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Introduction To Mineral Processing

The document provides an introduction to mineral processing, including definitions of key terms and an overview of the main objectives and steps involved, including comminution, sizing, concentration, and dewatering.

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Sree Info Telugu
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154 views12 pages

Introduction To Mineral Processing

The document provides an introduction to mineral processing, including definitions of key terms and an overview of the main objectives and steps involved, including comminution, sizing, concentration, and dewatering.

Uploaded by

Sree Info Telugu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to

Mineral Processing
• Mineral: A naturally occurring chemical compound
having a definite chemical composition and crystal
structure is called as mineral
• Ore: A natural aggregation of minerals from which
a metal or metallic compound can be extracted
economically is known as ore
• Gangue: Commercially valueless material
associated with the mineral is known as gangue
• Concentrate: The valuable product obtained after
mineral processing is known as concentrate
• Tailings: These are the materials left over after the
process of separating the valuable fraction from
the ore.
Mineral Processing
• Mineral processing: It is regarded as the
treatment of ore to yield marketable products
and waste
• Scope of mineral processing
- Elimination of undesired chemical species
- Elimination of undersized particles
- Selective separation of desired material
Objectives
• The basic objectives of Mineral processing is of two
kinds
- Economical
- Technical
• Undesired content of the original ore must be
reduced or removed below some specified limits so
that it is suitable for the metal extraction
• The product should confirm the various
requirements such as particle size, assay grade,
moisture content etc..
• If the ore contains more than one valuable mineral,
separation of those valuable minerals will be
essential in order to market them separately
Advantages of Mineral Processing
• Physical/chemical method of rejecting the waste
material is substituted for more expensive
metallurgical methods
• No need to transport the tailings
• Separation of two valuable minerals associated in
the ore gives more money than selling together in
ore
• Mineral processing results in reduced losses at
the smelter due to the reduction in amount of
metal bearing produced during smelting
• The total smelting cost is reduced due to
reduction in tonnage of ore to be smelted
Principle Steps in Mineral Processing
• The principle steps involved in processing of
ore to yield the suitable product from a
chemical stand point are
- liberation of dissimilar particles from
each other
- Separation of liberated chemically or
physically dissimilar particles into
concentrates and tailings
Principle steps in Mineral Processing
• Principle steps in mineral processing
- Comminution
- Sizing
- Concentration
- Dewatering
Comminution
• Comminution is the term used for reduction of ore
to a smaller size
• The main objective of the comminution is to
unlocking of values in the ore
• The operations involved in comminution are
regarded as crushing and grinding
• The extent of comminution depends on the
mineralogical nature of the associated gangue
minerals
• The extent of comminution is regulated by the
particle size required for the subsequent
concentration operation
Sizing
• Separation of particles into various sized
fractions based on particle size
• Sizing can be accomplished by screening or
classification
• Sizing is practiced generally in between the
comminution process in industries
• Screens and classifiers are used for sizing
process
Concentration
• It can be regarded as collection of valuable minerals
• It can be accomplished by a variety of appliances
depending on the type of mineral and its specific
characteristics
• Different equipment are employed in concentration
process
• Concentration operation gives two or more than final
products
- Concentrate
- Tailings
- Intermediates
• During concentration, various unfinished products of
intermediate grade are again retreated to make final
disposition into concentrates and tailings
Dewatering
• The products from the concentration plant leave
either as moist gravel or sand or as fluid pulp
• The concentrate has be compulsorily dewatered
before the final use in the smelter or shipment
• Dewatering is usually carried out only to the
extent of producing a damp cake
• Dewatering can be accomplished in two steps
- In thickners to remove most of the water
- In filters which receive the thickened pulp
and yield the damp cake
Flow sheet

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