US3696922A

US3696922A - Flotation of copper and nickel sulfides from talcose bearing ores

Info

Publication number: US3696922A
Application number: US16946A
Authority: US
Inventors: David Weston
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1969-11-07
Filing date: 1970-03-05
Publication date: 1972-10-10
Anticipated expiration: 1989-10-10
Also published as: CA877598A

Abstract

A method for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide minerals from talcose bearing ores using an alkaline circuit in which at least one of the alkaline reagents is soda ash or ammonium hydroxide and following conditioning of the pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family to activate the nickel and copper sulphide materials, the pulp is conditioned with a flocculating agent to depress the host rock minerals and in which following flotation the rougher concentrate is further conditioned with a dispersant or a flocculant prior to the first cleaner float.

Description

United States Patent Weston [54] FLOTATION OF COPPER AND NICKEL SULFIDES FROM TALCOSE BEARING ORES Inventor:

[72] David Weston, 34 Parkwood Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada The portion of the term of this patent subsequent to June 6, 1989, has been disclaimed.

Filed: March 5, 1970 Appl. No; 16,946

Related US. Application Data Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 873,911, Nov. 3, 1969, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 727,268, May 7, 1968, Pat. No. 3,596,838.

[ Notice:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 7, 1969 Canada ..67,006

US. Cl ..209/5, 209/ 167 Int. Cl ..B03b 1/04, B03d 1/06 Field of Search ..209/166, 167, 5

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,417,263 5/1922 Luckenbach ..209/166 *Oct. 10, 1972 1,842,400 1/1932 Hahn ..209/166 2,485,083 10/ 1949 Booth ..209/166 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 258,648 9/1926 Great Britain ..209/166 616,256 3/ l 961 Canada ..209/166 616,687 3/1961 Canada ..209/166 Primary Examiner-Frank W. Lutter Assistant Examiner-Robert Halper Attorney-Smart & Biggar [5 7] ABSTRACT 3 Claims, No Drawings FLOTATION OF COPPER AND NICKEL SULFIDES EXAMPLES OF THE INVENTION FROM TALCOSE BEARING ORES 1n the following examples the nickel copper ore used RELATED APPLICATIONS contained a high percentage of talc, (in excess of 30 percent) and also a high percentage of pyrrhotite, (approximately 30 percent) conventional metallurgical circuits resulted in low grade concentrates which were uneconomic for shipment to a smelter. The maximum grade concentrate produced was approximately 2.5 percent nickel. The head value of the ore was 1.15 percent nickel and 0.36 percent copper.

Except where noted, the following circuit was used:

This application is a continuation-in-part of applica- 5 tion Ser. No. 873,911, filed Nov. 3, 1969, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 727,268, filed May 7, 1968, now U. S. Pat. No. 3,596,838.

My invention relates to the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide minerals from talcose bearing ores; Ores of the aforegoing minerals which contain substantial amounts of talc had heretofore been particularly restage I G i di ;1ime Reagent, to sistant to economic treatment through flotation as the l 5 Mill: aoqiumlfadrbonnt finely divided talcose materials have interfered with the fi'xf' m i f differential activation and flotation of the minerals. Stage 11 Conditioning: Time l have found that in using an alkaline circuit wherein 2253:3252 Pmnum at least one of the alkaline reagents is soda ash or amstage n Conditioning: Time 5"s..Reagent monium hydroxide, nickel and copper sulphide 20 at? flocculafinl m and l minerals may be successfully floated fromores contam- Rough" flotation. ing high percentages of talcose type minerals which S I Zim; 9"s. T lo tage V on itioning: irnc to "s normally seriously Interfere with the obtaining of an musherconcemme with economic grade of recovery and result in poor recovean m, dimmm or occulant rIes of the nIckel and copper. mm clean" no: GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION According to my invention an alkaline pulp wherein The fellofving table n the effect of e 0f the Ore has been reduced to a suitable size of subdivifloeenlants 1n y new en'eun wnel'eln excellent l sion for flotation is produced by wet grinding the Ore in tion of the talcose and otnel: nest reek nnnel'els may be the presence of alkaline reagents consisting at least in Obtained Prior undeftaklng final P' the part of soda ash or ammonium hydroxide. Preferably,

copper sulphate is also present as an activator for the In en I have eomblned f e and first i k l l hid i l Al i l h l may cleaner tallrngs as l have found it des1rable to use at be produced by grinding the ore in the absence of releast one Stage of flocculatmg P t0 the g r agents d h bj ti h lti l to difloat, and further dispersion or flocculation of the tioning in the presence of the aforementioned alkaline n eoneentnate P to the first cleaner float. If reagents, preferably in the presence of copper sulphate. i Second Stage not used, too much We OS rock Suitably, the H of the pulp is maintained within the 40 m nerals ar earned yo e fi cleaner. e e-m range of 8 to 10.5 throughout the process. it tends to produce a much lower final grade of concen- The pulp is then conditioned with a suitable collecttrate. In addition, if too high a concentration of floccuing agent of the xanthate family (normally Potassium lant is used ahead of the rougher float to reject practi- Amyl Xanthate) until the nickel and copper minerals cally all of the talcose minerals in the rougher float, are fully activated, following which a flocculating agent recovery of the nickel and copper minerals will suffer. is added together with a frothing agent such as pine oil My optimum circuit therefore requires at least one and following the conditioning period in the presence stage of dispersion or flocculation prior to the rougher of these reagents the pulp is subjected to a rougher float and at least one stage of dispersion or flocculation flotation. A rougher concentrate is then repulped, a following the rougher float.

Rghr. plus first cleaner 1i h l nal sis ngs c emma a y Reagents, lbs. per ton and stage added P t P rcent Percent if v v ia. e Ni Cu NazCot NHtOH C1180 Z6 N82510: Gum

.9 0.084 0.013 Sta 0 I 11.25--. Si; e I 0.25 Stage I 0.125... Stage II 0.125 Stage I 0.76.-.- Stage IV 0.375.

2%.6 0.107 0. 013 do .i do S.II30"s S.IV3"s 1.5.. 8.111555% Stage Iv 0.25.

0.175. 0.6 12!) 64.4 0. 008 0021 .do .d0'. Stage I 0.5..... Stage II 0.125 Stage III 0.925. Do.

pll- Rougher flotation p11 approximately 10.0 in all tests except where noted.

dispersant or flocculant is added, and following a It will be noted that where the gum is used in stage I further conditioning period in the presence of these rean Stage test a lower a c and ho t ock rejecagents, the pulp is subjected to a cleaner float. tion is obtained together with lower losses in nickel.

As will be apparent from the detailed examples Test 129 shows the Optimum use of two stages of flocwhich follow, the process of my invention as described culation wherein the flocculant is added in stage 111 and generally results in the satisfactory depression of the again added In ag IV. i talcose materials to produce a first cleaner concentrate Test 126 gave Interesting results considering no acof remarkably good grade with excellent recovery of tivator for the nickel sulphide minerals was used, that is both nickel and copper minerals. copper sulphate. In this test a prolonged conditioning time in stage ll was used, that is 30"s, instead of the normal 20"s in the other tests. The flocculant was added ahead of the rougher flotation without any previous' dispersion and gave acceptable talc and host rock rejection with a reasonable tailings loss considering that no copper sulphate was used to pre-activate the nickel sulphide minerals. Prior to the first'cleaner float in Stage IV, small amounts of both flocculant and dispersant were used.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A process for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide minerals from talcose bearing ores comprising producing an alkaline pulp of the ore in a suitable state of subdivision for flotation wherein at least one alkaline reagent present is soda ash or ammonium hydroxide and the pH is within the range of from about 8 to about 10.5, conditioning the resultant pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family until the nickel and copper minerals are activated, adding a flocculating agent for the talcose host rock materials together with av frother and conditioning the pulp to depress the talcose host rock materials, subjecting the thus produced pulp to produce a first cleaner concentrate relatively rich in nickel and copper sulphide minerals and relatively poor in talcose host rock ingredients.

2. A process for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide minerals from talcose bearing ores comprising wet grinding the ore to produce an alkaline pulp thereof in a suitable state of subdivision for flotation wherein at least one alkaline reagent present is soda ash or ammonium hydroxide and the pH is within the range of from about 8 to 10.5; conditioning said pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family in the presence of a flocculating agent for the talcose host rock materials to activate the nickel and copper minerals and depress the talcose host rock materials; further conditioning said pulp with a frother and subjecting the same to froth flotation to produce a rougher concentrate; repulping the rougher concentrate with the addition of further flocculating agent for the talcose host rock materials and conditioning. the thus produced pulp to further depress the talcose host rock materials, and subjecting the thus produced pulp to a cleaner float to produce a first cleaner concentrate relatively rich in nickel and copper sulphide minerals and relatively poor in talcose host rock ingredients.

3. A process as claimed in claim I wherein the reagent selected from the group consisting of dispersing agents and flocculating agents for the talcose host rock materials after the rougher concentrate is repulped is a dispersing agent for the talcose host rock materials.

* III

Claims

1. A process for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide minerals from talcose bearing ores comprising producing an alkaline pulp of the ore in a suitable state of subdivision for flotation wherein at least one alkaline reagent present is soda ash or ammonium hydroxide and the pH is within the range of from about 8 to about 10.5, conditioning the resultant pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family until the nickel and copper minerals are activated, adding a flocculating agent for the talcose host rock materials together with a frother and conditioning the pulp to depress the talcose host rock materials, subjecting the thus produced pulp to froth flotation to produce a rougher concentrate, repulping the rougher concentrate with the additiOn of a further reagent selected from the group consisting of dispersants and flocculants for the talcose host rock materials and conditioning the thus produced pulp to further depress the talcose host rock materials, and subjecting the thus produced pulp to a cleaner float to produce a first cleaner concentrate relatively rich in nickel and copper sulphide minerals and relatively poor in talcose host rock ingredients.

2. A process for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide minerals from talcose bearing ores comprising wet grinding the ore to produce an alkaline pulp thereof in a suitable state of subdivision for flotation wherein at least one alkaline reagent present is soda ash or ammonium hydroxide and the pH is within the range of from about 8 to 10.5; conditioning said pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family in the presence of a flocculating agent for the talcose host rock materials to activate the nickel and copper minerals and depress the talcose host rock materials; further conditioning said pulp with a frother and subjecting the same to froth flotation to produce a rougher concentrate; repulping the rougher concentrate with the addition of further flocculating agent for the talcose host rock materials and conditioning the thus produced pulp to further depress the talcose host rock materials, and subjecting the thus produced pulp to a cleaner float to produce a first cleaner concentrate relatively rich in nickel and copper sulphide minerals and relatively poor in talcose host rock ingredients.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the reagent selected from the group consisting of dispersing agents and flocculating agents for the talcose host rock materials after the rougher concentrate is repulped is a dispersing agent for the talcose host rock materials.