In this study, ethylene diamine phosphate (EDP) was employed as an activator to improve the sulfidization and flotation of chrysocolla. The micro-flotation experiment results indicated that EDP could greatly increase the flotation recovery of chrysocolla. BET and TEM measurements confirmed that the porous structure of the chrysocolla’s surface would lead to large amounts of the reagents. ICP-AES analysis revealed that the addition of EDP caused more active Cu sites formed on the chrysocolla’s surface, enhancing the adsorption of S²⁻ on its surface. Meanwhile, a redox reaction occurred between the S²⁻ and [Cu(en)₂]²⁺ ions causing the Cu, S, and N in the solution to counter-adsorb onto the chrysocolla’s surface by forming new complexes. During this reaction, the Cu(II) species reduced to Cu(I) species and the sulfide ions in the form of S²⁻, S₂²⁻, S_n²⁻, and SO₄²⁻ appeared on the mineral surface. The zeta potential measurements further revealed that the EDP-activated chrysocolla surfaces adsorbed more sulfide species and xanthate species, thereby improving the floatability of the chrysocolla.

As a common depressant, acidified water glass (AWG) has strong inhibitory effects on fluorite and calcite. The inhibited fluorite is difficult to be recovered, thus resulting in the waste of resources and low flotation efficiency. In this study, the interaction of fluoride ions with fluorite and calcite surfaces was investigated, and its effects of AWG adsorption on mineral surfaces were evaluated. Micro-flotation experiments indicated that the flotation recovery of fluorite is 88.72% after fluoride ion treatment, that is, approximately fourfold with respect to that without fluoride ion modification. The results of solution chemical calculations showed that SiO(OH)₃⁻ is the main component to inhibit fluorite, and Si(OH)₄ is the main component to inhibit calcite in AWG solution. XPS and ICP-MS results showed that fluoride ions can improve the floatability of fluorite by converting CaSiO₃ on the surface of fluorite into CaF₂, but the conversion ability of Si(OH)₄ on the surface of calcite is weak, which increases the difference in floatability between fluorite and calcite. The above results were further verified by the analysis of flotation foam image and contact angle measurement. After fluorine ion treatment, the contact angle of fluorite increased, and it was more easily adsorbed on the foam. Therefore, the interaction of the fluoride ion with the fluorite surfaces eliminated the adsorption of AWG on fluorite, thereby resulting in the enhanced hydrophobicity of fluorite. Different from the traditional metal ions modification, the idea of anion modification in this paper is expected to be further studied.

Titanium-bearing electric furnace slag (TEFS) was prepared from vanadium titanomagnetite and leached with sulfuric acid. The Ti leaching rate of vanadium titanomagnetite TEFS is significantly lower than that of ilmenite TEFS. The impurity content in vanadium titanomagnetite TEFS is higher than that in ilmenite TEFS. This might be one of the main factors resulting in the low leaching rate of Ti, so the leaching behaviors of various impurities under different conditions (temperature, acid/solid weight ratio, particle size, and initial sulfuric acid concentration) were investigated. The following trends were observed under different leaching conditions: The leaching rate of Fe increased rapidly and reached equilibrium quickly, that of Si increased quickly in the early stage and then decreased in the later stage, that of Ca increased initially and reached equilibrium later, and the leaching rates of Mg and Al increased gradually until the equilibrium was reached. The leaching rate of Fe was too rapid to be able to investigate its leaching kinetics, and the insoluble leached products of Si and Ca interfered with their leaching. The effects of leaching parameters on the leaching of impurities were further analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy analysis. XRD data indicated that spinel is the major Mg- and Al-bearing mineral in TEFS. Mg and Al showed similar leaching behaviors, and their leaching conformed to a new model based on interface transfer and diffusion across the product layer, both of which affect the leaching rate.

The flotation separation of fluorite and calcite poses one of the most difficult problems in the mineral processing industry. In particular, the surface homogenization of fluorite and calcite worsens the result of fluorite flotation. In this paper, time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry...

Grinding is an important link in the process of mineral processing. It plays a vital role in mineral processing by optimizing the grinding process, improving the quality of grinding products and ensuring the follow-up operation indicators. In this paper, the Python language, intelligent theoretical control technology and mineral processing were combined to solve the problem of ore feeding control in mineral processing. Using error factor analysis, an extended control algorithm was designed. The NumPy library and data collected from the Yuan YangMou concentrator in China were used to quantitatively analyze the factors affecting the error of electronic belt scales. This paper introduces the use of Kalman filtering for electronic belt scale weight data to reduce the effect of noise and hence reduce errors. The factors affecting the process of mill feeding are also analyzed. The core ideas and methods of fuzzy control theory are summarized, and a Python-based fuzzy controller suitable for the mill feeding process that improves the overall robustness and accuracy of feeding system is implemented.