A Comparative Analysis of the Effect of Galena Grain Size and Collector Concentration on Flotation Recovery and Flotation Kinetics

The paper presents the results of fundamental laboratory testing of the flotation recovery and the flotation kinetics of the galena related to the particle size and the concentration of collectors of potassium butyl xanthate (PBX). The results showed that the flotation recovery of galena and the flotation rate undergoes considerable reduction with a reduction in the particle size below 38 µm as well as with a lower collector concentration. But the galena grain size has a stronger effect on the flotation recovery than the collector concentration. This is shown by an analysis of the multiple correlation between the flotation recovery of galena, the collector consumption and the particle size because partial correlation coefficients and the total correlation coefficient indicated that the dependence between the mentioned parameters is very strong.