Micro-fine Particle Tungsten Tailings Accompanied By Copper Comprehensive Recovery Experimental Research

With the continuous exploitation of mineral resources,primary rich ores and easily selected minerals are gradually being depleted.Currently,tailings from ore beneficiation are an important source of extracted mineral resources.A tungsten selection plant in southern Jiangxi Province recovers a large amount of fine tungsten tailings（-0.038mm content≥70.00%）through gravity beneficiation（jigging-shaking table-carpet）after selecting tungsten,which not only occupies a large amount of land resources and pollutes the ecological environment but also causes waste of valuable minerals that are not fully utilized.Therefore,the comprehensive utilization of tungsten tailings is of great significance.Currently,research on tungsten tailings mainly focuses on the recovery of metals（copper,tungsten,zinc,molybdenum,tin,etc.）,the recovery of non-metals（fluorspar,quartz,etc.）,and the preparation of industrial materials（sintered ceramics,microcrystalline glass,fire-retardant coatings,etc.）Copper,as the most widely used non-ferrous metal in terms of domestic consumption and imports,is widely used in industrial fields such as electricity,construction,and national defense,and has become the cornerstone of social progress.This article takes comprehensive resource recovery as the starting point and conducts beneficiation test studies on tungsten tailings from a certain tungsten selection plant in Jiangxi（on-site tailings and stockpile tailings）to effectively recover copper resources.Conducting process mineralogy studies on selected tungsten tailings（on-site tailings and stockpiled tailings）,including chemical multi-element analysis,XRD testing,MLA testing,dissociation analysis,polarizing microscope observation,etc.The results show that the particle size of tungsten tailings is extremely fine,with the content of-0.038mm particles accounting for over 70.00%.The copper content in on-site tailings is 0.12%,while the copper content in stockpile tailings is 0.21%.The main metallic minerals are chalcopyrite,wolframite,sphalerite,and molybdenite,while the main gangue minerals are quartz,biotite,chlorite,and plagioclase.Based on mineral characteristic analysis,only copper minerals have the greatest value for recovery.In the on-site tailings,the dissolubility of copper minerals increases with a decrease in grain size,and the maximum dissolubility of copper minerals in the-0.038mm particles is 83.73%.At this point,the grain size of chalcopyrite is between0.001-0.05mm and has a maximum of around 0.07mm.The main copper minerals in the stockpile tailings are chalcopyrite and bornite,followed by chalcocite,covellite,and copper blue.On-site tailings coarse selection condition test was carried out to determine the optimal reagent system.The dosage of ester reagent Z-200 was 25g/t,and the combination of isobutyl and Y89 xanthate was used in a ratio of 9:1,with a dosage of 25g/t.The foaming agent MIBC was used at a dosage of 20g/t,and a rough concentrate with a copper grade of 3.30%and a recovery rate of 79.42%was obtained.A“one rough,two clean,one scavenging”flotation circuit was used in the copper flotation closed circuit test,and a concentrate with a copper grade of 21.145%and a recovery rate of 65.970%was obtained.The adsorption of isobutyl,isopentyl,and Y89 xanthate increased as the particle size decreased for the four size fractions,and the adsorption results of the xanthate for each particle size were:-0.038mm>-0.045+0.038mm>-0.074+0.045mm>+0.074mm.The adsorption strength of the three collectors on the on-site tailings was Y89 xanthate>isopentyl xanthate>isobutyl xanthate.At the-0.038mm particle size fraction,the maximum adsorption of Y89 xanthate was0.03108 mg·g^-1,and the minimum adsorption of isobutyl xanthate was 0.02518 mg·g^-1.The stockpiled tailings flotation copper test used the optimal reagent system for stockpiled tailings flotation copper,but only obtained a concentrate with a copper grade of12.512%and a recovery rate of 12.099%using a"one rough,two clean,one scavenging"closed circuit process.The optimal Na₂S activation condition was obtained in the condition test with a dosage of 200g/t,and the rough concentrate obtained at this time had a copper grade of 1.19%and a recovery rate of 35.36%.In the carrier flotation copper rough selection test,the optimal carrier conditions were obtained when all reagents were used at their optimal dosages:the carrier medium is on-site tailings with a particle size of-0.074+0.045mm.,and the ratio of stockpiled tailings to carrier medium is 4:6.The flotation machine speed was2192r·min^-1,and a rough concentrate with a copper grade of 1.66%and a recovery rate of57.28%was obtained.In the carrier flotation copper closed circuit test,a concentrate with a copper grade of 13.520%and a recovery rate of 49.123%was obtained using a"one rough,two clean,one scavenging"process,and a concentrate with a copper grade of 17.88%and a recovery rate of 41.22%was obtained using a"one rough,three clean,one scavenging"process.A study was conducted on the flotation kinetics of copper in on-site tailings using hyperbolic functions,S-curve functions,and negative exponential functions for regression analysis.Three kinetic models were further derived.After fitting and comparing with four commonly used flotation kinetic models,it was demonstrated that the flotation process of copper in on-site tailings conforms to complete mixing reaction kinetics,gas-liquid adsorption kinetics,and second-order kinetics.