Influence of inclined channel spacing on dense mineral partition in a REFLUX™ Classifier. Part 1: Continuous steady state. (15th January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Galvin, K.P.; Iveson, S.M.; Zhou, J.; Lowes, C.P.
• Is Part Of: Minerals engineering. Volume 146(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-01-15
• Subjects: REFLUX Classifier -- Heavy minerals -- Dense minerals -- Chromite -- Fractionation -- Partition curve -- Washability -- Density partition; Mines and mineral resources -- Periodicals; Ressources minérales -- Périodiques; Mines and mineral resources; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 622
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mineng.2019.106112
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0892-6875

Abstract

Highlights: Separation performance of REFLUX™ Classifier measured for fine dense minerals. Narrow 3 mm inclined channel spacing gave better separation than 6 mm channels. For −300 μm composite the Ep was 426 kg/m 3 and cut point could be varied. Across narrow √2 size fractions Ep was reasonably constant at about 325 kg/m 3 . Density cut point D 50 decreased with increasing particle size to the power −0.22. Abstract: The REFLUX™ Classifier, which consists of a lower fluidized bed system and upper system of parallel inclined channels, was fed continuously to beneficiate a dense mineral ore covering a nominal particle size range up to 300 μm. The purpose of the work was to (i) establish the partition surface of the REFLUX™ Classifier for dense minerals over the above size range, and (ii) quantify the improvement in the separation performance of the REFLUX™ Classifier for different inclined channel spaces of 6 mm and 3 mm. The narrower 3 mm channels consistently achieved higher grades and recoveries than the 6 mm channels. Standard sink-float analysis produced a composite D 50 of 3902 kg/m 3 and Ep of 426 kg/m 3 for the broad size range of 38–300 μm. The interpolation and mass-balancing algorithm (Galvin et al., 2018), which links the feed, product, and reject density distributions to the partition function, was applied to fractionation data derived from the sink-float method, generating a composite D 50 of 3949 kg/m 3 and Ep of 442 kg/m 3, in excellent agreement with the standard method. Analysis of the narrow size fractions showed the D 50 decreased with increasing particle size to the power −0.22, while the Ep was reasonably constant at about 325 kg/m 3 for each of the narrow size fractions.