AbstractsEarth & Environmental Science

"The problem of the Mining Engineer and Metallurgical Engineer who wishes to treat the slimes and fine sands of a complex ore is the recovery and separation of minerals so as to render a subsequent treatment of any mineral profitable. The minerals must be separated into groups which can be treated by different processes, because a combination of numerous minerals is extremely undesirable at the smelting plant. In a lead ore the presence of zinc often depletes its value to such an extent that it is unprofitable to treat it; likewise with other minerals and ores. Many systems of selective separation of slimes and fine sand have been tried but with little success. The latest attempt towards this end has been by means of the flotation process. The eagerness to separate the minerals of a complex sulphide ore is seen in a retrospection of the great number of patents that have been issued. These patents bring into consideration, a vast number of chemical solutions which are used as selectors in the flotation process. The object of our experiment work was to find the best method of selective flotation adaptable to a particulate ore at hand" – Introduction, p. [3].