In recent years, with the development of industry, fluorite has become more and more widely used in chemical industry, metallurgy and other fields, its price has been rising, and its value has begun to approach scheelite, and 43% of my country’s fluorite reserves are associated minerals. The resource utilization rate needs to be improved, so the comprehensive utilization of fluorite is of great significance. So how can scheelite and fluorite ore be recovered smoothly?
一、The beneficiation method of scheelite
The floatability of scheelite is good, and it is often treated by the combined method of gravity separation and flotation.
Scheelite flotation mainly solves the problem of separation from sulfide ores and non-metallic ores, specifically:
- Separation of scheelite from sulfide ore. Xanthate is used to capture sulfide minerals before the flotation of scheelite. When floating scheelite, add a small amount of oxide and sodium sulfide to suppress a small amount of sulfide that has not been floated.
- Separation of scheelite from calcite and fluorite. Commonly used thick slurry high-temperature method. First, concentrate the pulp to a concentration of 60~70%, then add water glass, heat the pulp to above 80°C, stir for 30-60 minutes, then dilute with water, and flotate scheelite at room temperature. The product in the tank is Fluorite and calcite.
- Separation of scheelite from quartz-like silicates. Using oleic acid as a collector and water glass as an inhibitor can inhibit quartz, silicate gangue, and float scheelite.
- Separation of scheelite and barite. Because water glass has similar inhibitory effects on scheelite and barite, it is difficult to separate water glass alone, and it is necessary to use alkyl sulfate or sulfonate as collector to reverse flotation barite under the condition of PH=1.5-3.0 , scheelite is obtained in the tank.
- Tungsten and tin separation. Electric selection and flotation can also be used. During flotation separation, scheelite is collected with fatty acid, and cassiterite is suppressed with water glass. 6. Tungsten and molybdenum separation. Molybdenum is floated first, then scheelite is floated with oleic acid, and a large amount of water glass is used to heat and select the scheelite.
Commonly used collectors for scheelite are oleic acid, oleic acid soap and 731 oxide paraffin soap. There was once a beneficiation plant that used high-temperature beneficiation to select scheelite. The production technical indicators: the grade of scheelite concentrate was 67.03%, the tailings was 0.095%, and the recovery rate was 80.17%.
二、The beneficiation of fluorite ore
1. Fluorite ore beneficiation
Fluorite ore beneficiation mainly adopts the flotation method and gravity separation method. The flotation method deals with fine-grained dissemination and low-grade fluorite ore. Flotation is one of the most important beneficiation methods for fluorite ore beneficiation. The only way to get fluorite ore powder. Gravity separation is used to process the beneficiation and purification of coarse-grained embedded high-grade fluorite ore to obtain coarse-grained metallurgical grade fluorite lump ore, the main method for producing fluorite concentrate for the steelmaking industry.
Flotation method: High-quality fluorite concentrate powder can be obtained by flotation treatment of fluorite ore, but the investment of flotation equipment is large, the operating cost is high, and it has certain environmental pollution. Therefore, under the premise that environmental protection requirements are becoming increasingly strict today, the application of fluorite ore flotation is increasingly limited, promoting the improvement and application of fluorite ore gravity separation technology and equipment to some extent.
Gravity separation has a very good effect on the purification of coarse-grained embedded fluorite ore. Under normal circumstances, gravity separation can also be used to beneficiate and purify fine-grained fluorite ore, which has the advantages of energy saving, high efficiency and environmental protection. In the new type of fluorite beneficiation plant, the application of the gravity separation method has gradually surpassed the flotation method.
2. Mineral processing method
Gravity separation method: The gravity separation method is suitable for treating coarse-grained and high-quality fluorite lump ore and has a good effect on the beneficiation of some fine-grained fluorite ore.
Flotation method: The flotation method is suitable for beneficiating fine-grained disseminated low-grade fluorite ore, and its concentrate is mainly used to produce hydrofluoric acid in the chemical industry. The number of selected equipment in the stone flotation equipment increases, and the equipment investment increases. The flotation method has certain environmental pollution, and many regions have banned the use of the flotation method to select fluorite.
3. Gravity separation equipment
The gravity separation method mainly beneficiates and purifies coarse-grained embedded fluorite ore. Therefore, the gravity separation equipment of fluorite ore is mostly jig concentrator. The beneficiation and purification of fluorite ore have good results and ideal processing capacity, and various beneficiation indicators have reached a satisfactory level. The application of fluorite gravity separation jig is also more and more extensive.
Scheelite and fluorite are valuable minerals often found together in mineral deposits. Differences in their surface properties are exploited through flotation. By selectively modifying the surface of each mineral with specific reagents, it can be separated based on their varying hydrophobicity. Additionally, exploiting the unique densities of scheelite and fluorite allows for efficient gravity-based separation methods. JXSC supports customized mineral processing plant processes and equipment. Contact us to get a quote online!