Benefits of coarse particle flotation tech
ALMOST PERFECT As little as 1% surface expression is required for nearly complete recovery of coarse particles with the HydroFloat separator
Coarse particle flotation (CPF) technology can increase mill throughput by as much as 15% to 20% while reducing energy and media consumption, and provides a coarse tailings stream, without a loss in mineral recovery, says Canada-headquartered global flotation technology provider Eriez Flotation.
Eriez global technology executive VP Mike Mankosa states that the company, which has a branch in Boksburg, Gauteng, published a brochure titled This Changes Everything! in April to shine a light on how its HydroFloat separator is greatly benefiting the sulphide and base metals markets.
“This literature highlights how our separator can greatly reduce capital and operating costs, while improving sustainability and environmental efforts.”
The brochure also offers a detailed timeline of the HydroFloat separator’s development. Results are presented from early phosphate studies in 1997 to more recent sulphide evaluations, which have shown that as little as 1% surface expression is required for nearly complete recovery of coarse particles.
It goes on to highlight the additional benefits of CPF, including increased copper and water recovery. A three-dimensional product rendering and overview of the HydroFloat’s principle of operation is also included.
“As part of Eriez’s commitment to advancing the mineral processing industry, the company provides an array of valuable resources to customers,” Mankosa reports.
Meanwhile, Eriez installed its first FeedAirJet, which is a simple system for pre- aerating flotation feed streams, on a cleaner column at diversified miner Capstone’s Cozamin concentrator, in Zacatecas, Mexico, late last year.
Nicknamed by the company the “Cavitador”, the FeedAirJet is based on a pro- prietary configuration of Eriez’s famous CavTube, which is a sparging system that has been installed on more than 200 columns globally.
The CavTube works by inducing hydrodynamic cavitation in the feed slurry, which nucleates fine bubbles selectively on hydrophobic surfaces of the ore.
Eriez states that Capstone’s evaluation results confirm that the FeedAirJet turbo- charges the flotation process by starting particle collection before entering the flotation vessel.
Cozamin plant manager Rafael Regino says the recovery of copper and silver was consistently increased by an average of 0.8% and 3% respectively when the FeedAirJet was added.
Another impressive result was that recovery increased in all measured size classes. Based on these results, another FeedAirJet was approved in April for Cozamin’s zinc column.
Eriez representative Oscar Lopez states that the FeedAirJet is a low-risk, low-cost way to improve flotation performance and can be readily installed at existing plants.
The company reports that five other plants in Mexico are evaluating this technology’s increased recovery rate and reduced recirculating load in the flotation cleaner stages.
“We believe this technology should also improve the performance of forced air and aspirated mechanical cells,” concludes Lopez.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation