Study on pre-concentration efficiency of wolframite from tungsten ore using gravity and magnetic separations
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School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Dongfang Lu
CentralSouth University Changsha, CentralSouth University Changsha, Hunan, PR. China 410083, 410083 Changsha, Hunan, PR. China 410083, China
Publication date: 2016-06-01
Physicochem. Probl. Miner. Process. 2016;52(2):718–728
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ABSTRACT
Pre-concentration is effectively applied in recovering wolframite from tungsten ore, due to its benefits of further upgrading tungsten ore and improving separation efficiency. The most important pre-concentration techniques for tungsten ore include gravity separation and magnetic separation, based on the fact that there are appreciable differences, between the desired wolframite and the gangue minerals, in density and magnetic susceptibility. This study investigated the separation efficiency of gravity pre-concentration (Falcon Concentrator) and high-gradient magnetic pre-concentration (SLon VPHGMS) for the beneficiation of a Canada tungsten ore. It is a low-grade type of ore with high silica and arsenic content, and an average content of WO3 is about 0.45%. The optimum conditions for different operational parameters of two pre-concentration separators were studied on this low-grade material. The results presented in this paper suggested that although both pre-concentration techniques were effective for producing pre-concentrates containing high WO3, magnetic pre-concentration showed significantly better separation efficiency. Over 90% of the feed was rejected as the final tailings, meanwhile, over 85% of arsenic minerals were removed with tailings, while the WO3 loss was less than 15%.