AN INVESTIGATION OF COBALT RECOVERY ON A COMPLEX OXIDATION MINE WITH HIGH PER CENT OF MUD

摘要

The main valuable minerals in the ore include limonite and heterogenite, with heterogenite as mainrnCo-carriers, and limonite as lesser Co-carrier, while a significant variation of Co-content in Cocarrierrnminerals. The ore contains about 10 per cent of these valuable minerals, 65–70 per cent ofrngangue minerals occurring mainly as quartz and silicates, as well as 15–20 per cent clay mineralsrndisseminated with limonite. For making a practical and economical process for treating this ore a greatrndeal of batch test work on gravity concentration, Wet High-intensity Magnetic Separators(WHIMS)rnand flotation was done. The tests showed that since the ore sample contained such a low level ofrnCobalt that a qualified Co concentrate (grading over 3 per cent Co) could not be produced simply byrnthe use of gravity concentration or WHIMS, or the two combination. As a result, careful testworkrnon the development of a technical flowsheet that will be practical and easy to operate in commercialrnproduction was done by a comprehensively considering the ore characteristics. A final recommendedrnflowsheet: Two-stage spiral chute followed by one-stage WHIMS (Pretreatment for removing thernprimary slimes) - WHIMS (for removing the secondary slimes) – Flotation (responsible for final Cornconcentrate production), was proposed and resulted in a concentrate of 3.11 per cent Co at a recoveryrnof 34.79 per cent. The flowsheet features modularisation by the three independent modules, it is veryrnflexible in commercial production to meet the feed changes in Co grade.