Characteristics and mineralogical analysis of dense medium extracted from copper slag tailings

Green development of resources and efficient utilization of smelting slag are increasingly becoming strategic technical requirements.In this paper, combining the mineralogical properties of copper slag tailings and the actual demands of dense medium beneficiation, the process by classification-magnetic separation-concentration desliming is used to obtain copper slag tailings dense medium products, and chemical analysis, XRD, SEM and EDS are used to investigate.The chemical composition, phase composition and mineralogical characteristics of residual lead and zinc impurities are discussed, and the environmental impact of the application of heavy medium products in copper slag tailings is discussed.The research shows that the density of dense medium product is 4.42 t/m³ as well as it contains 56.57% iron (TFe), 23.49% SiO₂, and a small amount of metal impurities such as Pb, Zn, Cu.The main mineral in the products are magnetite and iron olivine, lead-iron-silica glass body and quartz, the content reaches 99.41%.Because the particle size of magnetite and iron olivine is finer, the dissociation degree is lower, and the content of magnetic substance can reach 95.4%, which is convenient for recycling.The residual lead, zinc, and copper heavy metal elements have a low dissolution rate and a low risk of environmental impacts, which opens up a new way for the resource utilization of copper slag tailings.