The ability to successfully recover coarse particles by flotation has long been seen as the area where significant step-change improvements to energy efficiency of mineral processing operations could be made. Recent developments in the field of fluidized bed flotation have introduced exciting new possibilities for coarse particle flotation. The hydrodynamic aspects of fluidized bed flotation have been a subject of many studies over the years, with many more currently underway. However, the impact of pulp chemistry within such a radically different hydrodynamic environment has not received similar attention. In flotation systems, chemistry and hydrodynamics are intricately linked, so a radical change in one, necessitates a similar change in the other. One such possibility is the use of aerosol collector addition, whereby collector reagents are introduced to a flotation system via the surfaces of bubbles rather than through the aqueous solution to the mineral particles. The concept of aerosol collector addition is not novel, but relatively poorly studied. The few studies that have focused on it have demonstrated that thermodynamically such methods result in a significant improvement in collector adsorption. However, how such a method would perform in the context of fluidized bed flotation is not known. This paper reviews the available literature on the underlying mechanisms of aerosol collector addition in flotation and how it impacts the collector coverage and resulting hydrophobicity of mineral particles. The review is performed in the context of the unique hydrodynamic environment of fluidized bed flotation of coarse particles. The goal of the work is to determine the potential of utilizing aerosol collector addition to further boost the efficacy of coarse particle recovery.

Bubble size measurement is a vital part of flotation system analysis and diagnostics. This work evaluates a commercial camera probe as a novel method for in situ bubble size measurement. This device is compared to the conventional Anglo Platinum Bubble Sizer (Stone Three^TM). It was found that, in laboratory applications, the in situ bubble size analysis technology appears to be a more user-friendly and reliable option for determining bubble size in flotation, whereas the Anglo Platinum Bubble Sizer is more applicable for full scale industrial work. This probe was then used to conduct a rigorous comparison of the behavior of different frother chemistries at a variety of background solution ionic strength conditions. The critical coalescence concentrations and the minimum Sauter mean bubble diameters were determined. Five frothers were compared in terms of their ability to reduce bubble size and sensitivity to salinity. In order to adjust plant recipe and control strategy accordingly, it is recommended that the plant would need to use less frother during periods of the high salinity of process water to achieve the minimum Sauter mean bubble size.

The depletion of mining resources forces the mining industry to process more heterogeneous and complex orebodies. The inherent heterogeneity of these orebodies and their relation to processing recoveries have received considerable interest in recent years. The properties of ores, such as mineral composition and association, are known to affect flotation performance. Even ores with similar compositions can vary significantly regarding their texture, where the same minerals can occur in different forms. Therefore, very careful geometallurgical planning is needed to overcome the recovery losses. Glencore’s Mount Isa Copper Operation has reported historical difficulties decreasing the copper losses associated with natural floatable pyrites. Understanding the rock properties of naturally floatable pyrites and how they relate to chalcopyrite losses is crucial for concentrator operations. The Mount Isa geometallurgy team is looking for proxies for predicting copper losses and natural floatable pyrites to improve mine planning. This paper presents an approach for predicting the collector-less flotation of pyrite, as well as chalcopyrite losses from rock properties. The statistical analysis between the rock quality and ore type gives an indication of the chalcopyrite losses and natural floatable pyrites, which has potential use in geometallurgy plans.