FLOTATION PLANT PRACTICE

GROUP 1: FLOTATION OF COPPER ORES

TREATMENT AT BOUGAINVILLE COPPER LTD.
An example of very large scale treatment of a porphyry copper ore containing gold
is that of Bougainville Copper Ltd. at Panguna, Bougainville Island, Papua New
Guinea (Hamilton and Woodcock 1993a), although the operation is currently shut
down for political reasons.
About 137,000 t/d of ore assaying 0.4% Cu, 0.4 g/t Au, and 1.2 g/t Ag was treated.
Copper was present as chalcopyrite and bornite, and there was some native gold
present. About 33 ppm of molybdenum was present as molybdenite, but this was
not recovered as a separate product because its recovery was subeconomic at the
time. About 0.5%0.7% pyrite was also present. These minerals occurred in a
leucocratic quartz diorite and tuffs, agglomerates, and hornblende microdiorite
lavas.
A simplified version of the ore treatment circuit is shown in Figure 2. Run-of-mine
(ROM) ore was crushed to minus 10 mm with two primary crushers and eight
secondary crushers, together with appropriate screens. Primary grinding of crushed
ore was done with 13 primary ball mills and associated cyclones. Secondary
grinding was done with three ball mills and cyclones, resulting in a product
containing about 70% minus 150 m. Rougher flotation concentrate and scavenger
concentrate were reground separately. Primary flotation was done in a rougherscavenger circuit with discard of the scavenger tailing. Rougher and scavenger
concentrates were cleaned and recleaned, and then given a final cleaner flotation
stage to produce a final concentrate.
Reagent usage is shown in Table 5, and ore treatment results for 1988 are given in
Table 6. Gold was a significant contribution to the companys profitability and
accounted for about 45% of revenue. An estimate of the distribution of the gold in
different phases in the ore is given in Table 7.

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009

FLOTATION PLANT PRACTICE

GROUP 2: FLOTATION OF LEAD-ZINC ORES
RED DOG CONCENTRATOR
The Red Dog concentrator commenced production in 1989 and is presently the
largest producer of zinc concentrate in the world. The phases in the development
and simplification of the current circuit (Figure 2) have been documented by
Lacouture and Hope (2003). The ore is considered to be of moderate difficulty in its
processing properties.
The reason for introducing major changes in the flowsheet in Figure 2 in 2001 was
to ensure that adequate installed flotation capacity and, therefore, residence time
existed in each part of the circuit along with the quoted flowsheet changes for the
zinc circuit (Lacouture and Hope 2003). The changes were as follows:

Bypass part of the zinc rougher concentrate as sphalerite liberation in the

first few cells was in excess of 80% and laboratory and plant testwork
confirmed it to have no impact on zinc final concentrate grade and recovery.
Increase the number of cleaning steps from two to three.
Make the circulating loads more logical and easier to control by operators.
Minimize entrainment by allowing reduced pulp density with sufficient
residence time.
Have two separate circuits to enable a different chemical and regrind
environment to suit the complex particles.

The dominant general characteristics of this circuit are:

1. Use of preflotation (without cleaning).
2. Extensive use of column cleaning technology in lead and zinc cleaning and in
the zinc retreatment section.
3. Use of tower mill regrinding technology in the lead circuit and zinc circuit (two
separate locations).
4. Use of two separate closed-circuit cleaning systems in the zinc cleaners with
the tailing of the second stage in open circuit, and the zinc first cleaner tailing
in the main cleaning system being directed to a zinc retreatment bank whose
tailing became the exit point from the cleaning system.
5. The tailing of the lead cleaning system was in closed circuit, being recycled to
the middle of the lead roughers.

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009

Extensive use was reported of reduced tonnage trials and flotation simulation to
establish appropriate installed capacities throughout the circuit. Plans were to
reduce the percent solid values in the pulp from 41% in the zinc roughers and 20%
30% in the zinc cleaners to 35% and 10%20%, respectively, to lower entrainment
of gangue. Hence, capacity increases were required to accommodate the larger
water additions in the zinc roughers and cleaners, as well as to respond to
throughput increases and existing bottlenecks.
Lower percent solid values were sought because the mechanisms for recovery of
unwanted minerals had been determined, and the large contribution from
entrainment of liberated nonsulfide gangue was understood (Gorain and Stradling
2003).

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009

FLOTATION PLANT PRACTICE

GROUP 3: FLOTATION OF COPPER-ZINC AND COPPER-LEAD-ZINC ORES
PASMINCO MININGROSEBERY IN TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA
Flotation of fine-grained pyrite-containing copper-lead-zinc sulfide ores to produce
separate copper, lead, and zinc concentrates is always a difficult challenge. A good
example of this is the operation of Pasminco MiningRosebery in Tasmania, Australia
(Krishnan 1993).
The ore is derived from two mines and contains about 1.5% chalcopyrite, 0.3%
tetrahedrite, 4% galena, 17% sphalerite, 27% pyrite, and a range of gangue
minerals. There is also a little coarse native gold present. About 800,000 t/a of ore
are treated, at a rate of up to 130 t/hr, using the circuit shown in Figure 4. The aim
is to produce a copper concentrate first, then a lead concentrate, and finally a zinc
concentrate. Reagents used, together with their points of addition and quantity, are
given in Table 9, and metallurgical results are summarized in Table 10.
After appropriate conditioning of ground ore under reducing conditions, the pulp is
given an aeration period and then sent to copper rougher flotation. Copper rougher
concentrate is cleaned to produce a final copper concentrate, and the cleaner
tailing is reground and returned to the copper conditioner. Copper rougher tailing is
sent to the lead conditioner.
Lead flotation follows a similar procedure to that of copper. Lead rougher
concentrate goes to three-stage cleaning to produce a final lead concentrate and a
cleaner tailing, which is reground and returned to the lead conditioner. Lead rougher
tailing is sent to the zinc conditioner.
Zinc flotation follows the same pattern as that of lead flotation. Although not shown
in Figure 4, a small gravity concentration section is included at the end of the
flotation circuit to recover the coarse native gold present. This product is added to
the copper concentrate.

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009

Reference: Froth Flotation: A Century of Innovation, Fuerstenau M.C, Jameson G. and

Yoon R.H., 2009