EFFECT OF HIGH ENERGY RADIATIONS ON THE FLOTABILITY OF MINERALS.

A large number of studies have been devoted to the improvement of flotabilities of minerals by using high energy radiations. High energy radiations may be practiced on dry or wet minerals but irradiating a mineral pulp is more advantageous from operational point of view. The nature of irradiations chosen is of importance. Ionizing radiations ( gamma -rays, beta -rays, etc) as well as non-ionizing (neutron) radiation have been used but gamma -rays appear to be superior from a practical point of view. Direct irradiation of solids results in change of Fermi-level of the minerals and this in turn affects adsorption behavior of the collector at the surface. The effects of pulp irradiation depend on several operational factors such as pH of the solution, and dissolved oxygen concentration of the pulp. Depending on these factors, either an oxidizing or a reducing condition may be created within the pulp. This in turn affects the electron distribution of the surface and hence the adsorption of the collector on the surface. Collector irradiation results in more complicated reactions in which the form of the collector originally used changes affecting the flotation behavior. This paper points to the necessity of further experimentation in utilizing the theoretical aspects presented in the paper.