Effects of pyrite on the flotation behavior and electrochemical interaction of different particle sizes of galena in the presence of diethyldithiocarbamate

ABSTRACT

Lead is widely used metals and pyrite is usually associated with galena. In addition, galena is prone to super-crushing during the grinding process. In this study, the galvanic interaction between different particle sizes of galena and pyrite were studied by electrochemistry, adsorption test and flotation test, respectively. Adsorption tests and microflotation tests indicated the recovery of galena of different sizes in mixed ore was decreased 5%–15% compared with single galena flotation results. The results of electrochemical measurement pointed out that the presence of pyrite enhances the corrosion rate of galena, and the finer the galena particles were, the stronger the electrochemical corrosion effect with pyrite became.

KEYWORDS:

• Galena
• pyrite
• particle size
• galvanic interaction

Acknowledgments

The first author gratefully acknowledges financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51764024).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51764024].