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 mu m 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 mu m. 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 (50) (p) ), agglomerates (d (50) (a) ) 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%.