Can preconcentration of cassiterite from its pegmatite ore reduce processing costs and improve operational sustainability?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/Abstract
In an attempt to preconcentrate the mineral ore at a coarser size to avoid energy and resource wastage, different concentration techniques have been evaluated. In this study, cassiterite (head value: SnO2=0.17%) was the mineral of interest and existed in the pegmatite ore body associated with quartz (SiO2>60%) and alumina (Al2O3>20%). Three concentration techniques, namely dense media, shaking table and flotation, coupled with characterization analysis (XRF and XRD), were used to assess the concentration response. The results revealed that particle size and mineral liberation had an impact upon the separation process. High recovery yields and grades were obtained with gravity concentration methods (dense media and shaking table) for coarser (+300 +212 µm) and intermediate (150 to +53 µm) particle sizes. A decrease in recovery and grade was identified for much finer sizes (-53 to -38 µm). The flotation method on the other hand, produced a high-grade product at a relatively low recovery and appeared to be only applicable to the finer grains. A separation efficiency (SE) based on Schulz’ s equation measured a segregation performance of 74,8 % with DMS and 60,7 % with the shaking table for course and intermediate particle sizes individually. The flotation only achieved a separation of 30% (SE). The obtained results suggest that the use of the dense media as the rough preconcentration method prior to the further griding and the utilisation of more advance concentration techniques for mineral recovery and upgrade, constitutes a successful approach to improve process economics.
Keywords: Cassiterite, concentration, separation, efficiency
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