Recovery of Lead from Lead Oxide Ore from Kazakhstan by Gravity Separation Combined with Flotation

摘要

The test had been carried out on a lead oxide ore (18.57% Pb) from Kazakhstan, which had a high oxidation ratio (above 95%) and complexly intergrowed with plenty of alkaline gangue minerals such as calcite and dolomite. A joint flowsheet that combined the gravity separation with flotation was developed to recover the lead, during which flowsheet, a new effective slurry regulator was used. Compared with the joint flowsheet, the concentrates of the single gravity separation and the single flotation were achieved with a lower Pb recovery of 53.80% and 56.06%, and the Pb grade of 62.00% and 66.28%, respectively. Finally, a concentrate by the joint flowsheet was obtained with a Pb recovery of 89.12% and a Pb grade of 58.90%. The tailing from the joint flowsheet had a low Pb grade of 1.59%, with a loss of 5.50% of Pb. The experimental results show that the joint flowsheet was better than the single flowsheet for this lead oxide ore, which greatly improves both the performance and economic benefit for the concentrator.