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Article history: The presence of aluminosilicate minerals adversely affects the oatability of copper during processing of
Received 8 June 2010 Sarcheshmeh porphyry ores. In this work, ores containing different types and quantities of aluminosili-
Accepted 27 January 2011 cate minerals, as well as copper suldes (i.e., chalcopyrite and chalcocite), were examined in the labora-
Available online 22 February 2011
tory to determine how aluminosilicate minerals affect the oatability of copper and to nd ways to
decrease their unwanted effects. It was shown that ore types that contain muscovite and vermiculite
Keywords: have the greatest effect on the oatability of copper suldes. To overcome this problem, two reagent
Aluminosilicate minerals
strategies were used: (a) dextrin at 100, 200, and 600 g/ton and (b) a mixture of dextrin, sodium silicate,
Copper
Flotation
and sodium hexametaphosphate (20%, 40%, and 40% by weight, respectively) at 200 and 300 g/ton. The
reagent mixture (case b) at a dosage of 200 g/ton improved the copper recovery and decreased the grade
and the recovery of Al2O3 and SiO2 in the otation concentrate. As an alternative solution, otation at
reduced pulp density (24%) improved the grade and the recovery of copper and molybdenum and
decreased the grade and recovery of Al2O3 and SiO2 in comparison to the currently used pulp density
(29%) in the Sarcheshmeh otation plant.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0892-6875/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2011.01.005
E. Jorjani et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 754759 755
contains 450 million tones, averaging 1.13% Cu and 0.03% Mo at a produce a nal product with about 70 wt.% solids of less than
cut-off grade of 0.4% Cu (Waterman and Hamilton, 1975). The 75 lm. The ground samples were used in the otation studies.
hypogene zone, which is currently being exploited, consists of a
potassic alteration zone with potassium feldspar and secondary
2.3. Flotation experiments
biotite, sericite, chlorite, and epidote minerals. In this zone the
hornblende, biotite, and plagioclase have been altered to amphi-
The rst stage of the otation tests were conducted in a 2.5 L
bole, magnetite, and sericite, respectively (Shahabpoor, 1982).
Denver laboratory otation cell with a rotation rate of 1100 rpm
The clay minerals that resulted from alteration, along with cop-
and according to the rougher otation reagent regime of Sar-
per sulde minerals, are the major mineral phases that are fed to
cheshmeh copper otation plant and was named as standard
the copper concentrator plant (Shahabpoor, 1982).
tests. Fifteen grams per ton of the collector Nascol 1451 and
In the concentrator plant, after three stages of crushing, the ore
20 g/ton of the collector Z11, 15 g/ton of the frother Dow 250,
is fed to ball mills in closed circuit with cyclones to produce 70% of
and 15 g/ton of the frother MIBC were used in the otation tests.
the product ner than 75 lm. The concentrate of the rougher ota-
The pulp density was adjusted at 29 wt.% solids. The pH was ad-
tion is reground, and the tailings are discarded to the nal tails. The
justed to 11.8 using lime before reagent addition. The total froth
cleaning and re-cleaning stages produce copper concentrate. The
collecting time (600 s) was divided into periods of 60, 120, 180,
reagents used in the otation circuit are the collectors of Nascol
and 240 s, and the collected concentrates and the nal tail were
1451 (dithiophosphate + mercaptobenzothiazol) and Z11 (sodium
analysed for Cu, Mo, SiO2, and Al2O3.
isopropyl xanthate), frothers of Dow 250 (polypropylene glycol
In the second stage of the otation tests, in addition to the re-
methyl ether), and MIBC (methyl isobutyl carbonyl).
agents used in the standard test, two different reagent strategies,
To separate and recover the molybdenite mineral from the cop-
i.e., (a) dextrin with the dosages of 100, 200, and 600 g/ton and
per concentrate, copper sulde and iron sulde minerals are de-
(b) a mixture of dextrin, sodium silicate, and sodium hexameta-
pressed and the molybdenite oats. The molybdenite concentrate
phosphate (at weight percentages of 20%, 40%, and 40%, respec-
with the grade between 53% and 55% Mo and the copper sulde
tively) at 200 and 300 g/ton was used. The aim was to examine
concentrate with the grade of 31% Cu (chalcopyrite chalcocite,
the depressant effect of dextrin and the dispersant effects of so-
and covellite) are recovered as nal concentrates with an efciency
dium silicate and sodium hexametaphosphate on Al2O3, SiO2, and
of 83-87%, depending on the ore type and the operating conditions
Cu (%) assay and the recovery of the otation concentrate.
(Banisi and Finch, 2001; Poorkani and Banisi, 2005).
Finally, in the third stage of the otation tests, different pulp
It is known that aluminosilicate minerals adversely affect the
densities were examined to evaluate their effect on Al2O3, SiO2,
otation of copper suldes in the Sarcheshmeh otation plant;
Mo, and Cu (%) assay and the recovery of the otation concentrate.
the maximum grade levels of Al2O3 and SiO2 and the minimum
grade level of copper in the concentrate of the rougher otation
should be 8%, 20%, and 7%, respectively (Barkhordari et al. 2009).
3. Results and discussions
The determination of the effects of different aluminosilicate miner-
als on the oatability of copper and of how to decrease their un-
3.1. Grinding tests
wanted effects are the subjects of the current work.
Wet sieving was used on grinding products and log-linear plot
2. Experimental results of cumulative% passing versus size was prepared. The results are
shown in Fig. 1. According to this gure, at a grinding time of eight
2.1. Sampling, chemical and mineralogical analysis minutes for the sample nos. 13, products with 70% less than 76,
69, and 71 lm were achieved. In comparison to the sample nos.
The copper ore samples used in this study were prepared from 13, an extensive variety of aluminosilicates minerals is present
working benches of the Sarcheshmeh copper mine. They repre- in the sample no. 4; subsequently a ner product with 70% less
sented a range of different alteration and aluminosilicate minerals than 48 lm was achieved for this sample.
as well as different feeds to the plant. The samples were divided
into four groups based on the amount of Al2O3, SiO2 and Cu (%)
3.2. Standard tests: Effect of type and level of aluminosilicate minerals
and on mineralogy considerations. The chemical compositions
and the mineral constituents of the samples were determined by
Fig. 2 shows the Cu grade and recovery as well as Al2O3 and SiO2
X-ray uorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively.
recovery curves for sample no. 1. According to this gure, at a o-
The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
tation time of six minutes, a copper recovery of 91.7% was
achieved. After six minutes, no signicant change in copper recov-
2.2. Size reduction ery was observed. However, the concentrate grade dropped from
14.3% to 11.95%, a reduction of 2.35%, when the otation time in-
Crushing with a laboratory Jaw crusher was performed to creased from 6 to 10 min. The recoveries of SiO2 and Al2O3 were
achieve a product with 100% minus 10 mesh (2000 lm). The size low, 0.9% and 1.6%, respectively. Finally, at the end of the otation
reduction was continued by grinding the product from the crusher time, concentrate with a grade of 11.9% copper, 4.5% Al2O3, and
in a ball mill for eight minutes at a pulp density of 60 wt.% solids to 14.7% SiO2 was obtained.
Fig. 3 shows the Cu grade and recovery as well as Al2O3 and SiO2
recovery curves for sample no. 2. According to Fig. 3, the otation
Table 1
kinetics of this ore is high enough to reach the recovery to 86.7%
Chemical composition of the samples.
within 1 min and 96.7% within 3 min. After 3 min, no signicant
Sample no. SiO2 (%) Al2O3 (%) S (%) Cu (%) Fe (%) Mo (%) change in the copper recovery was observed; however the copper
1 64.32 15.28 1.52 0.7 2.76 0.013 grade dropped 3.7% when the otation time was increased from 3
2 73.82 10.33 0.64 3.03 0.46 0.060 to 6 min. The recoveries of SiO2 and Al2O3 were very low, 0.8% and
3 70.98 11.07 0.96 1.66 1.53 0.011
1.7%, respectively. Finally, at the end of otation time, concentrate
4 47.37 18.96 2.47 1.55 7.22 0.14
with a grade of 47.6% copper, 4.2% Al2O3, and 15.4% SiO2 was ob-
756 E. Jorjani et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 754759
Table 2
Mineralogical composition of the samples.
Fig. 3. Cu grade and recovery (a), Al2O3 and SiO2 recovery (b) curves for sample no.
2.
Fig. 5. Cu grade and recovery (a), Al2O3 and SiO2 recovery (b) curves for sample no.
4.
Fig. 9. Copper grade and recovery as a function of mixed reagents dosage for
sample no. 4.
Fig. 7. Effect of dextrin on Al2O3 and SiO2 grade and recovery for sample no. 4.
Fig. 8. Effect of dextrin on molybdenum grade and recovery for sample no. 4.
Fig. 10. Al2O3 and SiO2 grade and recovery as a function of mixed reagents dosage
for sample no. 4.
Table 3
Water recovery in different dextrin dosages.
Table 4
Effects of pulp density on copper, molybdenum, Al2O3, and SiO2 grade and recovery.
Pulp density (%) SiO2 grade (%) SiO2 recovery (%) Al2O3 grade (%) Al2O3 recovery (%) Cu grade (%) Cu recovery (%) Mo grade (%) Mo recovery (%)
24 17.8 2.76 5.8 2.38 16.32 84.46 1.04 61.82
29 21.61 3 8.15 3.16 15.48 81.23 0.7 50.15