Study on mineral processing of a high-sulfur copper-zinc polymetalic ore in Sichuan

It is difficult for a polymetalic sulfide ore with high Sulphur,high-copper and low-zinc in Sichuan to be separated.The disseminated grain size of valuable minerals is fine,heterogeneous and complex.The low recovery of Znic in benefication plants using conventional flotaion methods in mining area lead to the waste of ore.It could receive copper and sulphur only and stopped production of the zinc for the grade of zinc was low and could not gain ideal beneficiation index thtuogh experiment and industrial production practice.The mineral compositions and flotation separation of copper-znic polymetalic sulfide was investigated.The result reveals that a differential flotation is feasible.The flowsheet is:a selective floatation of copper~ zinc-easy floating pyrites bulk floatation~regrinding of the rough zinc-sulphur concentrate~zinc-sulphur separation-extracting sulfur from tailings.Finally,copper,zinc and sulphur minerals were efficiently separated.The concentrates of copper (grade 22.04%,recovery 91.15%),zinc(grade 46.03%,recovery 60.39%),and sulphur (grade 37.02%,recovery 81.19%) were also obtained respectively.