ores as well as coal are treated routinely by this process some flotation plants treat 200,000 tons of ore per day (see Mineral recovery and processing). Various aspects of flotation theory and practice have been treated in books and reviews (1 9). 

Process Design and Machinery. Following the field work of geologists and mining engineers and analyses (assays) to estabhsh the grades (concentrations) of values in ores, a mineral concentration flow sheet is estabhshed on the basis of a number of preliminary tests. These include studies of... 

The basic flow sheet for the flotation-concentration of nonsulfide minerals is essentially the same as that for treating sulfides but the family of reagents used is different. The reagents utilized for nonsulfide mineral concentrations by flotation are usually fatty acids or their salts (RCOOH, RCOOM), sulfonates (RSO M), sulfates (RSO M), where M is usually Na or K, and R represents a linear, branched, or cycHc hydrocarbon chain and amines [R2N(R)3]A where R and R are hydrocarbon chains and A is an anion such as Cl or Br . Collectors for most nonsulfides can be selected on the basis of their isoelectric points. Thus at pH > pH p cationic surfactants are suitable collectors whereas at lower pH values anion-type collectors are selected as illustrated in Figure 10 (28). Figure 13 shows an iron ore flotation flow sheet as a representative of high volume oxide flotation practice. 

Water Treatment. Flotation in water treatment is used both for the removal of dissolved ions such as Cu ", Cr ", or (PO or surfactants and suspended soHds as in the case of sludge treatment. The final product in this case is purified water rather than a mineral concentrate. Furthermore, water is treated either for drinking purposes (potable water preparation) or safe disposal to the environment. 

A limited number of rare-earth minerals are mined for large-scale rare-earth production mona2ite, bastnaesite, loparite [12173-83-OJ, xenotime [13817-22-6]. In addition, siace the 1980s rare-earth-containing clays called ionic ore are mined ia China. Table 4 shows the rare-earth composition of typical mineral concentrates. 

Processing costs include those for size reduction, size classification, minerals concentration and separations, soHd—Hquid separation (dewatering), materials handling and transportation, and tailings disposal. Size reduction, one of the most expensive unit operations in minerals processing, could account for as much as 50% of the total energy consumed. This cost varies considerably from deposit to deposit and quite often from one area of a deposit to another. Ore bodies are extremely heterogeneous and the associated minerals Hberation, complex. 

Table 3. Analyses of Selected Titanium Mineral Concentrates, Wt...

In 1986, Turkey produced nearly one million metric tons of mineral concentrate, whereas production of refined borate chemicals was 89,500 metric tons. Annual production capacities of chemicals at Eskiseher were pentahydrate borax, 160,000 t anhydrous borax, 60,000 t and decahydrate borax, 17,000 t. Capacities at Bandermes were decahydrate borax, 55,000 t boric acid, 33,000 t and sodium perborate, 64,000 t (103). 

The menstmum niobium—carbide process (7) utilizes either columbite [1310-23-2] mineral concentrates or ferroniobium as starting materials. A low level of TaC in soHd solution with NbC commonly occurs, as Ta and Nb occur together in ores. The properties of NbC are given in Table 1. The grayish brown NbC powder is used in cemented carbides to replace TaC. TaC—NbC soHd solutions that have 3 1, 2 1, 1 1, and 1 2 ratios and the corresponding ternary and quaternary soHd solutions with TiC and WC are common. 

Menstruum Carburization. Mineral concentrates, ferroalloys, primary metals, or high, purity scrap may also be carburized (14). 

The production of cerium derivatives begins with ore beneficiation and production of a mineral concentrate. Attack on that concentrate to create a suitable mixed lanthanide precursor for later separation processes follows. Then, depending on the relative market demand for different products, there is either direct production of a cerium-rich material, or separation of the mixed lanthanide precursor into individual pure lanthanide compounds including compounds of pure cerium, or both. The starting mineral determines how the suitable mixed lanthanide precursor is formed. In contrast the separation... 

For a given slurry, the maximum filtration rate is determined by the minimum cake thickness which can be removed—the thinner the cake, the less the flow resistance and the higher the rate. The minimum thickness is about 6 mm (0.25 in) for relatively rigid or cohesive cakes of materials such as mineral concentrates or coarse precipitates like gypsum or calcium citrate. Sohds that form friable cakes composed of less cohesive materials such as salts or coal will usually require a cake thickness of 13 mm (0.5 in) or more. Filter cakes composed of fine precipitates such as pigments and magnesium hydroxide, which often produce cakes that crack or adhere to the medium, usually need a thickness of at least 10 mm (0.38 in). 

Example 4 Calculation of Sample Weight for Surface Moisture Content An example is given with reference to material with minimal internal or pore-retained moisture such as mineral concentrates wherein physically adhering moisture is the sole consideration. With this simphfication, a moisture coefficient K is employed as miiltipher of nominal top-size particle size d taken to the third power to account for surface area. Adapting fundamental sampling theory to moisture sampling, variance is of a minimum sample quantity is expressed as... 

Ion bomliardment Heaw -mineral concentrate Conductor minerals (ilmenite, riitilej from non-condiictor minerals (zircon, monazite, ahiminiim. silicates, (piartz and others j Roll 120 -1.0 + 0.04 2.5 3-6... 

Abonyi, S. 1993 The Effects of Processing on Stable Isotope Levels and Mineral Concentration in Foods Implications for Paleodietary Reconstruction. Master s Thesis, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary. 

Thermal properties such as thermal capacity, thermal expansion, melting temperature, thermal decomposition and sublimation are all important in considering processes to which minerals may be directly subjected in a pyro way. As for example, roasting or calcination or any pyro pre-treatment of a mineral concentrate is greatly influenced by its thermal properties. The chapter on pyrometallurgy deals with these aspects. 

Jigs are relatively cheap with regard to construction, operation, and maintenance, and are relatively unaffected by the grade of the feed. They are basically designed for handling material that is too coarse for table feed (380 mm in diameter down to 2 mm). The cleaning of coal and the production of tin mineral concentrate can be cited as two major examples where jigging is found to be in use even today. 

On the basis of the function it performs, the flotation process can be divided into two categories (i) bulk and (ii) selective. The process is called bulk or collective flotation when it accomplishes the separation of several valuable components from the gangue minerals. In selective flotation, one valuable component is separated from several others. This selectivity could be accomplished by either using collectors selective with respect to a particular mineral or by differential flotation wherein two or more mineral concentrates are recovered consecutively from the same feed by using modifiers. 

When ores are mineralized in such a way that discrete grains of valuable minerals are contained in a matrix of gangue minerals, physical concentration methods such as flotation, gravity separation, and magnetic separation can yield valuable mineral concentrates with recoveries in the range of 80 to 95% of the value in the ore. However, there are important ore types in which the nature of mineralization is not amenable to physical concentration, and so primary processing by chemical means is necessary. 

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