(General session) Mineral Processing / Recycling

[3K0307-16-03] Investigation of sodium sulfite as a depressant for selective flotation of copper sulfide minerals from arsenic-bearing copper mineral

○Gde Pandhe Wisnu - Suyantara^1,2, Hajime Miki¹, Tsuyoshi Hirajima¹, Keiko Sasaki^1,2, Daishi Ochi³, Yuji Aoki³ (1. Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu University, 2. Kyushu University Institute for Asian and Oceanian Studies, 3. Sumitomo Metal Mining, Co., Ltd.)

Chairperson : Mayumi Ito (Hokkaido University)

Keywords:selective depressant, sodium sulfite, arsenic-bearing copper minerals, copper sulfide minerals

This study investigates the potential of sodium sulfite as a depressant in the selective flotation of copper sulfide minerals (i.e., chalcopyrite and bornite) from arsenic-bearing copper minerals (i.e., enargite and tennantite). Flotation experiments were performed using pure minerals to evaluate the effect of sodium sulfite. Flotation results show that the sodium sulfite exhibited a selective depressing effect on the floatability of copper sulfide minerals in the presence of a flotation collector. On the contrary, the flotation recovery of arsenic-bearing copper minerals remained high after being treated with various concentration of sodium sulfite. These flotation results demonstrated that selective separation of copper sulfide minerals from arsenic-bearing copper minerals is possible using sodium sulfite. A mechanism is proposed to explain the selective depressing effect of sodium sulfite using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.