Ferronickel enrichment by fine particle reduction and magnetic separation from nickel laterite ore

Ferronickel enrichment and extraction from nickel laterite ore were studied through reduction and magnetic separation. Reduction experiments were performed using hydrogen and carbon monoxide as reductants at different temperatures （700-1000℃）. Magnetic separa- tion of the reduced products was conducted using a SLon-100 cycle pulsating magnetic separator （1.2 T）. Composition analysis indicates that the nickel laterite ore contains a total iron content of 22.50wt% and a total nickel content of 1.91wt%. Its mineral composition mainly con- sists of serpentine, hortonolite, and goethite. During the reduction process, the grade of nickel and iron in the products increases with in- creasing reduction temperature. Although a higher temperature is more favorable for reduction, the temperature exceeding 1000℃ results in sintering of the products, preventing magnetic separation. After magnetic separation, the maximum total nickel and iron concentrations are 5.43wt% and 56.86wt%, and the corresponding recovery rates are 84.38% and 53.76%, respectively.

An effective approach for improving flotation recovery of molybdenite fines from a finely-disseminated molybdenum ore

An effective flotation approach is proposed for improving the recovery of molybdenite fines from a finely-disseminated molybdenum ore. To maximize the flotation recovery of molybdenum, process mineralogy of raw ore, contrast tests, optimization of operation conditions and particle size analysis were systematically investigated. Process mineralogy suggests that in the raw ore, 61.63% of molybdenite particles distribute in the 〈20 pm size fraction, and intergrow with muscovite and pyrite as the contained and disseminated type. Contrast tests indicate that conventional flotation responds to poor collection efficiency for particles less than 25 pm. Oil agglomerate flotation （OAF） process demonstrates an obvious superiority in improving the flotation recovery of molybdenite fines. Furthermore, the flotation results of OAF process reveal that the dosage of transformer oil plays a critical role on the average size of collected mineral particles （d（0）, agglomerates （d^0） and the molybdenum recovery. In addition, industrial tests illustrate that compared with the Mo-S bulk flotation approach, OAF process not only increases Mo recovery and grade of molybdenum concentrate by 22.75% and 17.47% respectively, but also achieves a sulfur concentrate with a superior grade of 38.92%.

Multi-scale impact crushing characteristics of polymetallic sulphide ores

The effects of crushing energy, ore hardness and particle size of cassiterite polymetallic sulphide ore and lead-zinc polymetallic sulphide ore on the crushing characteristics during impact crushing were investigated by mineral liberation analyzer(MLA) and drop weight test. The results show that both ores contain pyrrhotite, sphalerite, jamesonite, gangue mica and quartz except cassiterite. Cassiterite is closely associated with sulphide and quartz to form aggregates, which are mixed with each other in the form of intergrowth or symbiotic disseminated fine grains. Cassiterite has a significant impact on ore crushing characteristics. Ore hardness is negatively correlated with the product of crushing parameters of A and b, i.e. A×b, the effect of crushing energy on crushing fineness is related to crushing parameters A and b, and the influence degree increases with the increase of A. The influence degree increases with the increase of b when crushing energy ECS is less than 1 kW·h/t, and the influence degree decreases with the increase of b when crushing energy ECS is greater than 1 kW·h/t. The impact of crushing energy on crushing fineness is greater than that of ore particle size when the crushing energy is lower;on the contrary, the impact of ore particle size on crushing fineness is greater than that of crushing energy when crushing energy is higher.

Effects of pressure and plastic addition on sticking of fine iron ore particles in fluidized bed reduction

The adhesion of fine iron ore particles during fluidized bed reduction was studied using pressurized visible fluidized bed laboratory equipment.The results showed that the optimal operating parameters for pure hydrogen reduction under high pressure were reduction temperature of 1073 K,particle size of 0.18-0.66 mm,pure H_(2) linear velocity of 0.8 m/s,reduction pressure of 200 kPa,and reduction time of 50 min.When plastic particles were mixed into the fluidized bed,the optimal parameters were reduction temperature of 973 K,particle size of 0.18-0.66 mm,pure H_(2) linear velocity of 0.8 m/s,reduction pressure of 100 kPa,mass content of plastic particles of 8%,and reduction time of 65 min.The chemical reaction resistance is much higher than the inner diffusion resistance at the initial stage of the reaction,whereas,in later stage,the inner diffusion resistance exceeds the chemical reaction resistance.The contact area of iron atoms or iron whiskers gradually decreases with the increase in reduction pressure from 0.20 to 0.45 MPa,and the sticking trend gradually decreases.Adding plastic particles in the fluidized reduction process of fine iron ore can effectively inhibit the adhesion among fine iron ore particles.