A Detailed study of Applying Gravity Separation to Lead and Zinc Carbonate Ore for Smithsonite Concentration Using DMC

ABSTRACT

Gravity separation of a low-grade lead and zinc carbonate ore (case study: Angouran mine, Zanjan, Iran) was investigated based on detailed laboratory and modeling studies. The authors used two types of laboratory sink-float evaluations with single density and multiple densities to demonstrate the effectiveness of Dense Medium Cyclone (DMC) as a new application to separate lead and zinc minerals, in particular, zinc carbonate (Smithsonite) from silica and limestone gangue. The laboratory tests included determining floats from five to six density intervals that descended between the densities of the light and heavy minerals. In addition, the authors used MODSIM^TM process simulation software to determine the optimum separating density, zinc grade of concentrate and tailings products, yield and metal recovery. The results showed the possibility of successful gravity separation of the ore. To optimize DMC gravity separation operation in the plant, the circuit was sampled and the effect of important parameters influencing separation performance was studied. The separation efficiency (sharpness) and plant performance to separate valuable minerals were determined by estimating the partition curve for the particle size distribution limited to 0.5–5.6 mm range. The performance indicating parameters including the short circuit fractions to sinks and floats, the separation sharpness and the separating density were estimated to be equal to 0.0116, 1.5885, 20.4 and 3.18, respectively, using the non-linear optimization tool of Excel (Solver) based on least squares method.

KEYWORDS:

• Dense medium cyclone (DMC)
• concentration
• lead and zinc
• sink-float test
• optimization
• least squares method

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to Iran Mineral Processing Research Center (IMPRC) for granting access to their laboratory facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Iran Mineral Processing Research Center (IMPRC).