Flotation of colored impurities from feldspar ores

The principal impurities in some feldspar ores are titanium and iron, which impart color and degrade the quality of the ore. Mineralogical investigati ons indicate that, while titanium originates mainly from rutile with small amounts of sphene, iron originates mainly from mica minerals. Fatty acids, particularly oleic acid, are extensively used, with reasonable success, in the flotation of colored minerals from feldspar ores. In this study, potass ium oleate, oleoyl sarcosine and hydroxamate were used to float colored imp urities both before and after magnetic separation. Oleoyl sarcosine is foun d to exhibit better results compared to other reagents. Magnetic separation followed by flotation is found to produce a feldspar concentrate of superi or grade.