Development of manmade mineral reserves using innovative technologies at Kvaisa deposit

Treatment of old tailings allowed production of a zinc concentrate at Zn content of 50.0% and recovery of 28.77%. The economic valuations show that profit from the sales of a small amount of a marketable product produced from a low-grade raw material is comparable with the processing expenses. The validated technique of construction of a flotation circuit for a mix of ore and tailings makes it possible to cut down the loss of metals with tailings through the reduced effect of mineral floatability. Namely, the rougher flotation process includes division of the initial feed between three parallel stages interconnected by the concentrate so that the first stage concentrate is mixed with the initial feeds of the subsequent stages of separation. Enrichment of the feed mixed with the better floatable product–concentrate–enables an increase in the content of the valuable component at the minimized decrease in the floatability contrast of the material. For the complete selective extraction of minerals in flotation with the production of rougher concentrates at three stages, the method is developed for conditioning air bubble surface via modification of process properties of the gas phase. Idea of modifying the process properties of the gas phase consists in using the connection between the wetting film stability and the temperature-governed forces induced by the changed structure of water at the phase interfaces as compared with the structure of water in the volume—the hydrophobic attraction and the hydrophilic repulsion. The tested technology features the thermal effect on the wetting film by the gas phase: air fed for airing the pulp is mixed with hot water steam, and the thermally conductive water brings the heat of condensation of the steam to the wetting film. It is shown that economic effect produced in the joint processing of ore and tailings is unachievable in treatment of tailings only.

Keywords: lead–zinc ore, old tailings, joint processing, processing circuit, flotation regime, hydrophobic attraction, hydrophilic repulsion.
For citation:

Gabaraev O. Z., Evdokimov S. I., Gerasimenko T. E., Maksimov R. N. Development of manmade mineral reserves using innovative technologies at Kvaisa deposit. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2023;(5-1):50-72. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2023_51_0_50.

Acknowledgements:

The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Grant No. 23-27-00093.

Issue number: 5
Year: 2023
Page number: 50-72
ISBN: 0236-1493
UDK: 622.765
DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2023_51_0_50
Article receipt date: 13.01.2023
Date of review receipt: 13.03.2023
Date of the editorial board′s decision on the article′s publishing: 10.04.2023
About authors:

O.Z. Gabaraev1, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Head of Chair, e-mail: gabaraev59@mail.ru,
S.I. Evdokimov1, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: eva-ser@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2960-4786,
T.E. Gerasimenko1, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Head of Intellectual Property Department, e-mail: gerasimenko_74@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7048-4379,
R.N. Maksimov1, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, e-mail: maks.rn@mail.ru,
1 North Caucasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (State Technological University), 362021, Vladikavkaz, Russia.

 

For contacts:

S.I. Evdokimov, e-mail: eva-ser@mail.ru.

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