A MODELLING APPROACH USING A BACKCALCULATED INDUCTION TIME TO PREDICT RECOVERIES IN FLOTATION

摘要

The current modelling flotation approach of the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centrern(JKMRC) predicts recoveries in a flotation circuit using a lumped parameter called the floatabilityrnof mineral particles (P) which has no direct physical meaning and is assumed to be conserved inrnflotation circuits in the absence of regrinding or change in chemical environment. In this paper, thernoriginal definition of P as the efficiency of flotation was resurrected. Fundamental models of particlerncollection by bubbles were applied to an industrial data set from a down-the-bank flotation survey ofrnthe first four cells of the galena rougher circuit at BHP Billiton’s Cannington operation in Australia.rnThe floatability of mineral particles P was no longer treated as a lumped parameter but describedrnby the physical measurable inputs of the models. Induction time as a model parameter was backcalculatedrnfrom knowledge of the experimental data and application of the collection model. Thernassumption that the induction time of a size-by-liberation class at fixed chemistry was conservedrnallowed prediction of galena recoveries in the circuit. It was found that the modelling approach gavernresults that were consistent with the current model that treats P as a lumped parameter, conserved inrna flotation circuit. The new modelling approach carries the advantage that it can provide knowledgernof the boundaries of the assumptions in the current model.