2410 XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3
(i.e., chemisorbed, surface complexes with nonferrous spe-
cies) existed on Pyrite B. While a clear scientific rationale
cannot be proposed as to how BCBDTC can interact with
one form of pyrite but not another, it is evident that its
propensity to interact with pyrite varies from one miner-
alogical occurrence to another. This demonstrates that it
is inadequate to prescribe the nature of a single mineral
specimen (even if it is considered relatively “pure”) to its
species as whole, given the substantial complexity of real
ore systems.
Au, Ag, Au-Ag (50:50)
The SIMS spectra generated with 5 × 10 –4 M BCBDTC
has provided compelling evidence that it can interact with
pure Au, Ag, and Au-Ag under open circuit potential (OCP)
conditions, which is significant since pulp potential is not
a directly controllable factor in industrial flotation practice
and requires chemicals which present several challenges.
In the negative ion spectra for pure Au, in addition
to a peak at 197 Daltons correlating with Au, a peak at
249 (parent molecular ion of BCBDTC) was observed. In
the positive ion spectra for pure Ag, the strongest peaks
detected were at 107 and 109, which are the correspond-
ing stable 107 Ag and 109 Ag isotopes. The parent molecular
ion at 249 was also detected, but more importantly, peaks
at 355 and 357 were observed which respectively correlate
with complexes of 107 Ag-BCBDTC and 109 Ag-BCBDTC.
The most interesting results were that in addition to
the parent molecular ion, peaks signifying the presence
of complexes with both Ag and Au were detected on the
Figure 9. Negative ion SIMS spectra for chalcocite conditioned with 5 × 10–4 M BCBDTC
(i.e., chemisorbed, surface complexes with nonferrous spe-
cies) existed on Pyrite B. While a clear scientific rationale
cannot be proposed as to how BCBDTC can interact with
one form of pyrite but not another, it is evident that its
propensity to interact with pyrite varies from one miner-
alogical occurrence to another. This demonstrates that it
is inadequate to prescribe the nature of a single mineral
specimen (even if it is considered relatively “pure”) to its
species as whole, given the substantial complexity of real
ore systems.
Au, Ag, Au-Ag (50:50)
The SIMS spectra generated with 5 × 10 –4 M BCBDTC
has provided compelling evidence that it can interact with
pure Au, Ag, and Au-Ag under open circuit potential (OCP)
conditions, which is significant since pulp potential is not
a directly controllable factor in industrial flotation practice
and requires chemicals which present several challenges.
In the negative ion spectra for pure Au, in addition
to a peak at 197 Daltons correlating with Au, a peak at
249 (parent molecular ion of BCBDTC) was observed. In
the positive ion spectra for pure Ag, the strongest peaks
detected were at 107 and 109, which are the correspond-
ing stable 107 Ag and 109 Ag isotopes. The parent molecular
ion at 249 was also detected, but more importantly, peaks
at 355 and 357 were observed which respectively correlate
with complexes of 107 Ag-BCBDTC and 109 Ag-BCBDTC.
The most interesting results were that in addition to
the parent molecular ion, peaks signifying the presence
of complexes with both Ag and Au were detected on the
Figure 9. Negative ion SIMS spectra for chalcocite conditioned with 5 × 10–4 M BCBDTC