The beneficiation of cassiterite fines from a tailing slime in the Datun concentration plant was studied through a froth flotation process, with the chemical scheme of benzohydroxamic acid as collector, lead nitrate as activator, and pine oil as frother. It was found that tin values are mainly contained in the fine fraction of the sample and cassiterite is mostly associated with iron minerals and calcium minerals, so that the desliming treatment and the addition of dispersants and depressants can not be used as it generally results in the undesired loss of tin values. A novel flotation process with no dispersant and depressant as well as no desliming was developed. It showed that this process was effective in recovering the tin values from the tailing slime assaying 0.18% Sn, and produced a concentrate assaying 3.5% Sn with the recovery of 74.16%. It has been found that pine oil played a significant role in improving the recovery for tin values.

The adsorption of Cu species onto pyrite surface and its effect on flotation were investigated by using microflotation tests, first-principle calculations, and XPS surface analysis. The results indicated that the flotation of pyrite appears to be activated with CuSO₄only at alkaline pH, while being depressed at acidic and neutral pH. The adsorption of copper ions on pyrite surface was pH-dependent, and the adsorption magnitude of copper ions at alkaline pH is higher than that at acidic and neutral pH due to a strong interaction between O atom in Cu(OH)₂and surface Fe atom except for the interaction between Cu atom and surface S atom. At acidic and neutral pH, there is only an interaction between Cu atom and surface S atom. The adsorption was relatively weak, and more copper ions in solution precipitated the collector and depressed the flotation of pyrite. XPS analysis confirmed that more copper ionic species (Cu(I) and Cu(II)) are adsorbed on the pyrite surface at alkaline pH than that at acidic and neutral pH.

In this paper, the effect of pyrite on the activation of sphalerite was investigated by micro-flotation, copper adsorption experiments, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electrochemical measurement. The micro-flotation test results showed that the recovery and flotation rate of sphalerite with copper sulphate as activator and butyl xanthate as collector were significantly decreased with the increasing content of pyrite in pulp. Cu²⁺ adsorption results indicated that the adsorption of Cu²⁺ on the sphalerite surface were decreased when pyrite was present in the pulp. XPS surface analysis demonstrated that the proportion of Cu⁺ species increased in the activation products on the sphalerite surface, but the total atomic concentration of Cu atom was decreased. Linear voltammetry measurement suggested that the current density of Cu⁺ species oxidizing to Cu²⁺ species was increased when sphalerite was electrically contacted with pyrite, which confirmed the increased proportion of Cu⁺ species on Cu-activation sphalerite surface when contacting with pyrite. These results indicated that there is not only a competitive adsorption for cupric ions (Cu²⁺), but the galvanic interaction between sphalerite and pyrite also has a significant influence on the copper activation of sphalerite.

High gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) achieves effective separation to fine weakly magnetic minerals using numerous small magnetic wires in matrix, and its separation performance is inherently dependent on the capture characteristics of the wires. In this work, the selective capture of magnetic wire to particles in high gradient magnetic field was theoretically described and simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics. It was found that the capture trajectories of a small amount of particles under the ideal condition was significantly different from those of a large amount of particles under the actual condition, and non-magnetic particles would be much more easily entrained into magnetic deposits captured onto the wire surface under the actual condition than those under the ideal condition. These theoretical and simulated results were basically validated with the experimental magnetic capture to an ilmenite ore, and the wires in slow feed mode have achieved much higher capture selectivity than those in the fast feed mode. For instance, at the magnetic induction of 0.8 T, the TiO₂ grade of magnetic deposits captured by 3 mm diameter wire in the slow feed model reached 36.78%, which is higher than 28.32% in the fast feed model. The selective capture difference between the fast and slow feed models increased with increase in the magnetic induction and with decrease in the pulsating frequency. This investigation contributes to improve HGMS performance in concentrating fine weakly magnetic ores.

Most hydrophobic clay minerals, such as clinochlore, are known to cause problems in the recovery of cassiterite. In this study, a new reagent scheme, i.e., sodium oleate (NaOL) as a collector and Al (III) ions as a depressant, for reverse flotation separation of cassiterite and clinochlore was investigated. The flotation performance and interaction mechanism were studied by microflotation tests, adsorption tests, contact angle measurements, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Results of single mineral flotation experiments showed that NaOL had a different flotation performance on cassiterite and clinochlore, and the addition of Al (III) ions could selectively inhibit the floatability of cassiterite. Reverse flotation tests performed on mixed minerals indicated that the separation of cassiterite and clinochlore could be achieved in the presence of NaOL and Al (III) ions. Adsorption experiments demonstrated that Al (III) ions hindered the adsorption of NaOL on cassiterite surfaces but exerted little influence on the adsorption of NaOL on clinochlore surfaces. Results of contact angle measurements indicated that Al (III) ions could impede the hydrophobization process of cassiterite in NaOL solution. XPS results showed that aluminum species were adsorbed onto the cassiterite surfaces through the interaction with O sites.