Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

An investigation of the factors affecting the recovery of molybdenite in the

Kennecott Utah Copper bulk otation circuit
B. Triffett *, C. Veloo, B.J.I. Adair, D. Bradshaw
Kennecott Utah Copper, Copperton Concentrator, 8362 W 10200S, Bingham Canyon, Utah 84006, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Bingham Canyon mine and associated Copperton Concentrator operations are a signicant copper
Received 28 November 2007 and molybdenum producer. Molybdenum is present in the deposit as the sulphide mineral molybdenite.
Accepted 8 March 2008 In 2004, the price of molybdenum increased 10-fold resulting in a renewed emphasis on production of
Available online 28 April 2008
this metal, including efforts to optimize its otation recovery. Molybdenite recovery in the bulk otation
circuit is consistently lower than that of the copper sulphides as well as being far more variable. This
Keywords: paper describes the systematic use of size recovery data, quantitative mineralogy and surface analysis
Sulphide ores
to identify the factors contributing to molybdenite recovery relative to copper in the Copperton bulk o-
Froth otation
Ore mineralogy
tation circuit. Several operational changes have been made to capitalize on the ndings of the research
Particle morphology these include the separate treatment of an ore type containing problematic silicate minerals and the opti-
Particle size mization of the frother to collector ratio to ensure adequate froth stability.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Kennecott Utah Copper, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto,
operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the worlds largest open
pit copper mines. The mine and associated Copperton Concentrator
are located approximately 26 miles South West from Salt Lake City
Utah in the eastern foothills of the Oquirrh mountain range near
the city of Copperton. Babcock et al. (1997) describe the Bingham
Canyon deposit as a classic porphyry copper deposit exhibiting
concentric zones of alteration and mineralization. The deposit is
notable in its size containing pre-mining reserves of nearly 3 bil-
lion tonnes of ore at 0.67% copper. Nested within the copper ore
body are overlapping zones of molybdenum, gold and silver con-
taining 0.06% molybdenum, 0.3 g/tonne gold and 1.5 g/tonne silver.
Kennecott was the rst company to successfully produce molybde-
num concentrate as a byproduct from relatively low grade ores and
in 1936 produced approximately 1 million pounds of concentrate.
The presence of molybdenum in the deposit lead to the inclusion of
a copper molybdenum separation plant when the Copperton Con-
centrator was constructed in 1988.
The Bingham Canyon deposit has been separated into a number
of ore types based initially on lithology with further subdivision
then based on processing characteristics. The quantity of ore pro-
cessed through the concentrator each day dictates that several
ore types will be treated at once, in a blend. A blend normally con-
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: brett.triffett@oxiana.com.au (B. Triffett).
sists of 35 ore types as shovels work different parts of the mine at
once. The processing characteristics of individual ore types have
been extensively modeled and these are arithmetically combined
to estimate the expected performance of blends in the production
planning process. Blending ores arithmetically to determine their
overall performance is reliable unless cross contamination takes
place. This is the case with the Limestone Skarn ore (LSN) which
has been found to reduce the recovery of the ores it is blended
with. Understanding the processing of the LSN ore and its effect
on molybdenum and copper recovery has been a focus at Copper-
ton for the last two years.
Until recently, molybdenum had been seen as a relatively insig-
nicant byproduct of copper production. This changed in 2004
when the price of the metal increased 10-fold as a result of in-
creased demand from Chinese steel makers. The increase in the
price of molybdenum has resulted in a renewed emphasis on the
production of the metal, including efforts to optimize its produc-
tion from mine to product. Therein lies the motivation for the work
contained in this paper.
The Copperton Concentrator consists of a grinding circuit and
two otation circuits. Four SAG mills, eight ball mills and an inte-
gral pebble crusher, reduce 150,000 tonnes per day of run of mine
ore to a nominal P80 of 240 lm. Cyclone overow is processed
through the bulk otation circuit, consisting of ve rows of rougher
scavengers with scavenger concentrate regrind and cleaner circuit
to produce a 25% copper concentrate containing approximately 2%
molybdenum. This bulk concentrate is then processed through
a separate molybdenum otation plant where the copper is

0892-6875/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2008.03.003
 B. Triffett et al. / Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840 833

depressed and a high grade molybdenum concentrate is produced.
The copper concentrate is pumped to Kennecotts Gareld smelter
for further treatment.
Bulk otation molybdenum recoveries are consistently lower
than that of copper as well as being far more variable. The objective
of the work presented in this paper was to determine, and where
possible prioritize and address some of the factors that contribute
to the molybdenum recovery being lower than copper in the bulk
otation circuit at Kennecott Utah Copper. The factors investigated
include the in situ morphology of molybdenite and how this man-
ifests itself in the otation feed, the size by size recovery and liber-
ation characteristics of the molybdenite, the effect of gangue
mineralogy as present in various ore types, the occurrence of pre-
cipitate coatings from process water, surface oxidation and the ef-
fect of the frother to collector ratio.
2. Factors contributing to lower molybdenum recovery
In the published literature, lower molybdenum recoveries have
been attributed to various sources. Many of the factors identied
are generic issues that are not specic to molybdenum otation.
Based on the performance characteristics of a number of porphyry
copper molybdenum plants, Shirley and Sutulov (1985) and Hernl-
und (1961) summarized some of the factors that may affect the o-
atability of molybdenum from porphyry ores at industrial scale;
these are (1) mineralogy of ore deposits, (2) slime coatings, (3)
optimizing copper metallurgy at the expense of molybdenum, (4)
grinding and liberation and (5) otation reagents. While most of
these issues are generic, what becomes important when consider-
ing the poor performance of molybdenum relative to copper is the
extent and relative contribution from each mechanism.
Bulatovic et al. (1999) studied the effect of clay slimes on cop-
per and molybdenum otation from porphyry ores. While they
were able to qualitatively identify bad actors as well as noting
the effects on coarse and ne particle recovery, the work was
empirical and difcult to extrapolate to other ore types.
The fundamental research of Chander and Fuerstenau (1972),
Hoover (1980) and Raghavan and Hsu (1984) have focused primar-
ily on those factors contributing the hydrophobicity of molybde-
nite. The approaches taken have tended to focus on one
mechanism at a time. This work was often done under conditions
not seen in an industrial scale porphyry copper molybdenum plant.
There is a need for the published fundamental work to be
viewed in the context of an industrial scale operation where any
number of competing factors can be contributing to the behavior
of molybdenum.
2.1. Molybdenite structure and morphology
Molybdenite comprises hexagonal crystals in which each
molybdenum atom is surrounded by six sulphur atoms. The crys-

Fig. 2. An example of disseminated molybdenite contained in host rock. The mol-

ybdenite is in contact with chalcopyrite.

100%
90%
80%
70%
Recovery

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
Mo Cu
10%
0%
-20 +20 +38 +53 +75 +106 +150 +212
Size Fraction

Fig. 1. Examples of vein controlled molybdenite. Example (a) shows a 20 mm wide Fig. 3. Average size by size molybdenum and copper recovery for the 18 months
quartz vein lined on both sides with 23 mm molybdenite crystals. Example (b) is a from April 2005 until October 2006. The curve is calculated based on analysis of
piece of drill core that broke along a thin fracture to reveal a thin layer of smeared weekly composites of feed and tails. Error bars are included representing the range
molybdenite. The smearing appears to take place in situ. that occurs around these average values.
834 B. Triffett et al. / Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840

tals are packed in such a way that the resulting mineral contains
alternating layers of molybdenum and sulphur. The layers are held
together by weak Van der Waals forces that are easily pulled apart
under the stresses typical in a grinding circuit. The presence of Van
der Waals forces and sulphur rich layers contributes to mineral
faces that are naturally hydrophobic and edges that are
hydrophilic.
At Bingham Canyon, Nelson (2007) describes two types of
molybdenite; vein controlled and disseminated. The vein con-
trolled molybdenite is the most common and its occurrence varies
depending on the size of the vein in which it forms. Wider, quartz
lled veins tend to form larger, cleaner crystals of molybdenite
while narrow veins result in a coating of much ner molybdenite
on fracture surfaces which can take on a smeared appearance
due to in situ movement within these fractures. Examples of vein
controlled molybdenite are shown in Fig. 1; Example (a) shows a
20 mm wide quartz vein lined on both sizes with coarse molybde-
nite. The coarse molybdenite is 23 mm in size. Example (b) shows
a piece of drill core which broke cleanly along a fracture to reveal a
very ne layer of molybdenite. The ne molybdenite can take on a
smeared appearance due to in situ movement of these fracture
faces. Disseminated molybdenite shown in Fig. 2 is not as com-
mon; however it does make up a signicant portion of the mineral
in particular areas of the deposit. Disseminated molybdenite ap-
pears within the rock matrix as ne particles, often associated with
copper sulphides.
2.2. Particle size and liberation
The recovery by size for both molybdenum and copper in the
bulk otation circuit are routinely measured on weekly production
composites. Fig. 3 presents the average size by size molybdenum
and copper recovery for the 18 months from April 2005 until Octo-
ber 2006. Error bars have been included to indicate the range from
highest to lowest. Both metals display the classic size by size
recovery curve as shown by Trahar (1981) with the maximum
recovery being achieved in the intermediate size fractions and
the coarse and ne particles being recovered at a lower rate. The
recovery of molybdenum peaks in the 3875 lm size range, while
the copper recovery is high across a broader range of sizes from 38
to 106 lm. The recovery of molybdenum also drops to a greater ex-
tent than the copper in the coarse and ne sizes.
Not only is the recovery of molybdenum lower than copper, it is
also more variable. This is demonstrated in Fig. 4 which presents
the overall molybdenum and copper recovery as a function of the
recovery in each size fraction for the 18 months from April 2005

a 100%
+212 +150 +20 -20 y = 0.6x + 0.4
90%
y = 0.5x + 0.4
80%
y = 2.3x - 1.1
Mo Recovery Per Size

70%

60%

50%

40%
y = 1.7x - 1.0
30%

20%

10%

0%
50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95%
Overall Mo Recovery

b 100% +212 +150 +20 -20 y = 0.6x + 0.4

90%
y = 0.7x + 0.3
80%
Cu Recovery Per Size

70%
y = 1.6x - 0.7
60%

50%

40%

30%

20%
y = 1.4x - 1.0
10%

0%
50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95%
Overall Cu Recovery

Fig. 4. Overall molybdenum (a) and copper (b) recovery as a function of the recovery in each size fraction. Each point represents a 1 week composite of bulk otation feed and
tails during the period April 2005October 2006.
 B. Triffett et al. / Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840 835

until October 2006. Each data point represents 1 week of produc- concentrate and tailings. Daily composites of concentrate and tail-
tion. The weekly molybdenum recovery has varied from 50% up ings are examined to determine the modal abundance of a range
to a maximum of approximately 85% while the copper recovery of minerals in each size fraction as well as the liberation character-
is concentrated into a narrower range from 80% to 92%. istics of the major sulphides. Sample preparation and analysis turn
In Fig. 4, the number of size fractions has been reduced to assist around time dictate that in a typical week, four days will be ana-
in the presentation of these data. For both the molybdenum and lyzed. These data were used to determine the liberation state of
copper the recovery is highest in the 20150 lm range. In the case the coarse molybdenite and copper sulphide losses for the same
of molybdenum, the ne 20 lm fraction recovers 10% lower than 18 months presented by size fraction in Fig. 5. One hundred sev-
the optimum size range while for copper, this offset is closer to 5% enty-three days were analyzed in this period. In the case of the
reecting the quicker drop off in recovery for molybdenum in the MLA data, the +150 lm fraction is the top fraction analyzed and
very ne size ranges seen in Fig. 3. For both metals the coarse frac- so combines both the +150 lm and +212 lm particles. Liberated
tions +150 lm and +212 lm recover at a much lower rate and the particles are dened as those containing greater than 80% by area
slope of the line is steeper indicating that overall recovery is more of the mineral in question. The molybdenite data shows that on
driven by changes in coarse particle recovery than nes. Compar- most days at least 70% of the coarse molybdenite lost to tailings is
ing molybdenum to copper; the ner size fractions have similar liberated and on a signicant number of days it is greater than
slopes, while the coarse fractions are somewhat steeper in the case 90%. By contrast, the copper sulphide losses are less liberated than
of molybdenum, indicating an even greater dependence on coarse the molybdenite; less than 60% of the coarse copper sulphide losses
particle recovery for molybdenum. are liberated. The conclusion from this is that the recovery of copper
The Copperton Concentrator conducts quantitative mineralogy sulphides is more dependant on the liberation state of these miner-
through routine MLA characterization of the bulk otation circuit als while for molybdenite some other factor must be playing a role.

a 100%
Fraction of +150 micron loss that is liberated

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95%
Overall Molybdenum Recovery

b 100%
Fraction of +150 micron loss that is liberated

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95%
Overall Copper Recovery

Fig. 5. Fraction of +150 lm molybdenum (a) and copper (b) in the tail that is liberated; obtained from 173 daily MLA analysis of bulk circuit tailings for the period April 2005
until October 2006.
836 B. Triffett et al. / Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840

During grinding the molybdenite layers are pulled apart form-

ing open striations, particularly at the ends of the particles. Evi-
dence has also been found for silicate particles being embedded
into the soft surface of the molybdenite as well as being trapped
within the striated layers. As the layers become thinner they have
a tendency to be folded and bent over rather than breaking into
clean new particles. The end result is particles in the otation feed
with highly striated and damaged surfaces with numerous small
silicate inclusions. Thin layers of molybdenite form particles with
high aspect ratios that may have different otation rates for a given
particle size.
Fig. 6 shows two examples of +150 lm molybdenite particles.
The textural features described above can be clearly seen; particle
(a) is heavily striated and contains a number of small inclusions
while particle (b) is bent over and has a very high aspect ratio. A
detailed study into the effect of aspect ratio is required to quantify
the effect of particle shape on the otation rate of molybdenite.

2.3. Blending and the effect of gangue mineralogy

An examination of gangue mineralogy was carried out to assess

the possibility that mineral slimes are contributing to the lower
recovery of molybdenum. Of particular focus was the cross con-
taminating effect of the Limestone Skarn ore (LSN). The approach
was to reference the daily MLA analysis for the period April 2005
through October 2006 to determine if any of the non-sulphide min-
erals could be correlated either positively or negatively with
molybdenum recovery. A correlation matrix was developed relat-
ing the molybdenum recovery to each of the 30 minerals analyzed
each day by MLA. The top four non-sulphide minerals that are neg-
atively correlated with molybdenum recovery are talc, andradite,
calcite and amphibole; those minerals that have previously been
Fig. 6. MLA backscatter images of +150 lm molybdenite particles.

a 100% b 100%
90% 90%
R2 = 0.75 R2 = 0.64
80% 80%
70% 70%
Mo Recovery
Mo Recovery

60% 60%
50% 50%
40% 40%
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
% Talc in feed % Amphibole in feed

c 100% d 100%
90% 2 90%
R = 0.70 2
R = 0.63
80% 80%
70% 70%
Mo Recovery

Mo Recovery

60% 60%
50% 50%
40% 40%
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 2 4 6 8 10
% Andradite in feed % Calcite in feed

Fig. 7. Negative correlations between molybdenite recovery and the quantity of (a) talc, (b) amphibole, (c) andradite and (d) calcite in the otation feed. Data obtained from
173 daily MLA analysis of bulk circuit tailings for the period April 2005 until October 2006.
 B. Triffett et al. / Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840 837

identied as being present in higher quantities in the LSN ore. The

top four non-sulphide minerals that are positively correlated with
a 20
Sulphide Sulphur
18

Percentage of Total Counts

molybdenum recovery are plagioclase, montmorillonite, biotite/
16
phlogopite and K-feldspar. The positive correlation implies that
these minerals are present in larger amounts as the molybdenum 14
recovery increases. This nding is in contrast to the work of Bula- 12
tovic et al. (1999) who identied a number of clay minerals that 10
caused poor molybdenum recovery. Plots for both the negative 8
and positive correlations are presented in Figs. 7 and 8. While talc,
6
andradite, calcite and amphibole are negatively correlated with
4
molybdenum recovery, it does not necessarily imply that they
are responsible for causing the cross contamination problem. It 2

does, however, narrow the list of possible bad actors that may be 0
Feed C1 C2 C3 C4 Tail
responsible for generating mineral slimes coatings. Stream
The realization that the LSN ore is an ore type that causes cross
contamination of otherwise high recovering ores has lead to it
being processed in standalone campaigns. The ore is mined contin-
b 4.5
MoO3 Ca
4.0
uously and stockpiled until sufcient material is available to sup-

Percentage of Total Counts

ply the 150,000 tpd necessary for a period of approximately one 3.5
week. During a campaign week, fresh LSN ore is mined and supple- 3.0
mented with the stockpiled material. The campaigning of a single 2.5
ore type is logistically difcult and comes at increased cost. Eco-
2.0
nomic analysis has determined that this approach is more advan-
tageous than continuing to include LSN in the blend. It has also 1.5
presented an opportunity to investigate and test reagent and oper- 1.0
ational based solutions to the cross contamination issue.
0.5

2.4. Surface analysis 0.0

Feed C1 C2 C3 C4 Tail
Stream
In naturally hydrophobic molybdenite, poor hydrophobicity
may be related to mineral slimes adsorbing onto the surface, sur- Fig. 9. The concentration of sulphide sulphur (a) and MoO3 and calcium (b) dete-
cted on the surface of molybdenite in bulk otation circuit feed, concentrates and
face oxidation and scale precipitation from process water. While
tails.

a 100% b 100%
90% 90%
R2 = 0.61
80% 80%
70% 70%
Mo Recovery
Mo Recovery

60% 60% R2 = 0.30

50% 50%
40% 40%
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0
% K-feldspar in feed % Plagioclase in feed

c 100% d 100%
90% 90%
80% 80%
70% 70% R2 = 0.61
Mo Recovery
Mo Recovery

60% 2
R = 0.47 60%
50% 50%
40% 40%
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
0% 0%
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0
% Montmorillonite in feed % Biotite / Phlogopite in feed

Fig. 8. Positive correlations between molybdenite recovery and the quantity of (a) K-feldspar, (b) plagioclase, (c) montmorillonite and (d) biotite/phlogopite in the otation
feed. Data obtained from 173 daily MLA analysis of bulk circuit tailings for the period April 2005 until October 2006.
838 B. Triffett et al. / Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840

mineral slimes coatings have not been categorically proven, several average analysis of approximately 30 particles of molybdenite
non-sulphide gangue minerals have been identied that are corre- present in each of the samples is presented in Fig. 9. The output
lated with low molybdenum recovery. The possibility that surface from the TOFLIMS analysis is the percentage of total counts
oxidation and scale precipitation are taking place was investigated attributed to a particular species. Graph (a) shows the sulphide
using surface analysis. The methodology employed was Time of sulphur analysis while the graph (b) shows the molybdenum tri-
Flight Laser Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TOFLIMS). In TOFLIMS oxide and calcium analysis.
a focused laser beam ablates neutral species from the sample sur- There is a trend of decreasing sulphide sulphur with the slower
face while a second laser source ionizes the neutral species by a oating molybdenite. The fastest oating material, which appears
process known as non-resonant multiphoton ionization (NRMPI). in concentrate 1, has the highest surface sulphide sulphur analysis.
The cations and anions created are collected, their mass deter- This is consistent with surface sulphur being responsible for the
mined and the number of particles counted. While only 30 parti- natural hydrophobicity of the molybdenite. Particles reporting to
cles of molybdenite in each sample of feed, concentrate and tails the tail have a lower concentration of sulphide sulphur than those
was examined, the data may be used in a qualitative sense to draw recovered to any of the concentrates. Concurrent with the decrease
some general conclusions as to whether either of the mechanisms in sulphide sulphur is an increase in the occurrence of the oxida-
is present. tion product, MoO3 as well as calcium. This is consistent with
Samples of feed, four concentrates (C1, C2, C3 and C4) and slower oating molybdenite being more oxidized and possibly
the nal tail were taken from one rougher scavenger otation having process water precipitates present on the surface.
row. The four concentrates represent material that has gradually As with the discussion on mineral slimes, the presence of these
been recovered down the bank in cells 12 (C1), 35 (C2), 68 species on the surface of molybdenite does not necessarily imply
(C3) and 911 (C4). Each sample was immediately frozen in li- that they are responsible for molybdenite depression. It does, how-
quid nitrogen, packed in dry ice and shipped to the analytical ever, demonstrate that these species are present and that the sur-
facility. On receipt of the samples they were still frozen. The face composition of the molybdenite changes through the circuit.

a 100%
+212 +150 +20 R2 = 0.15
90%
+212, +150 and +20 mic Mo Recovery

80%

70%
R2 = 0.06
60%

50%

40%

30%
R2 = 0.01
20%

10%

0%
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
Frother : Collector Ratio

b 100% 2
R = 0.33
90%
+212,+150 &+20 mic Cu Recovery

80%
+212 +150 +20 2
R = 0.53
70%

60%

50%

40%
R2 = 0.32
30%

20%

10%

0%
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
Frother : Collector Ratio

Fig. 10. The effect of frother to collector ratio on the size by size recovery of molybdenum (a) and copper (b). Data obtained by plant survey under varying frother to collector
ratio.
 B. Triffett et al. / Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840
2.5. Frother to collector ratio
The loss of coarse liberated molybdenite may be attributed to a
number of factors. Given that clean molybdenite faces are naturally
hydrophobic, low hydrophobicity might result from mineral slimes
coatings whereby ne particles adhere electrostatically to the
molybdenite surface or precipitation of scale coatings from process
water. Mineral slime coatings may also take the form of small parti-
cles being mechanically pressed into the soft molybdenite surface
and trapped within open striations during grinding. Evidence for both
of these mechanisms has been found during this investigation and
work is ongoing at Copperton to further quantify these mechanisms.
The particle shape issue may also impact the recovery of coarse
liberated molybdenite due to hydrodynamic effects and the phys-
ics of bubble particle interaction. This is an area that requires fur-
ther analysis, particularly in relation to the aspect ratio of the
molybdenite particles.
It might be expected that partial depression due to one or more of
these factors would result in a situation where molybdenite particles
are collected in the pulp but do not survive transportation through
the froth. An extension of this would be more extreme depression
where particles are not even collected in the pulp. In order to test
the relative contribution of the pulp and froth phase to molybdenite
depression, a number of approaches and issues were considered
within the current operating constraints of the plant. The use of
MIBC as the plant frother results in a froth with low stability which
cannot sustain froths deeper than a few centimeters. Running even
shallower froths to pull harder is difcult given the unstable nature
of the pulp surface in the induced air cells being used. Testing of
stronger frothers has resulted in an overloaded cleaner circuit which
was originally sized to treat 60% of the current throughput.
Operating experience has shown that adding excess collector
can result in a heavily loaded, unstable froth that runs very slowly
and intermittently to the launder. This situation can be remedied
by increasing the frother dosage. In this way, the froth stability
can be inuenced using the current reagent scheme. A series of
tests were done to investigate the effect of the frother to collector
ratio on the size by size recovery characteristics of the molybde-
num and copper. The tests were conducted on the rougher and
scavenger section of the plant; the frother and collector dosages
were varied over their typical range in such a way as to produce
a range of ratios. The data presented in Fig. 10 show that in the case
of copper, there is a good correlation between the frother to collec-
tor ratio and recovery. The effect is most pronounced for the coar-
ser fractions +150 lm and +212 lm, while the +20 lm fraction
shows only a small increase in recovery over the range of ratios
tested. By contrast, the correlations are poor for the molybdenum;
indicating that its recovery is not strongly inuenced by this ratio.
Given that the most obvious plant effect of the frother to collec-
tor ratio is the froth stability, it has been concluded that the froth
phase has a signicant inuence on the recovery of coarse copper
sulphides but not molybdenite. It has also been concluded that
coarse molybdenite recovery must be limited in the pulp phase.
It is understood that frother and collector can interact at the min-
eral and bubble surfaces and that this may also contribute to col-
lection of mineral in the pulp.
An outcome from this work has been to x the frother to collec-
tor ratio at 1.2 to optimize the recovery of coarse copper. When-
ever plant collector changes are required, the frother dosage is
also changed to maintain this constant ratio.
3. Conclusions
There are several different molybdenite morphologies that oc-
cur in the Bingham Canyon deposit. A number of textural features
839
have been noted in molybdenite particles found by MLA in the o-
tation feed, concentrate and tailings. These features include (1)
open striations, where the layers of molybdenite have been pulled
apart during processing, (2) particles with high aspect ratios and
(3) evidence of ne silicates pushed into the soft molybdenite sur-
face as well as being trapped in the open striations. The effect that
these features have on otation recovery has not yet been quanti-
ed nor have they been linked back to the in situ molybdenite
morphology. Further work is required to determine if these mor-
phologies have different behaviors in the grinding and otation
circuits.
Size by size recovery and liberation analysis of both molybdenite
and copper sulphide minerals has been used to investigate the
processing characteristics of the molybdenum relative to copper.
Both metals exhibit classic size by size recovery characteristics
with losses occurring in the ne and coarse fractions and the high-
est recovery occurring in the intermediate sizes from 20 lm to
150 lm. Molybdenum recovery in the ne and coarse fractions
drops off to a greater extent than the copper. Variation in the over-
all recovery of copper and molybdenum is driven to a greater ex-
tent by coarse particle recovery than nes with molybdenum
being affected more so than copper.
Coarse copper losses are more likely to be contained in locked
and middling particles that the molybdenum. Over the 18 month
period examined, at least 70% of the coarse molybdenum losses
were as liberated particles and in a signicant number of days this
number exceeded 90%. From this it can be concluded that molyb-
denum recovery is not generally controlled by its liberation state.
A number of approaches were used to determine if mineral
slimes, surface oxidation or process water precipitation are con-
tributing to the loss of molybdenum. A correlation analysis of the
gangue minerals present in the feed blend over an 18 month period
determined that molybdenum recovery is negatively correlated
with the occurrence of talc, andradite, calcite and amphibole. These
are all minerals with high levels of occurrence in the LSN ore which
has a known cross contaminating effect. In addition the molybde-
num recovery was found to be positively correlated with the
occurrence of plagioclase, montmorillonite, biotite/phlogopite
and K-feldspar. No reason for these positive correlations has been
determined. A detailed analysis of molybdenite morphology within
ore types carrying these indicator minerals is required to deter-
mine if these minerals coincide with difference occurrences of
molybdenite.
Identication of the LSN ore as a cross contaminating ore type
has led to its processing in campaigns whereby it is treated on
its own. While this approach is logistically difcult and comes at
increased cost, it is economically more favorable than the blending
option. The campaigning of LSN has presented an opportunity to
develop alternate operating and reagent practices for this ore type.
Work is ongoing to identify a methodology whereby LSN can be
reintroduced into the blend.
Surface analysis of molybdenite particles by TOFLIMS has dem-
onstrated that surface sulphide sulphur is depleted on slower oat-
ing particles, while surface oxidation and calcium coating is
increased. More work is underway to determine the signicance
of these ndings.
The recovery of coarse copper was found to be well correlated
with the ratio of frother to collector. This correlation did not exist
for the molybdenum. The most obvious plant effect of this ratio is
on froth stability with excess collector resulting in an unstable,
heavily loaded froth. From this work, it has been concluded that
the recovery of molybdenum is primarily dictated by interactions
in the pulp phase while the copper is more highly dependant on
the froth phase. Plant practice is now to x this ratio at a value
of at least 1.2 such that increases in collector dosage require a
concurrent increase in frother dosage. The installation of additional
840 B. Triffett et al. / Minerals Engineering 21 (2008) 832840
cleaner capacity in late 2007 presents an opportunity to consider
alternate reagents, in particular stronger frothers to capitalize on
these ndings.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the Management at
Kennecott Utah Copper for permission to publish the work con-
tained in this paper.
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