Flotation of rare earth minerals from silicate–hematite ore using tall oil fatty acid collector |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Mineral Resources Research Group, Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Central-7, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305-0044, Japan;2. Mining Museum of Akita University, Faculty of International Resource Sciences, Akita University, Osawa 28-2, Tegata, Akita 010-8502, Japan;3. Minerals and Energy Thrust, Council for Geoscience, 280 Pretoria Street, Silverton, Private Bag X112, Pretoria 0001, South Africa;1. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Helmholtz-Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, Freiberg 71691, Germany;2. Institute of Mechanical Process Engineering and Minerals Processing, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg 71691, Germany;1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Université Laval, 1065 Avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Québec G1V 0A6, Canada;2. Process Engineering Advanced Research Lab (PEARL), Department of Chemical Engineering, ÿcole Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada;1. Surface Science Western, Research Park, University of Western Ontario, London, Ont. N6G0J3, Canada;2. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China;2. Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Hydrometallurgy and Light Rare Earth Application, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China;3. School of Material and Metallurgy, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China;1. Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, SA 5095, Adelaide, Australia;2. Department of Mining and Process Engineering, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia |
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| Abstract: | The flotation of rare earth (RE) minerals (i.e. xenotime, monazite-(Nd), RE carbonate mineral) from an ore consisting mainly of silicate minerals (i.e. primary silicate minerals and nontronite clay) and hematite was investigated using tall oil fatty acids (Aero 704, Sylfat FA2) as collector. The RE minerals are enriched with Fe. The effects of tall oil fatty acid dosage, pH, temperature, and conventional depressants (sodium lignin sulfonate, sodium metasilicate, sodium fluoride, sodium metasilicate and sodium fluoride, and soluble starch) were determined at grinding size of P80 = 63 μm. At this grinding size, the grain size of the RE minerals ranges from 2 to 40 μm, percentage liberation is 9–22%, and percentage association with nontronite and quartz is 30–35%. Results indicated that Sylfat FA2 at 22450 g/t concentration was the more efficient tall oil fatty acid collector at natural pH (pH 7) to basic pH (pH 10.0–11.5). Flotation at the room temperature (25 °C) gave higher selectivity than 40 °C temperature flotation. The results on the effect of depressants showed similar selectivity curves against the gangues SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 suggesting that the chemical selectivity of the depressants has been limited by the incomplete liberation of the RE minerals in the feed sample. High recoveries at 76–84% (Y + Nd + Ce)2O3 but still low (Y + Nd + Ce)2O3 grade at 2.1% in the froth were obtained at flotation conditions of 63 μm, 25 °C, pH 10.5, 1,875 g/ton sodium metasilicate and 525 g/ton sodium fluoride or 250 g/ton soluble starch as depressant for the silicates and hematite, and 22,450 g/t Sylfat FA2 as collector for the RE minerals (initial (Y + Nd + Ce)2O3 feed grade = 0.77%). The recoveries of gangue SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 in the froth were low at 25–30%, 30–37%, and 30–36%, respectively. The mineralogical analysis of a high grade froth and its corresponding tailing product showed that the RE minerals have been concentrated in the froth while the primary silicate minerals and hematite have been relatively concentrated in the tailing. However, the clay minerals, primary silicate minerals, and hematite still occupy the bulk content of the froth. This suggests that incomplete liberation of the RE minerals led to the poor grade result, supporting likewise the selectivity curve results by the different depressants. This study showed that liberation is important in achieving selective separation. |
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| Keywords: | Rare earth minerals Tall oil fatty acid Nontronite Liberation |
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