Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia:

N. K. Algebraistova, assistant professor of the department of “Mineral processing”, e-mail address: algebraistova@mail.ru
D. A. Golsman, assistant professor of the department of “Mineral processing”
D. M. Kolotushkin, PhD student, assistant of the department of “Mineral processing”, e-mail address: denisss911@mail.ru
I. V. Prokopev, PhD student, assistant of the department of “Mineral processing”

The stale tailings of the gold recovery factory operating on a gravity-flotation scheme have been investigated. The main minerals of the initial sample and the products of enrichment are quartz, muscovite, chlorite (clinochlor), plagioclase (albite), carbonates (calcite and dolomite). The native gold during the investigations was observed in the form of particles of lumpy shape with crested short spurs sized around 0.15 mm, and also in the form of goldstone aggregate of various sizes, sprouting grains of pyrite; the maximum observable size of the section of gold was about 0.06 mm. Gold has a relatively low fineness/purity due to significant content mercury which exists as an impurity element. The average gold content in the particles investigated in this study was measured using the micro-X-ray spectral analysis and made up about 67.86 wt. %. Using gravitational and flotation methods, the possibility of the enrichment of the experimental object with the initial size was studied. As the main gravitational equipment, the centrifugal separators, such as Falcon, Itomak and Kelsey, were investigated, and in finalizing stage, the concentration tables, such as SKO-0.5 and Gemeni, were characterized. The results obtained from the flotation and gravity experiments on the material of the initial size indicate the necessity for its preliminary shredding. The influence of the fineness of grinding and dosing of combinations of reagentcollectors on the efficiency of the enrichment process was investigated. The best results were obtained with 80% of the grinding tonnage –0.074 mm. It is determined that the use of combinations of reagents provides higher values of the Hancock-Lücken criterion and a general gold recovery in comparison to flotation with a single butyl xanthate. A combined gravity-flotation scheme of enrichment was developed, which allows obtaining gravitational and flotation concentrates with a content of ~60 g/t gold in them with a total metal recovery of ~63.6%. As the main gravitational equipment, the centrifugal separator Falcon and the concentration table Gemeni are proposed.

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