Dump leaching and in-situ solution mining have received considerable attention during the past few years due to their apparent economic viability and minimal environmental impact. Solution mining actually dates back to the 17th century when leaching of copper ore was first reported. However, modern day leaching didn’t begin on a wide scale until the mid-1900’s. … Read more
High-intensity wet magnetic separators have been successfully introduced into, the mineral processing field over the past ten to fifteen years, due largely to rapid advancements in magnet design. Wet magnetic separation, until recent years, was applied solely to the concentration of minerals of high magnetic susceptibility, such as magnetite, at relatively coarse sizes. Now, however, … Read more
Conventional practice is to add flocculant as a dilute solution to the feed slurry in a launder or feed pipe, possibly using staged addition so as to improve the floc growth. Mixing in launders is not necessarily optimum, and with deep launder pulp depths lower layers of slurry do not readily rise to the surface … Read more
Union Carbide began looking seriously at heap leaching in 1971- At that time some 1.6 million tons of mineral averaging 0.040% U3O8 were stockpiled at various sites around the Gas Hills, Wyoming, uranium facility. Several alternatives for economically exploiting these reserves were considered and heap leaching seemed the most attractive. At the time, Western Nuclear … Read more
Cyprus Pima has two concentrators, one with a conventional crushing-grinding circuit and the other using semiautogenous grinding followed by ball mills. Old Mill Flowsheet The original mill was constructed in 1956 but has been expanded three times so that by 1967 there were ten sections having a total capacity of 36,000 tpd. Subsequent revisions have … Read more
This paper describes some of the latest improvements that have been incorporated or planned by the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company to reduce operating costs and improve pellet quality. The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company operates and manages mining, beneficiation, and pelletizing operations in Michigan, Canada, and Western Australia. Operating/Maintenance Cost Savings Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, in December, 1976, embarked … Read more
The reliability of large diameter, high horsepower ball mill is paramount when large production and minimum downtime is required. The 17 ft. x 56 ft. double compartment ball mill at St. Lawrence Cement Company has the first gearless drive built in North America and has the world’s largest hydrodynamic bearings currently built and running. The machine … Read more
Samples of a topaz-bearing gneiss from Jefferson County, Colorado, and a topaz-bearing schist from Chesterfield County, South Carolina, were obtained for the investigation. These are the areas outlined by USGS as containing probable commercial quantities of topaz. Partial chemical analyses of the samples are shown in table 1. Mineralogical examination of the Colorado gneiss showed … Read more
Filtration of the insoluble slimes flotation concentrates recovered 87 to 90 percent of the brine. Flotation concentrate filtration rates were 7 times faster than the filtration rates of mechanically deslimed products. Potash losses in the deslime product and process brine requirements increase as the insol content increases. Therefore, improved methods to remove inso lslimes are … Read more
The response of feldspar flotation to tallow diamine dioleate collector in the presence of sulfuric acid is studied using, batch flotation experiments. Application of this non- hydrofluoric acid (non-HF) reagent system in the flotation of mineralogically and chemically different feldspar ores is compared with that of the conventional hydrofluoric acid system. The dependence of flotation … Read more