At present, the theoretical understanding of the collisional interaction between particles and a single bubble under well-defined laminar flow conditions is relatively sound. However, there is a lack of experimental data and predictions on details of the interaction processes in stirred turbulent conditions, as exists in mineral flotation cells. This paper investigates the effect of turbulence on the

Ammonium sulfate has been widely applied as a leaching agent to leach rare earth from weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ore because of its higher selectivity. However, large amount of ammonium remained on the ore body after the completion of rare earth leaching, and it was necessary to leach it from the ore body from the environmental point of view. In this work, potassium chloride was used

The effects of mechanical activation and pyrite addition on the bacterial and electrochemical aspects of the zinc bioleaching from a sulphide concentrate was evaluated. The experiments were performed in the presence of a mixed culture of moderately thermophilic microorganisms in shake flasks and a stirred tank reactor. Electrochemical analyses were performed to find the process mechanisms. Mechanical

Estimation of pressure drops of fresh cemented paste backfill slurry is a novel idea with great potentials. This paper presented a hybrid machine learning (ML) method for improved pressure drops estimation using a combination of artificial neural network and differential evolution. A comprehensive parametric study was conducted on training dataset size (Nsize), ML methods, and Monte Carlo random sampling

Pyrite depression in flotation separation of Zn-S mixed concentrate has become a difficult and serious problem. This work introduces a non-toxic and efficient depressant reagent scheme in selective flotation separation of spalerite from pyrite with pretreatment by CuSO4 and butyl xanthate (BX). Micro-flotation experiments showed that the combined depressant lime (CaO) and sodium humate (NaHA) depressed

In the flotation of magnesite ore, dolomite dissolution and poor water quality can lead to the accumulation of Ca2+ in backwater and a slurry of flotation, which can give rise to many problems in the separation of magnesite, dolomite and quartz. This research analysed the effect and mechanism of Ca2+ on the anionic/cationic flotation behavior of magnesite, dolomite, and quartz based on flotation tests

With the global demand for economically important metals increasing, compounded by the depletion of readily accessible ores, secondary resources and low-grade ores are being targeted to meet growing demands. Novel technologies developed within biobased industries, such as microbial biosurfactants, could be implemented to improve the sustainability of traditional hydrometallurgy techniques. This study

The accelerated growth in global demand for Manganese coincides with the continuing depletion of high-grade ores on the earth's surface. This element is essential for diverse markets such as steel production, dietary additives, fertilizers, cells, fine chemicals, and some chemical reagents. Interestingly, there are large mineral reserves in the ocean's depths, where marine nodules are an attractive

The flotation of ultrafine particles is marked with low recovery due to low collision efficiency between particles and bubbles. Carrier-flotation is a method to enhance the recovery by the attachment of fine particles onto larger carrier particles. In this study, the effects of coarse chalcopyrite particles as a carrier on flotation behavior of fine chalcopyrite was investigated by the flotation experiments

The Reflux Flotation Cell (RFC) utilises the Boycott Effect to decouple the overflow water flux from the gas flux, permitting in principle high product grade and recovery at a vastly higher volumetric feed flux. This study investigated this relationship between concentrate grade, recovery, and volumetric feed throughput using a single flotation stage and feed fluxes spanning 1–9 cm/s, well beyond that

As processes involved in mineral processing operations increase their complexity, automation and control become critical to ensure an economically viable and environmentally sustainable operation. In the context of modern mineral processing, paste thickening stands out as a relatively new method for producing high density slurries that has proven challenging for standard control algorithms. In this

Large quantities of indium-bearing zinc-leached residue (ZLR) are produced constantly in the hydrometallurgical production of zinc, including zinc, indium, iron and other valuable metals. In order to recover valuable metals from the residue, a new reductive leaching process using galena as reductant has been developed, in which the extensive leaching of zinc and indium is achieved. A shrinking core

Screening is often applied to separate granulated ore materials into multiple particle size fractions. Therefore, achieving optimal efficiency in the screen performance becomes essential for improved downstream processing. Several techniques such as physical modelling, empirical modelling, mathematical modelling and the discrete element method (DEM) have been adopted by scientists and engineers to

Copper-bearing silicate minerals are relatively resistant to hydrometallurgical leaching. More efficient extraction of this residual Cu requires detailed knowledge of the mineralogical and textural settings of the minerals, which we outline in this study. Supergene oxidation and alteration of Fe-rich rocks at the Salobo iron-oxide copper–gold (IOCG) mine, Brazil, has caused transformation of primary

An alkaline roasting of a coltan bearing ore from the Numbi deposit (South Kivu, the DRC) was investigated with particular focus on the extraction kinetics of Ta and Nb. Isothermal roasting experiments were carried out to study the effects from KOH to ore mass ratio, particle size and roasting temperature on the degree of Ta and Nb recoveries. The roasting efficiency was found to be affected by all

In this paper, we present a method that allows for the quick and efficient simulation of the comminution process in high-speed rotor mills. The method requires only the feed’s macroscopic material data and the geometry of the machine. Consisting of two stages, the method couples Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to obtain the collisional velocities and angles

Induced by fossil fuels combustion, GHGs emissions play a key role in the atmospheric CO2 level elevation. Accordingly, many mitigation strategies have been proposed to uptake atmospheric CO2. However, most of these methods demand industrial facilities, usually coming along with obstructive expenses. Residues produced from mining operations are among cheap and naturally occurring materials propounded

The pressure distribution between the rolls in a HPGR (High Pressure Grinding Rolls) is usually expected to vary significantly in the axial direction due to the end effects at the end of the rolls. This is based on the idea that particles near the ends of the rolls are less well confined which makes them more mobile with reduced ability to be trapped and crushed. This can reduce the performance efficiency

Weakening rocks using microwave irradiation has been a major topic in research for the past 50 years. However, the thermal effect of microwaves on rocks is mostly studied with a multi-mode metal cavity, in which rocks absorb microwaves reflected from all directions, and this method cannot represent how the microwave pre-treatment affects the rock mass in the rock excavation process. To simulate microwave

The daily growing demand for critical materials has further highlighted the importance of secondary sources such as industrial waste streams. Waste clay, a phosphate ore process tailing, contains a remarkable amount of critical materials such as P and REEs so that comparing to different phosphate ore process streams, waste clay presents the highest concentration of REEs after phosphate rock. Due to

The adsorption of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) on quartz plays a key role in solid-liquid separation processes that seek to recover water for processing. In this work, computational molecular dynamics is used to study the water-quartz interface in the presence of HPAM under conditions of high salt and wide pH range. The salts used are mostly those of seawater. Small water-structure maker

In the reverse anionic flotation of phosphate ores using phosphoric acid, it is often suggested that a selective surface passivation of the phosphate minerals by calcium phosphate occurs. Several calcium phosphate species have been proposed in the literature for this surface passivation. In this study, in-situ Raman spectroscopy was used to monitor as a function of time the interaction of phosphoric

In this study, the activation mechanisms of fluorite inhibited using Na2SiO3 by adjusting the solution pH to neutral and slightly alkaline conditions were investigated. The solution chemistry of sodium silicate and microflotation tests showed that SiO(OH)3− in the Na2SiO3 solution strongly inhibited fluorite flotation, while H4SiO4 and SiO2(am) showed only weak inhibition. By adjusting the solution

Advances in high-tech industries have led to increasing the demand for highly pure quartz. Research on the beneficiation of quartz has been conducted to meet market requirements by different processes including hydrometallurgical ones. Even though phosphoric acid (PA) has a capacity to complex iron, and therefore has the potential to bleach quartz, this reagent has not attracted sufficient attention

(NH4)2SO4 roasting followed by water leaching to process nickel- chromium mixed metal oxidized (MO) ore was investigated. The optimal operating parameters were obtained after determining the influences of the molar ratio of (NH4)2SO4 to mixed oxidized ore, roasting temperature and roasting time on metal extractions. The extraction efficiencies of Ni, Fe, Mg, Al and Cr reached 94.02%, 87.87%, 84.14%

A theoretical framework is presented for understanding the interaction of light with the electronic structure of sphalerite, pyrite and chalcopyrite and how these factors affect their rate of dissolution. Their electronic structure gives rise to the colour of these minerals, primarily because of their semiconducting properties. An advanced theory of dissolution is presented that describes how the electronic

The properties of sodium silicate and its influence on the floatability of muscovite before and after electrochemical modification were investigated, and the samples of muscovite were characterized by XPS and FITR. On this basis, the action mechanism of electrochemically modified sodium silicate and muscovite flotation behavior under sodium oleate system was discussed. The results show that the electrochemical

Bauxite is the main raw material in primary aluminum production and its reactive silica content and mass ratio of Al2O3 to SiO2 (A/S) has a critical role in the economic viability of Bayer process. As a major source of the reactive silica, clay impurities should be removed from the ore as much as possible by a beneficiation method such as froth flotation before the Bayer processing. The success of

Effective collector is essential in columbite-tantalite flotation from gravity tailings, as well as in the sustainable utilisation of Ta–Nb resources. In this study, benzohydroxamic acid (BHA) and sodium isobutyl xanthate (SIBX) were introduced as a mixed collector system to improve the flotation of columbite–tantalite at reduced cost. An increase in columbite-tantalite recovery was observed in the

Cobalt (Co) is a transition metal featuring unique physical properties which makes its use critical for many high-tech applications such as high strength materials, magnets and most importantly, rechargeable batteries. The bulk of world cobalt output usually arises as a by-product of extracting other metals, mostly nickel (Ni) and copper (Cu), from a wide variety of deposit types mostly Cu-Co sediment-hosted

The vast majority of current global production of cobalt from primary sources originates from extraction of Cu-Co sediment-hosed deposits in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With the progressive depletion of oxidic supergene mineralisation, many operations are progressively starting to extract sulphide ore at depth. Ore in the transition zone between oxides and sulphides usually hosts both oxide and

Mineral carbonation for global warming mitigation has attracted worldwide attention. The combination of mineral processing for primary metal recovery and mineral carbonation for carbon sequestration is an emerging field of study with the potential to minimize capital costs. A quantified kinetic formula of mineral carbonation was tested for application to various natural silicate samples. Our research

In this study, synergistic effect of Cyanex 572 mixed with TBP on the extraction and separation of six selected light, medium and heavy rare earth elements (REE), namely neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), terbium (Tb), and erbium (Er), from the chloride medium was investigated. The results demonstrated that sole TBP is not a suitable extractant for the separation of the

The pinch-off dynamics of bubbles coated with silica particles in deionised water and in dodecylamine (DDA) solution, at 0.2 μM and 20.0 μM, was studied using high-speed photography. Surface pressure generated at the deforming particle-laden interface during bubble pinch-off was obtained based on the fitting to a pinch-off model. It was observed that the pinch-off dynamics of these particle-laden bubbles

Magnetic matrix is a key component of high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) system. Special shape matrices have brought great attentions from researchers whereas only elliptic and circular matrices have been properly modeled and comprehensively investigated. Our previous study showed that diamond matrices present good magnetic characteristics in axial HGMS and are worthy of being comprehensively

Lime dosing in a high-density sludge (LD-HDS) process is amongst the most widely applied acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment processes worldwide. It is effective and reliable, however, an intrinsic issue for metalliferous mining derived AMD is the formation of an ecotoxic metal(loid)-bearing (e.g. As, Pb, Ni, Cd and Sb) ochre waste product. Herein the efficacy and selectivity of AMD (pH 3.5; 1–500 g/L)

The depressant effect of sodium alginate on galena flotation in different collector systems was investigated, mainly through micro-flotation tests, zeta potential measurements and molecular dynamics simulations. The micro-flotation results showed that the depressant effect of sodium alginate depended largely on collector type. Galena flotation was effectively and totally depressed by sodium alginate

The exploitation of massive rare-earth element (REE) deposits is frequently contested because of the pollution generated by the heavy mining operations and REE extractive metallurgy operations. In an effort to minimise the environmental footprint of the REE production and meet the increasing demand for these elements, mine wastes and extractive metallurgy tailings are attracting attention as alternative

The effect of UV light on the rate of dissolution of sphalerite, (Zn,Fe)S, has been investigated for samples from different sources. These different samples had different amounts of substitutional iron, ranging between 0.55 and 8.62%. It was found that the rate of dissolution of sphalerite is proportional to the content of substitutional iron, and that the rate of dissolution increased in the presence

Rare earth fluoride molten-salt electrolytic slag has recently attracted significant attention because it is a potential environmental hazard that is rich in rare earth elements (REEs). Sulfation is commonly applied to the extraction of mineral commodities or scraps, such as REEs, Li, Ni, and Ti, as preparation for recycling. In this study, a selective sulfation method was performed by completely transforming

Feeding Waste Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs) into existing pyrometallurgical processes is developing as an easy-to-adapt and efficient way to recycle them. To fulfill sustainability and circular economy targets, kinetics and distributions are the key factors when recovering metals and trace elements from WPCBs. We investigated the reaction mechanisms and distribution behavior of impurity elements Sb

A comparative testwork programme was conducted using a laboratory scale vertical fluidised stirred media mill. The mill was operated with and without the presence of a disc liner on the shell. Results showed that when the mill was operating with pin and disc type stirrers, the addition of a stationary liner to the mill shell significantly increased the mill power draw. In grinding experiments conducted

This paper presents a set of related methods for performing a computational geometry analysis of a cone crusher shape that provides geometric information for use in understanding cone crusher flows and breakage and their variation with key crusher geometric parameters. Algorithms that are able to calculate geometric measures such as the variation of the cross-sectional area available for flow at each

The interaction of light with a solid, such as chalcopyrite, can increase the current by inducing a photocurrent (exciting an electron from the valence band to the conduction band) or by thermal heating of the surface that increases the rate of reaction. A study was undertaken to determine if the effect of light on a natural chalcopyrite electrode is due to thermal heating of the electrode surface

Mineral processing produces large volumes of dilute tailings that are flocculated and thickened, returning water to the process. The drive towards more sustainable processing has seen seawater considered to replace fresh water usage and an increased focus on how flocculation conditions can influence the fractal-like aggregates formed. The fragility of such structures and the likelihood that they change