3096 XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3
Ag and S content in the two batches back-calculated and
averaged from the performed flotation tests. It can be seen
that the batch one material is characterized by almost dou-
ble the gold grade compared to the second batch. However,
this difference did not significantly affect the overall results,
with less than 2% recovery variation calculated.
Communition
The ore was ground immediately prior to each flotation test
using an instrumented Magotteaux ® laboratory mill for 46
minutes to reach a P80 of 38 µm.
Flotation
The flotation machine used is a bottom-driven laboratory
Magotteaux float Cell ® equipped with a 5-L cell and fitted
with temperature, pH, and redox potential probes. Pulp
solids loading during flotation was about 30% with pH
maintained at 8.3. Agitation was kept constant at 900 rpm
for all tests. A flotation scheme was designed to simulate
the rougher stage of the plant, replicating the exact dos-
age levels and reagents addition points. The main collec-
tor used was Potassium Amyl Xanthate (PAX), CuSO4 was
added as activator, sodium silicate—as dispersant and Aero-
238 ®—as promoter. Figure 3 depicts the flotation sequence
Table 1. Mean Au, Ag and S grades with relative standard
deviation, for the first (80 kg) and second (20 kg) batch of
ore
Element Au, ppm Ag, ppm S, %
Batch 1 Mean 7.23 5.82 0.43
RSD, %3.68 5.9 9.5
Batch 2 Mean 4.01 4.03 0.33
RSD, %2.27 7.4 11.7
Figure 2. Flotation scheme chosen for testing, based on 1.5 kg of ore. Reference test involves Aero®238
Ag and S content in the two batches back-calculated and
averaged from the performed flotation tests. It can be seen
that the batch one material is characterized by almost dou-
ble the gold grade compared to the second batch. However,
this difference did not significantly affect the overall results,
with less than 2% recovery variation calculated.
Communition
The ore was ground immediately prior to each flotation test
using an instrumented Magotteaux ® laboratory mill for 46
minutes to reach a P80 of 38 µm.
Flotation
The flotation machine used is a bottom-driven laboratory
Magotteaux float Cell ® equipped with a 5-L cell and fitted
with temperature, pH, and redox potential probes. Pulp
solids loading during flotation was about 30% with pH
maintained at 8.3. Agitation was kept constant at 900 rpm
for all tests. A flotation scheme was designed to simulate
the rougher stage of the plant, replicating the exact dos-
age levels and reagents addition points. The main collec-
tor used was Potassium Amyl Xanthate (PAX), CuSO4 was
added as activator, sodium silicate—as dispersant and Aero-
238 ®—as promoter. Figure 3 depicts the flotation sequence
Table 1. Mean Au, Ag and S grades with relative standard
deviation, for the first (80 kg) and second (20 kg) batch of
ore
Element Au, ppm Ag, ppm S, %
Batch 1 Mean 7.23 5.82 0.43
RSD, %3.68 5.9 9.5
Batch 2 Mean 4.01 4.03 0.33
RSD, %2.27 7.4 11.7
Figure 2. Flotation scheme chosen for testing, based on 1.5 kg of ore. Reference test involves Aero®238