Development of mineral processing design using geometallurgical approach
2017 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Tin as a commodity is critical for the EU on a long terms. This has been pointed out in theInternational Tin Research Institute reports (ITRI, 2016). As a result, a number of research projectsaimed at increasing the availability of tin, partly from domestic EU sources. FAME (Flexible andMobile Economic processing technologies) is such a project, and consists of 18 partners (from 8 EUcountries) coming from the industry, academia and governmental institutions (Broadbent, 2016). Asa part of FAME consortium, Luleå University of Technology contributes to the investigation ofdifferent tin-bearing ores, covering a number of European currently non-developed deposits andactive mines.The Tellerhäuser project aims to develop a schist-skarn tin deposit in Germany. The samples used inthe project are two skarn samples (Q2 and 2-4) and one schist sample (M). Within this study, gravitymethods, including spiral, shaking table, centrifugal separation and jigging, were used for cassiteritepre-concentration and concentration tests. Sulphide flotation and wet high-intensity magneticseparation were used for by-product recovery and product cleaning. The input materials and resultingproducts were analyzed using portable XRF, Fusion XRF, optical microscopy, and densitymeasurements. Element to mineral conversion was used in order to provide modal mineralogyinformation for the processing streams.The schist ore sample (M) showed the best performance in terms of recoveries and grades in thegravity circuits, which can be explained by its simple composition, containing cassiterite and lightsilicate gangue minerals such as muscovite, quartz and illite. The skarn ore samples contain somevaluable by-products. However, the processing performance in the gravity circuits is less efficientthan for the schist ore sample. This could be explained by more complex mineralogy and smallerequal settling ratios between cassiterite and other minerals in the ore.In the process mineralogy part, several families of cassiterite were investigated based on grainmorphology. The particles’ morphological families have different masses, which is found to effectmineral separation results. Finally, process simulations were built for the tested gravity units, andeconomic estimations were performed.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2017. , p. 115
Keywords [en]
Tellerhäuser, gravity circuits, geometallurgy, schist-skarn ore, sulphide flotation, Knelson, process mineralogy
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-66361OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-66361DiVA, id: diva2:1154554
External cooperation
FAME Consortium
Educational program
Geosciences, master's level (120 credits)
Supervisors
Examiners
Projects
FAME2017-11-142017-11-022017-11-14Bibliographically approved