Testing of New Collectors for Concentration of Fluorite by Flotation in Pneumatic (Modified Hallimond Tube) and Mechanical Cells

Abstract

In this study, two new collectors for fluorite flotation DP-OMC-1033 (DP-I) and DP-OMC-1234 (DP-II) were tested and compared with oleic acid (OA), sodium oleate (SO) and potassium oleate (PO). According to fluorite grade and fluorite metallurgical recovery, the effect of each collector was determined, both in mechanical and pneumatic cell flotation. The effect of temperature on the collectors from 25 to 55 °C was studied. Flotation tests showed that the best results in terms of fluorite metallurgical recovery were 82.8% and 87.9% for new collectors DP-I and DP-II respectively, for a dosage of 100 g/t and using pneumatic cell. Additionally, in terms of fluorite grade, DP-I showed the best results, achieving 79.7% of CaF2 in roughing step for a dosage of 100 g/t. Fluorite metallurgical recovery and grade in concentrate increased for OA, SO and PO with increasing temperature. However temperature did not have a significant effect on both metallurgy recovery and CaF2 grade using DP-I and DP-II, so the process can be effective at 25 °C reducing operating costs.