XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3 659
Peng, 2014). However, the effects of water quality on the
flotation performance of target minerals is conflicting in
the literature. For instance, the use of seawater has little
or no effect on the flotation of pure chalcopyrite (Castro,
2012), while it has a detrimental effect on the flotation of
chalcocite and bornite (Ricardo et al., 2016). Bore water,
on the other hand, results in significant recovery and grade
improvement in the flotation of nickel sulphide ores such as
pentlandite in Western Australia (Peng and Seaman, 2011).
However, until very recently, the effect of water quality
on the flotation of rare earth bearing minerals is not well
established.
It is well known that the flotation behaviour of base
metal and gold containing sulphides is completely different
from that of rare earth minerals and other silicates. Thus,
although observations such as the inhibition of bubble
coalescence by some ions in water are transferable, the over-
all effects of water quality discussed above for other minerals
do not necessarily apply to rare earth flotation. Thus, this
paper attempts to address the research gap concerning the
effect of saline water on rare earth oxide (REO) flotation.
EXPERIMENTAL
Materials
A suitable rare earth ore sample for this research was
obtained from a mine in Western Australia. The XRD anal-
ysis (Olympus, with radiation Co-Kα) revealed that the ore
was mainly composed of monazite, florencite and goethite.
As shown in Figure 1, goethite appears to be the domi-
nant phase accounting for approximately 78% of the ore as
estimated using quantitative XRD. Monazite and florencite
accounted for 12% and 5%, respectively. Elemental analy-
sis obtained from XRF (Rigaku) shows that the ore is com-
posed of about 15% rare earth oxide (REO) with CeO2
and La2O3 as the main components while Fe2O3 and P2O5
are the main non-rare earth oxides as shown in Table 1.
Figure 1. XRD spectra of rare earth ore sample used in this study
Table 1. Chemical composition of the rare earth and main gangue elements in the feed samples determine by XRF analysis
CeO2,
%
La2O3,
%
Nd2O3,
%
Pr6O11,
%
Y2O3,
%
Al2O3,
%
CaO,
%
Fe2O3,
%
P2O5,
%
SiO2,
%
TiO2,
%
7.09 4.00 2.806 0.805 0.085 5.71 1.11 47.71 8.69 3.88 2.85
Peng, 2014). However, the effects of water quality on the
flotation performance of target minerals is conflicting in
the literature. For instance, the use of seawater has little
or no effect on the flotation of pure chalcopyrite (Castro,
2012), while it has a detrimental effect on the flotation of
chalcocite and bornite (Ricardo et al., 2016). Bore water,
on the other hand, results in significant recovery and grade
improvement in the flotation of nickel sulphide ores such as
pentlandite in Western Australia (Peng and Seaman, 2011).
However, until very recently, the effect of water quality
on the flotation of rare earth bearing minerals is not well
established.
It is well known that the flotation behaviour of base
metal and gold containing sulphides is completely different
from that of rare earth minerals and other silicates. Thus,
although observations such as the inhibition of bubble
coalescence by some ions in water are transferable, the over-
all effects of water quality discussed above for other minerals
do not necessarily apply to rare earth flotation. Thus, this
paper attempts to address the research gap concerning the
effect of saline water on rare earth oxide (REO) flotation.
EXPERIMENTAL
Materials
A suitable rare earth ore sample for this research was
obtained from a mine in Western Australia. The XRD anal-
ysis (Olympus, with radiation Co-Kα) revealed that the ore
was mainly composed of monazite, florencite and goethite.
As shown in Figure 1, goethite appears to be the domi-
nant phase accounting for approximately 78% of the ore as
estimated using quantitative XRD. Monazite and florencite
accounted for 12% and 5%, respectively. Elemental analy-
sis obtained from XRF (Rigaku) shows that the ore is com-
posed of about 15% rare earth oxide (REO) with CeO2
and La2O3 as the main components while Fe2O3 and P2O5
are the main non-rare earth oxides as shown in Table 1.
Figure 1. XRD spectra of rare earth ore sample used in this study
Table 1. Chemical composition of the rare earth and main gangue elements in the feed samples determine by XRF analysis
CeO2,
%
La2O3,
%
Nd2O3,
%
Pr6O11,
%
Y2O3,
%
Al2O3,
%
CaO,
%
Fe2O3,
%
P2O5,
%
SiO2,
%
TiO2,
%
7.09 4.00 2.806 0.805 0.085 5.71 1.11 47.71 8.69 3.88 2.85