Selective Flocculation of Zinc Concentrate to Reduce Silica Contamination

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gum K ; Hirt WC ; Rice, David A.
• Description:
  Selective flocculation was used to produce superclean zinc concentrate with minimized silica contamination. Research was carried out on a flotation concentrate from the Jersey Miniere Zinc Company (JMZ) in Gordonsville, Tennessee. The material was first dispersed with sodium silicate and then causticized tapioca starch was used to selectively flocculate the sphalerite, leaving the silica in suspension. This technique has been applied commercially to iron ore beneficiation but has never been used for processing zinc. The feed material assayed 0.45% Si02. Use of 0.56 kg/tonne (1.13 lb/st) of sodium silicate and 0.070 kg/tonne (0.141 lb/st) of causticized tapioca starch resulted in 98.2% zinc recovery in a purified zinc concentrate assaying 66.0% Zn and 0.24% silica. The present target level for silica contamination in JMZ zinc concentrates is 0.3% Si02. This work has shown that selective flocculation offers a potential method for cleaning flotation concentrates, particularly where low silica products are required. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Mining-industry Silica-dusts Zinc-compounds
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Publisher:
  Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Nevada ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 8 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Tennessee ; Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  SLRC - Salt Lake City Research Center
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:10003850
• Citation:
  SME Annual Meeting, February 15-18, 1993, Reno, Nevada. Littleton, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., preprint 93-142, 1993 Feb; :1-9
• CAS Registry Number:
  Silica (CAS RN 7631-86-9) ; Zinc (CAS RN 7440-66-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  SME Annual Meeting, February 15-18, 1993, Reno, Nevada
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d782fb219a71d83b06e9f6b91ad84792ee06a1c5531952515e11bcdf7fed21e03e0d3323a180a31baf841338a63ff6cacee0cda2a82f06348e3bb2027d699f1f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/219516/cdc_219516_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 404.94 KB ]