Experimental study on beneficiation of a refractory copper-nickel sulfide ore

A copper-nickel ore contains 0.23% copper and 0.42% nickel, which is a low-grade sulfide ore.Most of the copper minerals in the ore are chalcopyrite, nickel minerals are mainly pyrite, and other metal minerals are mainly pyrite, pyrrhotite, magnetite.Gangue minerals mainly include olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase, tremolite and so on.Mineralogical study shows that the copper-nickel deposit has a typical disseminated structure.The main mineralogical factors affecting the recovery of copper and nickel are the complex production form of chalcopyrite and pyrite, fine disseminated grain size and irregular morphology.According to the properties of the ore, a new efficient reagent BK303 and CMC are used as collector and gangue mineral inhibitor.Through the process of “two roughing, two scavenging and three finishing, rough concentrate regrinding and middling returning in sequence”, the efficient flotation recovery of copper and nickel is successfully realized.The copper-nickel mixed concentrate with copper grade of 3.29%, nickel grade of 5.32%, copper recovery of 81.78% and nickel recovery of 71.53% is obtained in closed-circuit test.