PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS FOR FINE CASSITERITE RECOVERY AT WHEAL JANE

Increasing environmental pressure and lower tin prices have forced som e tin smelters out of business and those that remain in operation in g eneral rely upon receipt of high grade tin concentrates in order to sa tisfy environmental and/or economic constraints. Carnon management hav e successfully kept one step ahead of these changes by continually str iving to produce cleaner tin concentrates. Over a period of some 12 ye ars the fine cassiterite concentrate grade has increased from 5% to 60 % Sn without which the company would not have been able to continue ma rketing it's product. This paper briefly describes the evolution of th e tin flotation circuit at the Wheal Jane mill with particular referen ce to improvements in concentrate grade and details the metallurgical improvements by replacing column flotation with a Mozley Multi Gravity Separator, as the final stage of cleaning.