(Session 6)PREDICTION OF PLANT FLASH FLOTATION PERFORMANCE USINGCONVENTIONAL LABORATORY METHODS

摘要

Flash flotation cells are increasingly being employed to recover valuable coarse material present inthe grinding circuit to minimise the potential over-grinding and maximise plant performance withthe added advantage of reduced capital outlay and operating costs. However it is not alwayspossible to quantify the contribution of the flash to overall recovery or to predict how this willchange with changing feed ore properties.In this work, laboratory tests were conducted on a refractory gold ore taken as a belt cut, allowingthe results of the laboratory analysis to be directly compared with the actual plant performance ofthe same ore. While both the size distribution of the concentrate and upgrade ratios of the coarsesize fractions are able to be determined by laboratory methods, there are significant differences inthe recoveries and kinetic parameters between lab and plant. This paper discusses the reasons anddemonstrates how the tests can be used in conjunction with mineralogy data to predict theamenability of an ore to the flash flotation process.