Comparative study of high-pressure grinding rolls and conventional wet and dry grinding methods on the flotation of base-metal sulphides and platinum group minerals
CIM Journal, Vol. 3, No. 4, 2012
N. A. Chapman, N. J. Shackleton, and V. Malysiak
Anglo Research, Crown Mines, South Africa
C. T. O’Connor
Centre for Minerals Research, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
In this study, the effect of using conventional crushing and high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) in combination with dry or wet milling was investigated using a base-metal sulphide (BMS) sphalerite and a platinum group mineral (PGM) ore to determine how these processes affect the flotation performance. In sphalerite, irrespective of the crushing procedure (HPGR or conventional), dry milling resulted in the highest grades and recoveries of zinc, whereas in PGMs, similar treatment produced the poorest results. The results were investigated further by the effect of factors such as percentage liberation and particle size on the flotation results.
