Ls. Leal et al., PROCESS MINERALOGY STUDIES FOR OPTIMIZING THE FLOTATION PERFORMANCE OF 2 REFRACTORY PHOSPHATE ORES, Minerals engineering, 6(8-10), 1993, pp. 907-916
This paper is a result of research work carried out with three differe
nt phosphate ore types (SCO - standard calcitc ore, PCO - phlogopite c
arbonatic ore, and OCO - olivine carbonatic ore), all of them present
on Morro da Mina carbonatic phosphate deposit, exploited by Serrana S.
A. de Mineracao, Jacupiranga, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The PCO and OCO types
show a refractory behaviour whith respect to flotation. Characterizat
ion studies on this three ores were performed, firstly, to understand
the reasons for poor flotation performance observed for the two refrac
tory ores. From the characterization programme it was possible to prop
ose and test alternate reagent schemes to treat each of the refractory
ores. The major parameters investigated during the characterization p
rogramme included surface heterogeneity, collector response and solubi
lity determination. Batch scale flotation tests were performed to inve
stigate the new reagent schemes. These new process routes encompassed
the use of different modifier agents for the PCO type and the applicat
ion of an ancillary non-ionic collector to treat the OCO ore type.