In this work, a novel process consisting of calcining-slaking followed by gravity separation for the enrichment of niobium (Nb) and titanium (Ti) from carbonatite pyrochlore ore was proposed, validated and compared with the current mainstream flotation method. During calcining of the pyrochlore ore, within which the carbonates were transformed into lime. Subsequently, when the calcined ore was slaked, lime was transformed into hydroxide with fine particles which were amenable to gravity separation. After calcining at 900 ℃ for 60 min, slaking at 90 ℃ for 10 min with a liquid–solid ratio of 3:1 (mL/g), approximately 40% of tailings can be removed by gravity separation, the recoveries of Nb and Ti were 94.7% and 91.0%, and the enrichment ratios of Nb and Ti were 1.61 and 1.43, respectively. The new approach exhibits high separation efficiency of carbonate gangue minerals and valuable minerals, satisfactory recoveries of niobium as well as titanium can be achieved.

在这项工作中，提出了一种从碳酸盐烧绿石矿石中富集铌（Nb）和钛（Ti）的煅烧熟化后重选的新工艺，并与目前的主流浮选方法进行了验证和比较。在烧绿石矿石的煅烧过程中，碳酸盐转化为石灰。随后，当煅烧矿石熟化时，石灰转化为具有细颗粒的氢氧化物，这些细颗粒易于重力分离。900 ℃煅烧60 min，90 ℃熟化10 min，液固比3:1 (mL/g)，重选可去除约40%的尾矿，Nb和Ti的回收率分别为 94.7% 和 91.0%，Nb 和 Ti 的富集率分别为 1.61 和 1.43。