A REVIEW OF RARE EARTH

MINERALS FLOTATION;
MONAZITE AND XENOTIME

MAIN OBJECTIVE
The objective of this review was to present
and identify the effects of different flotation
conditions on monazite and xenotime
flotation.

INTRODUCTION
The principle sources of REE are
bastanaesite, monazite and xenotime.
Mostly distributed in in placer deposits
The project was done to provide a review
monazite and xenotime flotation
Much emphasis was put on surface
properties and modifying reagents

MONAZITE
FLOTATION

MONAZITE FLOTATION
Monazite is cerium and lanthanum
phosphate
Is great source of cerium,lanthanum and
variable amount of uranium
Utilises adequate combinations of collectors
and depressant

Collectors

Collector used was sodium oleate

Had better flotabilities than oleic acid
Sodium oleate is PH dependent
Apart from sodium oleate other anionic
collectors used were sodium laurate , Neofat
140,Ancitol FA 1,Ancitol FA 2, Ancitol fax.

DEPRESSANTS
The commonly used depressants were
sodium silicate, disodium sulphide, sodium,
oxalate.
The hydrolysis of sodium sulfide, the
presence of hydrosulfite and hydroxyl ions
were reported as main factors of depression.
Temperature control also became important
in the whole flotation process.

XENOTIME
FLOTATION

INTRODUCTION
Monazite and Xenotime are the two major
rare-earth minerals widely distributed in
heavy mineral sand in placer deposits.
Commonly found in some alkali magmatic
rocks, carbonates and in certain
hydrothermal mineral deposits.
Xenotime represent a larger portion source
of the high rare earth minerals (Europium
(Eu) & Gadolinium (Gd))

FLOTATION OF XENOTIME

FLOTATION OF XENOTIME
Xenotime is recovered in a two stage flotation
Reverse flotation is applied to separate rare
earth elements (REEs) (xenotime and the
monazite) from its associated gangue
(ilmenite, zircon and silicate)
In reverse flotation gangue is floated first and
the desired mineral are floated after
Secondly direct flotation is used to separate
xenotime from monazite

FACTORS AFFECTING RECOVERY

OF XENOTIME MINERAL

Collector
Temperature
Depressant
Flotation time
PH

COLLECTOR
Collector used is the sodium oleate
It found that pH is more is more important when it
comes to the collector adsorption on the mineral
surface
Optimal pH range is 7 8
The distribution of the first hydroxyl rare earth
species showed great correlation with the collector
and it was found to be the key factor in flotation of
xenotime in the presence of sodium oleate as a
collector
The recovery improved to over 90% when
hydroxamate @ pH of 10 was used.

DEPRESSANT
Depressants used Na2SiO3 and NaSiF6 they were
used to depress ilmenite, chromite, rotile, zircon
and cassiterrite in the presence of fatty acids and
phosphoric acids esters
Best recovery for Na2SiO3 and no significant
improvement on recovery for NaSiF 6
Other various depressants(lignin, sulfonate,
quebracho, conventional corn starch, amylopectin)
were also used to suppress zircon in the presence
of commercial hydroxamates as a collector
Recovery was reduced

TEMPERATURE

Incei
Increase in temperature slightly reduced the
bubble attachment time from 13.9ms 10.7ms
on xenotime

TEMPERATURE
Constant

Variable

Temperature

Oleate

64 0C

Increased concentration
(not specfiied)

Increase in oleate concentration reduced the

bubble attachment time to 3.9ms on xenotime
There recovery of xenotime at high
temperature reduced

CONCLUSION
Concentration of collectors and depressants must be
well defined to avoid an increase in the flotation of
gangue material
Both xenotime and monazite were found to be readily
floatable using anionic collector eg. Sodium oleate
Optimal pH is 8 and 7-8 for monazite and xenotime
respectively in the presence of sodium oleate
Optimal pH is 9 and 10 for monazite and xenotime
respectively in the presence of hydroxamates
High temperature reduce the recovery of both
xenotime and monazite

Thank you