Flotation Test Case---Zinc Oxide Ore

Flotation Test Case---Zinc Oxide Ore

Project Background Introduction

This project is the original ore sample of Moroccan Zinc Oxide Mine. After crushing and mixing the ore samples, mineralogical analysis samples and mineral processing test samples were obtained respectively.

The analysis of Lead, Zinc, and elements that affect mineral processing is shown in Table 1. The Lead phase analysis is shown in Table 2, and the Zinc phase analysis is shown in Table 3.

Table 1 Multi Element Analysis of Raw Ore (%)

Table 2 Lead Phase Analysis (%)

Table 3 Zinc Phase Analysis (%)

From the results of multi-element analysis and phase analysis, it can be seen that the recovered elements in this mineral are mainly Pb and Zn.

The content of CaO and MgO in the raw ore is relatively high. Through microscopic analysis, it is mainly dolomite with a small amount of calcite. The floatability of dolomite is similar to that of sphalerite, which makes it difficult to recover zinc oxide.

Mineral Processing Process Design

Through extensive flotation experiments, it has been found that dolomite and calcite have significant adverse interference on zinc oxide flotation, and the reagents cannot effectively interact with zinc oxide. In situations where the consumption of reagents is very high, it is also difficult for zinc oxide to be effectively floated. To address this issue, efficient zinc oxide collectors and efficient depressants for dolomite and calcite have been developed, optimizing the mineral processing technology. The specific beneficiation process involves grinding the material to -0.074mm, with a proportion of 75%. The first step is flotation of lead sulfide, and the second step is flotation of zinc oxide.

Flotation of Lead Sulfide: In the lead flotation stage, a coarse selection is used, and the bottom stream of the coarse selection is fed into the sweeping operation. Collectors are added to the sweeping operation, and the tailings after three rounds of sweeping are the final tailings; The foam of roughing is fed into the cleaning operation, and three times of cleaning are carried out to obtain Lead concentrate products.

Flotation of Zinc Oxide: The tailings from Lead Sulfide flotation are fed into Zinc Oxide flotation. Firstly, a gangue depressant is added, followed by the addition of sodium sulfide and a high-efficiency Zinc Oxide collector for Zinc Oxide coarse selection; The roughly selected bottom stream is fed into the sweeping operation, which adds sodium sulfide and Zinc Oxide high-efficiency collectors. The tailings after three rounds of sweeping are the final tailings; The foam of roughing is fed into the cleaning operation, and sodium sulfide + depressant is added into the cleaning operation. Three times of cleaning are carried out to obtain zinc oxide concentrate products.

Test Result

The analysis of the experimental results is shown in Table 4.

Table 4 Closed Circuit Test Results of the Whole Process (%)

The grade of Lead Concentrate obtained from closed-circuit testing is 55.66%, with a recovery rate of 78.30%; The grade of Zinc Oxide concentrate is 38.15% and the recovery rate is 84.49%.

Flotation Reagents Introduction

1) Efficient Zinc Oxide Collector YX300S: Zinc Oxide is an efficient collector with certain foaming properties, mainly used for the flotation of Zinc Carbonate and Sphalerite, which can effectively avoid the interference of mud gangue minerals on Zinc Oxide flotation. The flotation process is stable and the recovery of Zinc Oxide is good.

2) Gangue Depressant DZ063: a) selectively interacts with calcite and dolomite to form a hydrophilic film on their surface, preventing calcite and dolomite from reacting with bubbles or adhering to bubbles, avoiding their inclusion in Zinc Oxide concentrate products, and improving concentrate grade; b) Depressants have a strong dispersing effect, reducing the surface potential of minerals and increasing the electrostatic repulsion between mineral particles, avoiding the cover and adsorption of fine-grained gangue minerals on the surface of the target mineral. This allows collectors, frothers, etc. to effectively interact with the target mineral and improve the recovery rate of concentrate.

Conclusion

The final flotation process flow will be determined for the flotation test of Moroccan Zinc Oxide ore samples. The proportion of grinding fineness -0.074mm is 75%; The Lead flotation stage adopts one coarse selection, three fine selections, and three sweeping selections; The Zinc Oxide flotation stage adopts one coarse selection, three fine selections, and three sweeping selections. The grade of Lead concentrate obtained through closed-circuit testing is 55.66%, with a recovery rate of 78.30%; The grade of Zinc Oxide concentrate is 38.15% and the recovery rate is 84.49%.