Technology And Application On Flotation Separation For Koktokay’s Lithium And Beryllium Ore

Xinjiang Koktokay rare metal ore is rich in lithium and beryllium resource, but it is fail to utilize the beryllium resources till now because lithium and beryllium flotation separation is a difficult technology in the field of mineral processing. According to the national requirements for the comprehensive development and utilization of mineral resources and the demaind for improving the technical level of the production of Koktokay rare metal mine, the flotation separation of lithium and beryllium minerals on Koktokay’s rare metal ore was studied in this dissertation. Based on the systematic both in laborotary and industrial experiments, a reasonable technological process and reagent regime were determined, and good technical index was achieved, it lays a good foundation for the the industrialization of flotation separation of lithium and beryllium minerals.Based on the analysis of ore properties, lithium and beryllium minerals in ore are mainly the beryl and spodumene, they are also aluminum silicates and have very similar floatability, so the process of mixed flotation for lithium and beryllium minerals, and then the flotation separation of lithium and beryllium minerals is appropriate. However, the key technology of lithium and beryllium mixed flotation is:removing ore slime, flotation of mica, and the implementation of high concentration (40%～50%solid)+alkali (Na2CO3-NaOH) treatment, and then the strong mixing with HF on mica flotation tailings. Its principle is to purify the mineral surface, to eliminate the interference of high valence metal ions in pulp and fine slime, to improve the flotation performance of spodumene and beryl. The key technology of the flotation separation on lithium and beryllium mixed concentrate is:using excellent combination collector for the flotation separation on lithium and beryllium mixed concentrate (combination of oleic acid and A-l chelator), and then matching with Na2CO3+Na2S+FeCl3+NaOH in alkaline medium (pH>10), a selective activation and inhibition of spodumene and beryl was happened, and the separation flotation of beryl and spodumene was implemented.Under the condition of laboratory, by using the reagent regime of Na2CO3+Na2S+FeCl3+NaOH and oleic acid, the process of regrinding, desliming, two separate roughing, one scavenging, three cleaning on lithium and beryllium mixed concentrate smpling from production process, the beryllium concentrate with the grade of8.50%BeO and the recovery of70.33%BeO, and lithium concentrate with grade of6.15%Li2O and the recovery of96.72%Li2O was obtained.The industrial test results show that a good flotation separation between lithium and beryllium minerals can also be achieved by the using of reagent regime determined by laboratory tests, such as the matching of Na2CO3+Na2S+FeCl3+NaOH and combined collector (oleic acid and A-l chelator), but the addition sequence and amount of reagents has notable influence on the effective flotation separation of lithium and beryllium mixed concentrate. For separation of roughing:FeCl360～70g/t, Na2S200～250g/t, sodium carbonate is400-450g/t, sodium hydroxide is60～80g/t, combined collector is40～50g/t. For separation of cleaning:FeCl320～30g/t, Na2S100～150g/t, sodium carbonate is100～200g/t, combined collectors is15-25g/t. The average grade and stage recovery of BeO in beryllium concentrate for15production shifts reached6.50%and67.15%respectively, and it provides good conditions for industrial application of lithium aand beryllium flotation separation technology.