1182 XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3
the secondary process creates a favorable flotation environ-
ment for wolframite and cassiterite, the Pb-BHA has insuf-
ficient capturing ability for these two minerals, leading to a
low yield of only 0.2% in the secondary process. Therefore,
enhancing collectors are still needed to improve the recov-
ery of wolframite and cassiterite.
The Industrial Trial Employed Both Pb-BHA Process
and Pb-MBHA
Based on the above investigation, in order to deliver bet-
ter performance, a new collector was designed. This was
an enhancement of Pb-BHA (known as Pb-MBHA). The
scheelite was recovered with Pb-BHA as collector, which
has higher selectivity but lower collecting ability, while wol-
framite and cassiterite were recovered with Pb-MBHA as
collector, which has a higher collecting ability. Then, fol-
lowing laboratory flotation experiments on the samples
from the plant, a new flowsheet for the recovery of schee-
lite, wolframite, and cassiterite, was designed and is shown
in Figure 13.
In the initial flowsheet for the Shizhuyuan ore, a pH of
8.7 was implemented to account for the recovery of all three
Figure 12. The flowsheet of the closed-circuit flotation experiment for the new-process
Table 6. The results of the closed-circuit flotation experiment for the new-process
Product Yield, %WO3 grade, %WO3 recovery, %Sn grade, %Sn recovery, %
High-grade WO
3 concentrate 0.56 36.99 69.18 0.55 2.61
Low-grade W-Sn concentrate 0.20 6.44 4.30 2.98 5.04
Tailings 99.24 0.08 26.52 0.11 92.35
Feeding 100.00 0.30 100.00 0.12 100.00
the secondary process creates a favorable flotation environ-
ment for wolframite and cassiterite, the Pb-BHA has insuf-
ficient capturing ability for these two minerals, leading to a
low yield of only 0.2% in the secondary process. Therefore,
enhancing collectors are still needed to improve the recov-
ery of wolframite and cassiterite.
The Industrial Trial Employed Both Pb-BHA Process
and Pb-MBHA
Based on the above investigation, in order to deliver bet-
ter performance, a new collector was designed. This was
an enhancement of Pb-BHA (known as Pb-MBHA). The
scheelite was recovered with Pb-BHA as collector, which
has higher selectivity but lower collecting ability, while wol-
framite and cassiterite were recovered with Pb-MBHA as
collector, which has a higher collecting ability. Then, fol-
lowing laboratory flotation experiments on the samples
from the plant, a new flowsheet for the recovery of schee-
lite, wolframite, and cassiterite, was designed and is shown
in Figure 13.
In the initial flowsheet for the Shizhuyuan ore, a pH of
8.7 was implemented to account for the recovery of all three
Figure 12. The flowsheet of the closed-circuit flotation experiment for the new-process
Table 6. The results of the closed-circuit flotation experiment for the new-process
Product Yield, %WO3 grade, %WO3 recovery, %Sn grade, %Sn recovery, %
High-grade WO
3 concentrate 0.56 36.99 69.18 0.55 2.61
Low-grade W-Sn concentrate 0.20 6.44 4.30 2.98 5.04
Tailings 99.24 0.08 26.52 0.11 92.35
Feeding 100.00 0.30 100.00 0.12 100.00