The Effect of Sulfurization Process on Flotation of Copper Ore Containing Gold and Silver
- 1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Art, Dicle University,21280 Diyarbakir, TURKEY
- 2 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Art, Dicle University,21280 Diyarbakir, TURKEY
Abstract
In this study, experiments were carried out on copper ore containing gold and silver obtained from Kisecik village of Hatay, which is in the south of Turkey. Analyses of original ore showed that the sample contained 4.93 % Cu, 0.007 % Co, 0.92 % Zn, 11.41 % Fe, 10.72, % S, 4.72 g/t Au and 12.80 g/t Ag. It was determined that gold and silver could not be reached with satisfactory yields by flotation of original ore at the defined size. Thus, original ore was sulfurized before the flotation. By the flotation of the sulfurized ore, it was seen that Au, Ag, Cu, Zn and Co were collected with fairly high yields in the concentrate phase. In the optimum flotation conditions, all of gold, 96.52 % Ag, 98.52 % Cu, 97.20 % Zn and 94.77 % Co passed into concentrate phase. The concentrate grades of Au, Ag, Cu, Zn and Co were found as 8.62 g/t, 21.42 g/t, 7.81%, 0.01%, and 1.81%, respectively. From the concentrate obtained from this process, it was determined that Au, Ag, Cu, Zn and Co can be recovered by hydrometallurgical method. The effect of the parameters such as pH, pulp density, particle size and collector amount were investigated. KAX was used as collector and Dow-250 was used as frother.
- Leaver, E.S. and Woolf, J.A., Flotation of metallic gold; relation of particle size to floatability. Report of Investigation. U.S. Bureau of Mines, No. 3226, 9-17 (1934).
- Aksoy, B.S. and Yarar, B., Natural hydrophobicity of native gold flakes and their flotation under different conditions. Processing of Complex Ores. Ed. G.S. Dobby and S.R. Rao. 19-27, Pergamon Press, N.Y., (1989).
- Botelho De Sousa, A.M.R., O'Connor, C.T. and Dunne, R.C., The influence of various chemical, physical and mineralogical factors on the flotation of goldbearing pyrites. Gold 100. Proc. Int. Conf. on Gold. Vol. 2, Extractive Metallurgy of Gold. 493-503, Johannesburg, S.A.I.M.M., (1986).
- O'Connor, C.T., Bradshaw, D.J. and Upton, A.E., The use of dithiophosphates and dithiocarbamates for the flotation of arsenopyrite. Minerals Eng., 3(5), 447-459 (1990).
- Chryssoulis, S.I., Detection and quantification of invisible gold by Microsolse Techniques, Gold 90, (D.M. Housen, ed.), SME Littleton, Colorado, C1-C6 (1990)
- O'Connor, C.T. and Dunne, R.C., The practice of pyrite flotation in south Africa and Australia, Minerals Eng., 4, (7-11), 1057-1069 (1991).
- Alison, AS.A., Dunne, R.C. and De Waal, S.A., The flotation of gold and pyrite from South Africa Gold-Mine Residues, Proceedings of 14th international Minerals Processing Congrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, II-9.1-II-9.18 (1982).
- Kumru C, Ulu E., the preprocessing studies of gold ore of Hatay-Kisecik MTA ,Turkey
- Aydin I., Aydin F., Ziyadanogullari R., Enrichment of U, Mo, V, Ni and Ti from asphaltite ash, Journal of Minerals & Materials Characterization & Engineering, Vol. 4, No.1, pp 1-10 (2005)
- Ziyadanogullari R., Aydin F., A New Application For Flotation Of Oxidized Copper Ore, Journal of Minerals & Materials Characterization & Engineering, Vol.4, No. 2, pp 67-73 (2005)
- Akgun A., Tegin I, Ziyadanogullari R., Enrichment of Molybdenum and Fluorite by Flotation of Fluorite Ore Containing Molybdenum, Journal of Minerals &Materials Characterization & Engineering, Vol. 5, No.2, pp 103-117 (2006)
- Jeffery, G.H., Bassett, J., Mendham, J. And Deney, R.C., (1975), Vogel’s Textbook of Quantitative Chemical Analyses, 5th ed., Longman, London, pp.192-194.