Magnetic separation and flotation of albite ore

摘要

This paper is a brief summary of the recent experimental studies carried out to improve the quality of albite ores in Menderes massif, south Aegean region of Turkey for both glass and ceramic grades. >t is found that dry magnetic separation is capable of upgrading iron bearing albite ores for glass grade whereas flotation is certainly needed for removing titanium bearing minerals to produce highest quality Na-feldspar concentrate for ceramic industry. The results showed that, from various feeds containing 0.15-0.80 percent Fe_2O_3 and 0.30-0.55 percent TiO_2, glass grade concentrates of 0.01-0.07 percent Fe_2O_3 and 0.06-0.13 percent TiO_2, ceramic grade concentrates of 0.01-0.05 percent Fe_2O_3 and 0.01-0.05 percent TiO_2 could be obtained by dry magnetic separation and flotation respectively. In the light of the laboratory scale flotation studies a flotation plant with a capacity of 35,000 tpa was designed, built and run. The average Fe_2O_3 and TiO_2 contents of the first 10,000 tons of concentrates are 0.015 percent and 0.04 percent respectively and to date it is the finest quality albite concentrate produced in the world.