| Abstract Scope |
In response to the environment and economic problems attributed to the usage of large amount of lime and sulfuric acid in high alkaline preferential process (HAPP), this research systematically investigated a new, environment friendly and cost-effective flotation approach for the selective separation of galena, sphalerite and pyrite from a high sulfur lead-zinc sulfide ore. In this study, the sample was obtained from Fankou Mine in Guangdong Province.With the new scheme, it was found that most of galena (PbRecovery:93.5%) and pyrite (SRecovery:87.5%) were gathered through galena-pyrite mixed flotation without the usage of lime, and then galena and pyrite were effectively separated using a little amount of lime (2000g/t). More important, the product of high-grade pyrite (SGrade:46.8%) was recovered by reverse-flotation without sulfuric acid. Totally, the new innovative method can reduce the amount of lime and eliminate the sulfuric acid, at the same time, the closed-circuit flotation results can be obtained with PbRecovery:82.60%, ZnRecovery:95.26%, and SRecovery:64.47%. Besides, both the reagents’ costs and power requirements were minimized; and 4.5 million RMB could be saved annually in FanKou plant of China. Therefore, the developed approach has significant environmental and economic benefits and possessing a broad prospect in the mineral industry. |