Research Of The Effect Of Slime On The Flotation Behaviors Of Malachite

As a secondary copper mine,malachite are often associated with amounts of slime during the oxidation forming process.Slime have the characteristics of small mass and high surface area,which is easy to adsorb and cover the surface of minerals during flotation process,reducing the selectivity adsorption of reagents to minerals and deteriorating flotation conditions.In this paper,the effects of different kinds and amount of slime on flotation behavior of malachite were investigated through four kinds of single mineral flotation tests and artificial mixed mineral flotation tests of malachite-slime.Turbidity,zeta potential,adsorption quantity and SEM were measured to study the impact of different slime on the surface properties of malachite,the interaction between the particles and reagents and the particles interaction.The micro-flotation tests results showed that: four single mineral showed poor floatability in the absence of sodi?m sulfide.Addition of proper amount of sodi?m sulfide is favorable for flotation of malachite and bentonite slime,however,excessive suppression of flotation.The addition of sodi ? m sulfide reduces the flotation recovery of calcite slime and goethite slime.The artificial mixed flotation results showed that: under the condition of “sodi?m sulfide-xanthate”flotation,the addition of three kinds of slime are harmful to malachite flotation,and the more slime content,the less conducive to malachite flotation.The slime has no effect on the recovery rate of malachite flotation when the content of calcite slime is small,however,the flotation recovery of malachite concentrate decreases obviously when the content reaches 30%,and the grade of concentrate copper decreases with the increase of calcite slime content;Bentonite slime and goethite slime strongly inhibit the malachite flotation,both of which affect concentrate grade and concentrate copper recovery.Compared with the actual measured turbidity and the theoretical turbidity,some cohesion occurred between the malachite and the three kinds of slime particles,and the cohesion behavior between the bentonite slime and the malachite particles was the strongest.Adsorption capacity test shows that : the adsorption amount of the three kinds of slime on the collector was higher than that of the malachite on the collector.With the increase of the slime content,the adsorption amount of the isopentyl xanthate decreased continuously.Relationship between strength of malachite drug adsorption: bentonite slime> goethite slime> calcite slime.Potential test shows that:adding sodi?m sulfide and xanthate can move the potentials of the four mineralsin the negative direction,slime coat on malachite to different extents resulting in differences in surface potential of minerals.EDLVO theoretical calculations showed the condensation occurred between the malachite and the slime particles,it is the slime coat on the malachite surface,the strong-to-weak slime coat on the malachite surface are bentonite slime> goethite slime> calcite slime.SEM and EDS analysis also confirmed the EDLVO calculation results.The characteristics of different slime and the effect of different components in the slime on the flotation behavior of malachite was analyzed,and the mechanism of the influence of slime on the flotation behavior of malachite was further explored,which would provide the stable basic theory to reduce the influence of slime on the flotation of malachite and the technology support for the efficient utilization of malachite resources in China.