Exploration for new collecting agents for oxidized antimony ores and estimation of their flotation activity based on the quantum-chemical calculation results: a case study of the Zhipkosha deposit

The ores of antimony deposits contain sulfide (antimonite, jamesonite, boulangerite, etc.) and oxidized forms of metal (stibiconite, valentinite, cervantite, etc.). The sulfide forms are well recoverable, while the oxidized ones are resistant to all enrichment processes. Thus there is currently no technology for obtaining a proper-quality oxidized antimony concentrate. The survey of the known methods of extracting antimony oxides from antimony ores shows that flotation is considered the most effective method. In the case of antimony ores, separate (sulfide and oxidized) flotation is used. The efficiency of oxidized antimony forms flotation using the existing collectors, modifiers and activators, is low, which makes it necessary to develop higher-efficiency agents and operation parameters of the enrichment process. The present work suggests using a new complex collecting agent in the antimony ore flotation (the Zhipkosha deposit) and describes a quantum-chemical calculation that allows determining the interaction of the reagent with the oxidized antimony mineral forms. It has been found that the flotation using the complex КR-1 collector (in a ratio of 1:1:0.2) results in higher flotation properties of the antimony oxide due to the bigger effect on the monogene surface (lenses, films). This fact is proven by the quantum-chemical calculation that gives the calculated energy of the monogene-agent interaction of 24.1 kJ/mole, which is typical of donor-acceptor interactions. The effectiveness of using the complex КR-1 collector for oxidized metal minerals flotation has been confirmed for the antimony ore sample with an antimony content of 2%. With the concentrate quality of 40 %, the antimony recovery increases by 9.1 %, while the tailings amount decreases from 1.42 % to 1.12 %.

flotation, enrichment, antimony, extraction, quantum chemistry

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