Experimental Investigation Of Polymetallic And Complex Molybdenum Ore

There are large ore reserves in a molybdenum and gold deposit in Shaanxi province. This ore has 0.18% Mo, and associates noble metals, i.e. gold and silver. The grade of gold is 2.19 g/t, the grade of silver is 6.20 g/t. However, the contents of harmful elements such as carbon and lead are relatively high, which are up to 1.85% and 0.62% respectively. Meantime, the oxidation rate of molybdenite is also up to 59.37%. Consequently, the key of this research is to achieve the comprehensive recovery of Mo and Au. Due to the high oxidation rate of molybdenite and no report of research for effectively processing molybdenum oxidized ore, the recovery of Mo can be more difficult. Based on the above-mentioned for the complex ore, in this paper, the mineralogy of raw ore, the technologies of mineral processing, oxidation roasting and leaching of combination concentrate of Mo and Au, were systematically investigated.(1) Through experimental investigation, it is clear that the main metallic minerals in the ore are galena, pyrite, molybdenite, molybdite, wulfenite, powellite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite etc., the main noble metals are natural gold and silver, and the main gangue minerals are quartz, calcite, feldspar, dolomite and barite etc.. The properties of main valuable minerals including constituent content, crystal granularity, dissemination and distribution rule of the valuable minerasl, were clearly studied.(2) It is found out that combined collector M--01 is an effective collector for processing this ore.(3) The suitable bulk flotation flowsheet of Mo and Au for processing this ore was obtained, which include one roughing concentration, three cleaning concentrations and three scavenging concentrations. The combination concentrate of Mo and Au obtained has the grade of 4.12% Mo with the recovery of 79%, and the grade of 48.86 g/t gold with the recovery of 85.58%.(4) The oxidation roasting and leaching technique developed can be effective to separate Mo and Au in the combination concentrate. By using this separating technique the obtained results show that for raw ore, the molybdenum leaching rate is 86.6% with the recovery of 68.41% , the grade of gold is 53.50 g/t with the recovery of 85.58%, the grade of silver is 94.51 g/t with the recovery of 47.21%, and the grade of lead is 19.12% with the recovery of 96%.By using the technologies of flotation, oxidation roasting, leaching developed, the desired metals such as molybdenum and gold in the ore can be comprehensively recovered. The achievements obtained provide technique basis for exploiting this ore, which are helpful to resolve the disadvantageous conditions for not scale exploitation of the ore in a long time, and have guiding significance for exploitation and utilization of the silimar ore.