New influence factor inducing difficulty in selective flotation separation of Cu-Zn mixed sulfide minerals

• Published in: International journal of minerals, metallurgy and materials Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 111 - 115
• Main Authors: Deng, Jiu-shuai, Mao, Ying-bo, Wen, Shu-ming, Liu, Jian, Xian, Yong-jun, Feng, Qi-cheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing University of Science and Technology Beijing 01.02.2015; Springer Nature B.V; State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology,Kunming 650093, China
• Subjects: Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Copper; COPPER IONS; Corrosion and Coatings; Dissolution; FLOTATION; Fluid dynamics; FLUID FLOW; Fluid inclusions; FLUIDITY; Fluids; Gangue; Glass; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; MINERALS; Natural Materials; Selective flotation; Separation; SULFIDES; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Tribology; Water reuse; Zinc; Zincblende; 影响因素; 浮选分离; 混合; 矿物溶解; 硫化物矿石; 硫化矿; 诱导; 铜锌; fluid inclusions; flotation; separation; sulfide minerals
• ISSN: 1674-4799; 1869-103X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12613-015-1050-x

Selective flotation separation of Cu-Zn mixed sulfides has been proven to be difficult. Thus far, researchers have found no satis- factory way to separate Cu-Zn mixed sulfides by selective flotation, mainly because of the complex surface and interface interaction mecha- nisms in the flotation solution. Undesired activation occurs between copper ions and the sphalerite surfaces. In addition to recycled water and mineral dissolution, ancient fluids in the minerals are observed to be a new source of metal ions. In this study, significant amounts of ancient fluids were found to exist in Cu-Zn sulfide and gangue minerals, mostly as gas-liquid fluid inclusions. The concentration of copper ions re- leased from the ancient fluids reached 1.02 × 10-6 tool/L, whereas, in the cases of sphalerite and quartz, this concentration was 0.62 ×10-6 mol/L and 0.44 × 10-6 mol/L, respectively. As a result, the ancient fluid is a significant source of copper ions compared to mineral dissolution under the same experimental conditions, which promotes the unwanted activation of sphalerite. Therefore, the ancient fluid is considered to be a new factor that affects the selective flotation separation of Cu-Zn mixed sulfide ores.