Investigation of the applicability of alternative collectors in the sulphide gold ore flotation SÜLFÜRLÜ ALTIN CEVHERI FLOTASYONUNDA ALTERNATIF KOLLEKTÖRLERIN ARASTIRILMASI

Abstract

Copyright © IMCET 2019 International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey. All rights reserved.In gold processing the flotation method can be applied for the pre-concentration of gold bearing minerals prior to hydrometallurgical steps, especially in processing of sulphide ores, However, efficiency optimization in flotation of precious metals such as gold has a special importance in terms of the necessity of maximizing the metal yield. In this study, applicability of alternative collectors for dithiophosphate type collectors used in flotation of Izmir region gold ores was investigated. In this context, mineralogical characterization studies were carried out on the gold ore samples which are subjected to the experimental studies. According to the results of characterization studies, flotation experiments were performed with ore samples that have d80 size of approximately 55 μm. In flotation studies, the effects of four different collectors, namely Aerophine 3418A, Aero 9863, MX-505 and MX-980 on the gold recovery efficiency as a function of collector dosage were individually investigated with dosage range of 0.25-0.75 mL/kg. The best results were obtained using MX-505 and MX-980 collectors with cumulative gold gain yields, respectively. As the second stage, one-to-one ratio mixtures of MX-505 and MX-980 with dithiophosphate collector were used and synergistic effects of these collectors mixtures and the possibility of their substitution to dithiophosphate were investigated. The obtained results were examined in terms of both technological and economical applicability of these collectors in industrial flotation of sulphide gold ores.