Effect of composition of metal-bearing surface modifiers for sulfide minerals of base heavy metals in copper–zinc ore flotation

Copper demand increases substantially yearly mainly owing to the appearance of renewable energy sources and electromobiles. Russia holds the world’s fourth resources of copper after Chile, Australia and Peru. Thanks to the properties and quantity, copper is widely used as an independent product and in alloys. Therefore, the mining industry has to process rebellious ore to produce increasingly more copper. Rebellious ore processing requires new modifiers, collectors, frothers and flowsheets of flotation. This article presents the research results on the influence of metal-bearing modifiers on flotation of copper, zinc and pyrite sulfides present in the composition of coper–zinc–pyrite ore from a Ural deposit. The modifying agents in flotation of copper, zinc and pyrite sulfides were iron, zinc and copper vitriols, and their binary and ternary mixtures. Dosing of the mixtures in flotation was performed using a 4-simplex. From the results on the kinetics of flotation, the patterns of materials in the concentrate were calculated per fractions of floatability. It is shown that the use of the mixture of iron and copper vitriols in flotation allows the increased recovery of copper and zinc. It is also proved that the use of this mixture of the modifiers activates flotation of sphalerite.

Phyoe Kyaw Kyaw, Kyaw Zaya Ya, Goryachev B. E. Effect of composition of metal-bearing surface modifiers for sulfide minerals of base heavy metals in copper–zinc ore flotation. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2023;(11):128-142. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_ 1493_2023_11_0_128.

Phyoe Kyaw Kyaw¹, Graduate Student, e-mail: bophyo1831993@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3084-6771,
Kyaw Zay Ya¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Internship, Department of Mineral Processing, e-mail: kokyawgyi49@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4364-9574,
B.E. Goryachev¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, e-mail: beg@misis.ru,
¹ Mining Institute, National University of Science and Technology «MISiS», 119049, Moscow, Russia.

Phyoe Kyaw Kyaw, e-mail: bophyo1831993@gmail.com; B.E. Goryachev, e-mail: beg@misis.ru.

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