Pulsating HGMS for industrial separation of chalcopyrite from fine copper-molybdenun co-flotation concentrate

• Published in: Minerals engineering 2021-08, Vol.170, p.106967, Article 106967
• Main Authors: Chen, Luzheng, Xiong, Tao, Xiong, Dahe, Yang, Ruoyu, Peng, Yuanlun, Shao, Yanhai, Xu, Jinyue, Zeng, Jianwu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chalcopyrite-molybdenite separation; Industrial application; Matrix design; Pulsating HGMS
• ISSN: 0892-6875; 1872-9444
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mineng.2021.106967

Schematic diagram for Matrix Design Theory and Method. [Display omitted] •Pulsating HGMS achieved effective separation for fine Cu-Mo concentrate.•Matrix Design Theory and Method was applied to design matrix for pulsating HGMS.•Pulsating HGMS reduces productive and environmental costs for Cu-Mo separation. Chalcopyrite occurring in porphyry copper deposits accounts for nearly 70% of the total copper reserve in the world, and in China more than 50% of the molybdenum concentrate was produced from this copper ore, in the form of molybeinite. Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) and molybdenite (MoS2) are both sulphide minerals and may be easily co-floated, due to their similar floatability. However, the selective flotation of chalcopyrite from molybdenite is difficult and consumes a large amount of chemical reagents for chalcopyrite depression, which results in the high productive and environmental costs. In this investigation, pulsating HGMS with new matrix was industrially attempted for the separation of chalcopyrite from a fine copper-molybdenun co-flotation concentrate assaying 25–26% Cu and 0.35–0.36% Mo, in a super-large porphyry copper ore processing plant. It produced a copper concentrate at high weight around 30%, assaying around 31.50% Cu and 0.080–0.100% Mo, at 30–40% Cu and 6–10% Mo recoveries respectively; the non-magnetic product from the pulsating HGMS process assays 22–24% Cu and 0.45–0.50% Mo, at 60–70% Cu and 90–94% Mo recoveries respectively. The pulsating HGMS technology significantly reduces the use for flotation reagents and the productive and environmental costs for copper-molybdenun separation, and may provide a valuable reference for the copper-zinc, copper-lead and copper-talc separations, etc.