JPH01249178A - Method for concentrating cobalt-rich crust ore - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To selectively grind and recover crust by successively subjecting cobalt-rich crust ore to crushing, grinding with a ball mill or the like and sieving. CONSTITUTION:Cobalt-rich crust ore is crushed to <=10mum with a jaw crusher or the like, put in the steel ball mill or the like, ground and sieved. An oversize is further ground and sieved. The crust can be very efficiently separated and removed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a method for beneficiation of ferromanganese-rich cobalt ore, which exists on seamounts on the ocean floor and is rich in rare metals such as cobalt.

[Conventional technology]

Cobalt-rich crust deposits have recently attracted worldwide attention as the third undersea mineral resource, following deep-sea manganese nodule deposits and submarine hydrothermal beds.

Cobalt-rich deposits are found on the peaks and slopes of seamounts in the deep ocean such as the Pacific Ocean.
For example, high-grade ore deposits are said to be distributed at seamounts in the equatorial region at depths of 1,000 to 2,000 meters (1,000 to 2,000 meters deep), and this rich cobalt crust is made up of rare metals such as cobalt contained in seawater that form in a special marine environment. Originally, it was formed by precipitation in the bedrock of seamounts.

Regarding the beneficiation method for such cobalt-rich crust containing a large amount of bedrock, there are many methods used in ordinary mines, such as the specific gravity beneficiation method and the flotation method. There were almost no examples of research on ore beneficiation.

However, the Salt Lake Research Center in the United States has attempted flotation of -150 mesh rich cobalt crust crushed ore, but has not been successful.

This is because the specific surface area of rich cobalt crust ore is 200rd.
/gr or more, and the consumption of flotation chemicals is large, and
This is due to the fact that it is an oxide ore, which is technically more difficult than sulfide ore. Furthermore, since flotation requires a large amount of chemicals, it has many drawbacks, such as pollution of the marine environment and problems with facilities and operation on ships due to sea waves.

There is no research on other beneficiation techniques, and in particular, the present invention's selective crushing, crushing technology, and the beneficiation method for rich cobalt crust using low magnetic force and high magnetic force beneficiation techniques are completely absent from the prior art in this field. .

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Continuous packet methods and mining robot methods are used to mine cobalt-rich crust to be prototyped on seamounts, but since the seamount cobalt-rich crust ore is a mineral that has grown on bedrock, contamination with bedrock cannot be avoided. There is a problem.

Generally, the amount of basement rock in ore is reported to be 20% to 43%.

In a bad example experienced by the present inventors, in 1986, 70
% of basement rock.

Such a large amount of bedrock is uneconomical as it affects transportation by ships, etc., and it also causes an extreme drop in efficiency in the smelting process. This has become an extremely important issue.

The types of bedrock are basalt and hyaloclastite (a glassy rock formed when basalt lava flowed underwater, and the surface layer was rapidly cooled and fractured by water).
, phosphate rock, claystone, mudstone, limestone, and others.

Some of these bedrock rocks can be separated with the same amount of crushing energy as free fall due to differences in hardness, etc.
Most of them cannot be sorted out using this level of separation method. This is because the difference in hardness and specific gravity is relatively small, and the crust ore often penetrates into small depressions such as depressions in the base.

The present invention efficiently separates such large amounts of bedrock that is difficult to separate using a relatively small device that can be mounted on ships, etc. This method provides a method for obtaining high-grade and high-recovery valuable metal components such as Kitomi cobalt ore, which is collected on board a collection vessel, near the site, or in the pre-smelting process at a smelting factory. The aim is to simultaneously solve uneconomic transportation problems by efficiently removing bedrock and other unnecessary minerals.

[Means to solve the problem]

The mud contained in the cobalt-rich crust is washed away with water.
In addition, andesite, which is particularly hard and difficult to crush, can be processed using the crushing method.
As uncrushed rock, it can be separated by normal beneficiation such as sieving. However, it is difficult to separate phosphate rock, limestone, etc., which have similar hardness and specific gravity using normal crushing methods or specific gravity methods.

The present inventors focused on the fact that the cobalt-rich crust has a lower crystallinity than phosphate ore, etc., and that there is a difference in crushability in the fine-grain crushing region. It was discovered that unnecessary minerals can be sorted and separated on a sieve by selecting the sieve particle size after crushing, and the present invention was achieved.

In other words, it was observed that as the crushing progressed to a certain extent, highly crystalline phosphorus minerals and feldspars containing a large amount of PJpSi, Ca, etc. remained on a sieve of approximately 48 meshes, and could be separated from the rich cobalt crust. .

In addition, microscopic analysis such as EPMA has revealed that some of P, Si, and Ca contain minerals containing a large amount of Fe, and these minerals can be separated using magnetic beneficiation using a low magnetic force of 2000 Gauss or less. was found to be effective, and it is preferable to use this method in combination.

Furthermore, EPMA analysis revealed that ferromagnetic atoms such as Co and Ni coexist with CLI and Mn.
Since a high magnetic force beneficiation method of 2000 Gauss or more, preferably io, ooo Gauss or more is effective for concentrating this valuable component, it is also preferable to use this method in combination.

The ore beneficiation method of the present invention is sufficiently effective not only in a dry method but also in a wet method, and can be carried out on a ship or in a factory located on the coast.

The high-grade cobalt-rich cobalt crust powder ore, which is concentrated in this way and has a size of about -48 mesh, is transferred to processes such as smelting using sulfur dioxide gas (So = ), where valuable metals are extracted and recovered. Become.

In the present invention, for initial coarse crushing, crushers such as a show crusher, an impeller breaker, a cone crusher, and a bread hoard breaker are suitable.

[Example 1] The cobalt-rich crust ore used as a raw material in this example (collected by the US ship Farnera in 1986) contains a large amount of basement rock, and its grade is Co: 0.0.
7-0.28%, Cu: 0.01-0.06%, Ni:
0.01-0.17%, Mn: 1.80-10.7%,
Fe: 6-9%, P: 2-4.5%, Si: 9-14%
, Ca: 8 to 11%.

Two types of samples, A and B, were selected from this ore and crushed to 10 mm or less using a show crusher, and 2 kg was placed in a steel ball mill with internal dimensions of 305 x 305 L.
The mixture was placed together with 20 kg of steel balls, and pulverized for 10 minutes while rotating at 70 rpm, and the entire amount was sieved through a 4-day mesh.

The surface of the sieve in Step 2 was further crushed and sieved for 20 minutes under the same equipment conditions, and the surface of the sieve was further crushed and sieved for 30 minutes.

Table 1 shows the quality of the crushed product of 48 mesh or less and the quality of the 48 mesh souvenir that remained at the end for samples A and B.

48 For the products remaining on the sieve, both A and B are Go.
, Co, Ni, and Mn, and was able to concentrate unnecessary components such as P, Si, and Ca. When this product was examined by X-ray diffraction, it was confirmed that it was a highly crystalline mineral such as apatite or feldspar.

[Example 2] In a mining ship 22 floating on the ocean 23, cobalt-rich crust ore 4 is collected from the seabed using a chain packet 2 attached to a long robe 1, and the bottom 3 of the chain packet 2 is opened to collect the cobalt-rich crust ore 4. Onboard conveyor 5
However, when being transported, seawater 6 is sprayed to wash away the mud as 7.

Thereafter, it is placed in a bread hoard breaker 8 and crushed (roughly crushed) by falling, and then sent to a cylindrical sieve 9. Here, washing with seawater 10 is added, and rich cobalt crust adhering to hard rocks such as andesite is washed off to the bottom of the sieve. Andesite, etc. on the sieve is removed as 11.

The cobalt-rich crust is then wet-milled by a vibrating mill 12 and sent to a vibrating screen 13. Here, unnecessary minerals such as apatite, feldspar, and limestone are sieved with 48 meshes using this vibrating sieve 13 and removed as a sand-like mineral portion 4.

The rich cobalt crust under the sieve is further processed by a 1000 Gauss low magnetic force separator 15 and removed as magnetizable unnecessary minerals 16 such as apatite, feldspar, and limestone containing a large amount of iron.

Finally, in order to further improve the quality and remove unnecessary minerals, they are sorted by a 10,000 gauss high magnetic force separator 17, the unnecessary minerals are transferred to the non-magnetic side 18, and the improved cobalt-rich crust is sent to the dehydrator for the next process. 19 dehydrated 20 and ship type concentrate 2
The ore is stored as 1 and transported to the smelter.

In this example, C
, D were selected and the treatment was carried out at a treatment rate of 300 kg/HR, and Table 2 shows the grades of unnecessary minerals 14.16 and 18 in Figure 1, as well as cobalt-rich crust concentrate 21.

P, Sl, and Ca gather in product 14, and product 16
In the product 18, P, Si, and Ca, which contain a large amount of Fe, are collected, and in the product 18, P is collected. As a result, concentrate 21 contains P
.

Si, Ca decreases, Go, Cu, Ni,
A product with high Mn valuable metal quality could be recovered.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, in the method of removing bedrock, which is the biggest problem in the development of cobalt-rich crust deposits, it has become possible to separate and remove it extremely efficiently.

Therefore, it becomes possible to reduce the transport volume by ship and improve the efficiency of smelting pretreatment, etc., on board the mining ship or at nearby bases, making the economics of ore deposit development extremely advantageous. The effects of the invention are extremely large.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing is a schematic explanatory diagram showing an example of implementing the present invention on a mining ship. 2...Fuji Cobalt Crust Ore Collection Packet, 4...
・Crust ore, 6, 10... Seawater, 8... Crusher, 9... Cylindrical sieve, 11... Base rock, 12... Vibration mill, 13... Vibrator, 14.・Unnecessary minerals, 15
...Low magnetic force separator, 16...Mineral that does not require magnetization, 17
...High magnetic force separator, 18...Unnecessary minerals, 19...
Dehydrator, 21... Concentrate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Cobalt-rich crust ore collected from a seamount on the ocean floor is washed with water to remove mud, and then coarsely crushed using a crusher, and then sieved to remove hard andesite accompanying the ore. After removing the base rocks such as
Pass through a sieve of about 8 mesh to remove gangue such as phosphorite and feldspar, which have a higher degree of crystallinity and are harder than the crust, as a product on the sieve, and produce a crust containing a large amount of rare metal components such as cobalt as a product on the sieve. A method for beneficiation of cobalt-rich crust characterized by selective crushing and recovery. 2. The raw material cobalt-rich ore is completely pulverized or the final recovered cobalt-rich crust is treated with a high magnetic force of 2000 Gauss or more, and ore rich in cobalt, nickel, manganese, etc. is recovered as a magnetized material, and cobalt, nickel,
The method for beneficiation of cobalt-rich crust according to claim 1, which improves the quality of valuable metal components such as manganese. 3. From crushed ore before processing with high magnetic force of 2000 gauss or more or recovered magnetized material after processing, from P, Si, Ca containing a large amount of iron by magnetic beneficiation method with low magnetic force of 2000 gauss or less. 3. The method for beneficiation of cobalt-rich crust according to claim 2, wherein gangue minerals such as apatite and feldspar are removed to the side of the magnetized material to improve the quality of valuable metal components such as cobalt and manganese as non-magnetized materials. 4. The method for beneficiation of cobalt-rich crust according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the cobalt-rich ore in a wet state immediately after extraction is beneficently treated on a mining ship, thereby greatly reducing the storage volume on the ship.