Lecture10:MineralBeneficiation

Contents:
Preamble
Whatconstitutesmineralbeneficiation
Sizereductiontechnology
Concentrationtechnologies:Basics
Recoveryandgrade
Separationefficiency
Illustrationonseparationefficiency
Concentrationmethods
Conclusions
References
Keywords:mineralbeneficiation,Milling,gravityconcentrationflotation
Preamble
Mineralbeneficiationisthefirststepinextractionofmetalfromnaturalresources.Withthedepletion
ofhighgrademetaloresitisimportanttoincreasethemetalgradeofanorebyphysicalmethods;
whicharetermedmineralbeneficiation.Theobjectivesofmineralbeneficiationare

Toincreasethemetalgradeofore
Toreducetheamountofganguemineralssothatlowervolumeofslagformsin
pyromettallurgicalextractionofmetals.Slagcontainsmostlygangueminerals.
Todecreasethethermalenergyrequiredtoseparateliquidmetalfromgangueminerals.
Todecreasetheaqueoussolutionrequirementinhydrometturgicalextractionofmetals.

Inthislecture,mineralbeneficiationscienceandtechnologyarebrieflyreviewedsothatreaderscan
applymaterialsbalanceprinciples.Detailsaboutthemineralbeneficiationcanbestudiedinthe
referencegiveninthislecture.
Whatconstitutesmineralbeneficiation?
Oreisanaggregateofmineralsandcontainsvaluableandgangueminerals.Themineralbeneficiation
involvesseparationsofganguemineralsfromoreandisdoneinthefollowingtwostages:
1. Liberationofvaluablemineralbysizereductiontechnologies.Inmostoresthevaluable
mineralsisdistributedinthematrixofore.
2. Concentrationtechnologiestoseparatetheganguemineralsandtoachieveincreaseinthe
contentofthevaluablemineraltoincreasethemetalgrade.
Sizesreductiontechnologies
Sizereductionorcommunicationisanimportantstepandmaybeused

9 Toproduceparticlesofrequiredsizesandshapes
9 Toliberatevaluablemineralsothatitcanbeconcentrated.
9 Toincreasethesurfaceareaavailableforchemicalreaction.
Itisoftensaidthattheefficiencyofenergyutilizationduringfragmentationofsolidparticlesisonly
about1%withrespecttothenewsurfacecreated.Energyconsumptionrepresentsmajorcostinthe
mineralprocessingoperation.
Crushingandgrindingaresizereductionmethods.Crushingisappliedtosubsequentsizereduction
downtoabout25mm.Ingrindingfinersizeisproduced.Grindingormillingisanimportantsize
reductionmethod.Ingrindingforceisappliedbyamediumwhichcouldeitherballsorrods.Bothdry
andwetgrindingisdoneWetgrindinghasthefollowingcharacteristics.

Itrequireslesspower
Itdoesnotneeddustcentralequipment.
Wetgrindingusesmoresteelgrindingmediatomillthematerial/pertonofproduct,asaresult
thereoccursincreaseinerosionoftheliningmaterial.
Waterisrequiredforwetgrinding.

Materialbalanceisimportanttodetermine

Amountofwaterinamillingcircuit
%solidinslurry(slurryisamixtureofsolidinwater)

Bothinformationareneededtodeterminethepumpcapacitytotransportslurry.
Inwetmillingwater/solidratioisimportanttocontroltheviscosityofslurry.Toodiluteslurrywilllead
toexcessivewearofthemedium.Toohighasolidconcentrationresultsincushioningofthemedium.
Percentsolidinslurrycanbedeterminedby
% Solid in slurry

100

100

1)

1000

,
isdensityofsolidandslurryrespectively.Forexampleif , is 3000 kg/m and
1500 Kgm thenslurrycontains33.3%solidaccordingtoequation1.

Wetmillinggivesthefollowingadvantages:

Lesspowerrequirement
Requiredpollutionascomparedwithdrymilling.

Afterwetmillingthemilledproductisclassifiedbyahydrocycloneintoundersize(alsotermed
underflow)andoversize(overflow).Theoverflowistakentotheplantforconcentrationoperation,for
exampleflotation.Theundersizeisrecirculatedaftermillinginaballmillforfurtherseparation.
Theinterestedreadermayseethereferencesformoredetails.
Concentrationtechnologies:Basics
Theobjectivesofconcentrationtechnologiesistoseparatethevaluablemineralfromthegangue
minerals.Inallconcentrationmethodsfeedisdividedinthreestreams,namelyconcentrate,middling
andtailings.Middlingsarerecycledwithintheplantandassuchtheplantoutputistwoproducts,
namelyconcentrateandtailings.Tailingsaredisposedwhereasconcentrateissenttometalextraction.
PlantsRecoveryandgrade:
Recoveryofthemineralintheconcentrateandmetalgradeoftheconcentrateareimportant.Recovery
isdefinedas
Recovery

100

Gradeoftheconcentratecanbedefinedeithermineralgradeormetalgrade.Sinceconcentrateis
employedformetalextraction,metalgradeisimportant(Notethatconcentratecontainsmineralbut
notmetal).
Metal grade

100

Metalgrademeansgradeofvaluablemetalofthemineralintheconcentrate.Forexampleinthe
concentrateofchalcopyritethegradeof isimportant.Similarlyintheconcentrateofgalena,the
gradeofPbisimportant.Itmustbeclearlyunderstoodthatoredoesnotcontainmetal.Metalgradeis
usedtogiveanideaabouttheremovalofganguemineralsandremovalofoxygenorsulphur.For
examplemineralgradeofpure
isunitybutmetalgrade(orirongrade)ofpuremineral
is
70%whichmeans30%oxygenhastoberemovedtogetiron.
Recoveryofamineralintheconcentratecanbe100%ifallthefeedisdivertedintoconcentrate.But
metalgradewillbeverylow.Themaximummetalgradeoftheconcentratecanbethatof
correspondingpuremineral,forexampleCugradeinpureCu Fe S is34.1%,leadgradeinpurePbsis
86.6%,ZngradeinpureZnSis67%.Consider1000kgfeedofchalcopyritewhichproduces1000kg
concentrate.Theconcentratecontains500 kg CuFes 200 kg , Fe O , 200 kg SiO and10kgAl2O3.The
analysisoffeedissameasthatofconcentrate.

S inconcentrateis100%.ButCugradeintheconcentrate

Nowtherecovery
100

17%

Separationefficiency
Thefeedofanyconcentrationmethodisthemilledproduct.Themilledproductisamixtureofparticles
ofdifferentSizes,shapesandwithdifferentproportionofvaluablemineralandgangueminerals.We
havetoseparateparticlescontainingvaluablemineralsforthemaximumrecovery.Atthesametime
metalgradeshouldalsobemaximumoftheconcentrate.
Inthefollowingthevaluablemineralintheconcentrateisdefinedasmetallicvalueofthevaluable
mineral.
Thusaconcentrateiscomposedofmetalinthevaluablemineral+gangue.Letmisthemetalgradeof
puremineralandcisthemetalgradeoftheconcentrate.
Gangue in concentrate
Gangue in feed

m
m

c
f

fisthemetalgradeofthefeed.IfmF ismassoffeedandmC ismassofconcentrate

100

Recoveryofgangueinconcentrate R

100

Recoveryofgangueinconcentrate R M
(SE)Separationefficiency R M R 100

100

Illustrationofseparationefficiency
Considerconcentrationof
mineralincassetriteore.Itispossibletoproduceconcentrateofthe
followinggradeandrecovery
Concentrate

TinGrade

Recovery

63%

62%

42%

72%

21%

78%

Tingradeinfeedis1%andtingradeofpuremineralis78.76%calculateseparationefficiency(SE)

100

MC
MF

Concentrate

Separationefficiency

61.8%

71.18%

75.24%

Noteseparationefficiencyinconcentrate3ishighbuttingradeisverylowascomparedtoconcentrate
1.Buttingradeofconcentrateisveryhigh.
Concentratemethods:
Themostimportantprocessesare
1) Gravityconcentration
2) Flotation
3) Magneticandelectrostaticseparation
Gravityseparationseparatesthemineralsaccordingtotheirdifferentdensities.Itisusedforthe
concentrationofveryheavyorverylightmineralswithinawiderangeofgrainsizes.
Inheavymediaseparationthedensityofpulpisintermediatebetweenthatofvaluablemineraland
gangueminerals.Inthatcaselightmineralsfloatontopandtheheavymineralssinktothebottomof
thepulpindependentofparticlesize.
Othermethodsofgravityconcentrationutilizeacombinationofgravitational,inertial,frictionaland
viscouseffects.Commonlyusedmethodsarejigging,washingtables,spiralsetc.
Separationbyflotationisbasedontheabilityorlackofabilityofdifferentsurfacestobewettedby
water.Hydrophobicmineralswillclingtotheairbubblesandrisewiththem,whereasthehydrophilic
mineralswillsink.Reagentslikefrothers,collectors,activators,depressorsandconditionersareadded
tomaketheseparation.Floatationhasfounditsgreatestapplicationintheconcentrationofthe
sulphideminerals.
Electrostaticsandmagneticseparationisbasedondifferencesinelectricalconductivityofthemineral
andmagneticpropertiesthemineralsrespectively.

Conclusions
Inthislecturebasicofmineralsprocessingisdiscussedinbriefwiththeobjectivetoperformmaterials
balanceisprocessingofminerals.Detailsofthetechnologiesaregiveninbriefandthereaderscansee
thereferences.

References
A.F.Taggart:Elementsoforedressing
Rosenquist:Principlesofextractivemetallurgy
Newton.J:Extractivemetallurgy.
Kellyandspottiswood:Introductiontomineralprocessing