The Critical Influence of Pulp Oxygen Content on the Separation of Pentlandite from Pyrrhotite in Two Process Streams of the Clarabelle Mill of VALE INCO, Sudbury, Canada
This paper focuses on the influence of pulp oxygen content on the separation of pentlandite and pyrrhotite contained in two different process streams in the Clarabelle Mill, operated by VALE INCO. The two process streams are (ⅰ) the scavenger cleaner feed, the product of regrinding the thickened, scavenged concentrate and the B cleaned tail produced from treating the non-magnetic fraction of the milled run of mine ore, and (ⅱ) the magnetic concentrate which is the magnetic fraction of the milled run of mine ore. In the Clarabelle Mill, sulphite (SO32-) and TETA (triethylenetetramine) are together used to selectively depress pyrrhotite from pentlandite. These depressants preferentially decompose collector and/or sulphur enriched species at the pyrrhotite surface, an apparently essential mechanism in pyrrhotite depression from the scavenger cleaner feed stream. Selectivity in depression may originate from differences in the electrochemical rest potential of pyrrhotite and pentlandite. As both minerals are susceptible to oxidation, aeration in conditioning and flotation plays a key role in selective flotation. Important differences in the flotation behavior of pentlandite and pyrrhotite from the magnetic concentrate and the scavenger cleaner streams are highlighted in this work and several diagnostic tools were applied to diagnose the origin for these differences.
Pentlandite Pyrrhotite Pulp oxygen content Oxidation Flotation
S. H. He Stephen Grano Hamid Reza Manoucheri Andrew Taylor Virginia Lawson
Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Australia
国际会议
XXIV International Mineral Processing Congress(第24届国际矿物加工大会)
北京
英文
1028-1037
2008-09-24（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）