Collector Chemistry for Bastnaesite Flotation – Recent Developments

ABSTRACT

One of the most important aspects in any flotation separation is the choice of the flotation collector. For this reason, based on both our recent research developments and the results from other researchers, this detailed review focuses on fundamental surface chemistry features of fatty acid, hydroxamate, phosphonate, and phosphate as collectors for the flotation recovery of the rare earth (RE) mineral, bastnaesite, including selectivity considerations with respect to separation from calcite, barite, and quartz.

KEYWORDS:

• Bastnaesite
• fatty acid
• hydroxamate
• lauryl phosphate
• rare earths

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Ms. Dorrie Spurlock for her assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy, under grant no. DE-FG03-93ER14315 and the U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, under contract no. [419320].