Improvement of reagent regimes to recover phosphate minerals from fine ore and waste

Considerable loss of phosphoric anhydride in processing of apatite–shtaffelite ore and old tailings is conditioned by low recovery of phosphates from fines. The loss of phosphate fines is caused by their unselective flocculation with rock-forming minerals both at the stage of thickening and inside flotation machines. In order to increase the recovery of phosphate fines, it is necessary to create conditions for their extraction from floccules with rock-forming minerals and to stimulate selective flocculation. For the reduction in the loss of phosphate fines, it is suggested to treat thickened slimes of apatite-bearing ore and old tailings using mixtures of dispersion agents. It is shown that liquid glass and caustic soda ensure desorption of 46–56% of a flocculant from the surface of phosphate minerals and attenuate unselective secondary flocculation. The in-process tests prove that pre-treatment of apatite–shtaffelite ore slimes using liquid glass and caustic soda enhances flotation recovery of phosphoric anhydride by 1.4% with concentrate quality by 0.5% higher. The similar operation of pre-treatment of ground sand slimes during processing of old tailings used sulfite liquor, soda salt and agent Neonol-AF 9-8 as dispersion agents (at consumption of 60–85 g/t). The test results show that pre-treatment of the thickened product increases flotation recovery of phosphoric anhydride by 1.5% at the higher quality of apatite concentrate by 0.35%.

Barmin I. S., Morozov V. V., Polivanskaya V. V. Improvement of reagent regimes to recover phosphate minerals from fine ore and waste. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2020;(1):149-159. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236-1493-2020-1-0-149-159.

V.V. Morozov¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, e-mail: dchmggu@mail.ru,
I.S. Barmin, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Head Specialist of Mineral Processing Processes,
JSC «Mineral and chemical company «EuroChem»», Moscow, Russia,
e-mail: igor.barmin@eurochem.ru,
V.V. Polivanskaya¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: vpolivaskaya@mail.ru,
¹ National University of Science and Technology «MISiS», 119049, Moscow, Russia.
Corresponding author: V.V. Morozov, e-mail: dchmggu@mail.ru.

V. V. Morozov, e-mail: dchmggu@mail.ru

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