The mission of the Bureau of Mines minerals research program is to help improve minerals processing technology so that the Nation’s mineral needs can be fulfilled in a manner that reduces waste and ensures that minerals and metals are processed, used, and recycled at acceptable economic, social, and environmental costs. In accordance with this mission, … Read more
The Flotaire Cell can be constructed in many configurations, but presently, we prefer a round tank that is 2 to 4 m in diameter with an overall depth of about 5 m. Simplicity of design, and operation, is a principle attraction of the Cell and can be best understood by reference to Figures 1A and … Read more
Sodium cyanide and Nokes reagent are commonly used depressants to reject iron, copper, and lead sulfide minerals for the flotation recovery and upgrading of molybdenite concentrate. With the ever increasing cost of reagents and more stringent regulations, it is necessary that these depressants are used as efficiently and effectively as possible. Therefore, a study was … Read more
Careful studies of the fundamentals of chromite flotation have been made recently in the United States and in Poland. Palmer (1972), Palmer, Fuerstenau and Aplan (1975) and Fuerstenau and Palmer (1976) have demonstrated the importance of the presence or absence of charged metal hydroxy species in such flotation. These species appear particularly to influence anionic … Read more
The flotation section starts with a bulk concentrate float for lead and copper using four rows of eleven cells each as roughers and scavengers. The froth taken off the roughers is then pumped to a two stage cleaner circuit. Scavenger froth and cleaner tails are returned back to the head of the rougher circuit. Froth … Read more
I once used an Anemometer to Measure Flotation Cell Air Flow on Self Aspirating WEMCO machines. Overtime, operations & maintenance got lazy and never took care of cleaning the airflow supply pipe into the cell. It was clear flows were partially to completely blocked. I improvised the method and now found one the US Bureau … Read more
The Bureau of Mines undertook a research program to insure an adequate supply of iron raw materials for future iron and steel making needs. A sample was obtained of oxidized taconite from the western Mesabi Range in Minnesota, and the metallurgical response of the taconite to beneficiation by a process that included selective flocculation-desliming-cationic flotation … Read more
The increasing demand for titanium minerals, especially rutile, has sparked interest in the abundant domestic titanium resources of the United States. Although 93 percent of the rutile used in this country is imported, there are porphyry copper deposits in the Western United States that constitute a very large potential rutile resource. Rutile is used to … Read more
An exploration program initiated by Johns-Manville Corp. resulted in the discovery of significant occurrences of platinum-group elements in the Stillwater complex of south-central Montana. The mineralization occurs in a horizon of relatively sulfide-rich anorthositic rocks within the Banded Zone of the complex. The favorable horizon is continuous over a strike length of 24 miles. The … Read more
The Bureau of Mines investigated the flotation responses of two copper nickel ore samples from the Duluth Complex with the objective of recovering bulk sulfide concentrates. One of the ores studied was taken from a test pit; the other was taken from a test shaft. The samples were quite similar except that the pit sample … Read more