(Special session) Basic Studies on mining and smelting technologies for metals resources［Tue. Sep 12, 2023 PM Room-1］

[1101-08-02] [Student presentation: Master’s course] Study of pyrite depression for producing a high-grade copper concentrate from a complex copper ore

Gde Pandhe Wisnu Suyantara¹, ○Akbarshokh Ulmaszoda², Hajime Miki¹, Keiko Sasaki¹, Taisuke Sakakibara³, Hisatoshi Furuya³, Satoru Okubo³ (1. Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, 2. Graduate school of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, 3. Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC))

Chairperson: Koichi Hashimoto (JOGMEC)

Keywords:Copper-activated pyrite depression, Dicarboxylic acid, Tricarboxylic acid, Iron precipitates

The copper-activated pyrite flotation reduces the quality of the copper concentrate and affects the downstream process. This study investigated various treatments using di- and tri-carboxylic acids and iron precipitates to reduce copper-activated pyrite flotation. The flotation tests were performed using pure pyrite and chalcopyrite. The flotation results show that iron precipitates and di- and tri-carboxylic acids prevented copper-activated pyrite flotation. Further flotation tests using a complex copper ore confirmed the reduction of copper-activated pyrite flotation. Additionally, using iron precipitates and dicarboxylic acid treatments in the cleaner flotation after the rougher flotation with sodium sulfite produced the optimum pyrite depression. This flotation circuit with iron precipitates treatment improved the copper grade from 16.3% to 25.4% and reduced the pyrite recovery from 28.1% to 18.2%, with a final copper recovery of 85.8%.