Gravity concentration of a polymetallic ore from South Crofty mine
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School of Chemical Engineering |
Master's thesis
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Date
2010
Department
Major/Subject
Prosessien ohjaus ja hallinta
Mcode
Kem-90
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
x + 95 s. + liitt.
Series
Abstract
The art of gravity concentration has been practiced for thousands of years, and for much of this time it remained as the only effective mineral processing technique available. With the advent of more efficient separation techniques m the early 20th century, the relative importance of gravity concentration declined; however, because of its inherent simplicity and efficiency, as well as environmental reasons, this process has been reassessed by the mineral processing industry in recent years. This thesis evaluates the performance of the gravity concentration process in upgrading a polymetallic ore. For this purpose, metallurgical tests are carried out using a Zn-Cu-Sn ore from South Crofty mime, a metalliferous mine in Cornwall (UK), in order to assess four gravity concentrators: the Mozley Laboratory Separator, the shaking table, the spiral concentrator, and the Mozley Multi-Gravity separator (MGS). The experimental results obtained from the first device are used to provide a rough prediction on the performance of the gravity concentration process when treating this specific ore sample, whilst the separation efficiencies of the others concentrators are analyzed and interpreted m terms of concentrate grade, metal recovery, and enrichment ratio. Although the release-analysis curves were incapable of indicating an optimum operating condition, they demonstrated the importance of loading the concentrator with a finer, closed size sample feed to improve the separation performance. The laboratory results showed that all three industrial gravity separators were able to upgrade the heavy valuable minerals at some extent, with the MGS having the best separation performance among the devices tested, with relatively higher enrichment ratios; however, at the expense of considerably low metal recoveries. In conclusion, the gravity concentration technique proved to have potential to be applied in a mineral processing route to upgrade the complex ore; however, another processing technique, such as selective froth flotation, might be required in combination with the gravity concentration in order to produce concentrates with acceptable grades and minimise the losses of the valuable minerals.Description
Supervisor
Jämsä-Jounela, Sirkka-LiisaThesis advisor
Glass, Hylke J.Keywords
gravity concentration, shaking table, MGS