In the Sivas-Divriği Iron Ore Concentrator, 600,000 t of tailings are discarded annually. There are already 1 million t of tailings deposited in ponds from the previous production activities. The presence of Co, Ni, and Cu in the tailings makes the beneficiation of those tailings attractive. In the experimental work, sulphide concentrates were produced from these two types of tailings by flotation. Under optimum flotation conditions, a bulk sulphide concentrate assaying 0.376% Co, 0.721% Ni, and 0.403% Cu was obtained with 83.1% Co, 57.7% Ni, and 59.0% Cu recoveries from the old tailings. On the other hand, another concentrate containing 0.384% Co, 0.687% Ni, and 0.393% Cu was produced under the same flotation conditions with 94.7% Co, 84.6% Ni, and 76.8% Cu recoveries from the new process tailings.

The effects of ultrasonic pretreatment and surface active reagents to improve the efficiency of fine coal dewatering in high frequency vibrating screen have been carried out. The results showed that hydrophobic surface active reagents increased the contact angle and decreased surface tension of the solution reducing the moisture content of fine coal particles. Polyethylene glycol 400 monooleate (PEG-400) was found to be the most effective reagent. Furthermore, when ultrasonic pretreatment was introduced to the fine coal slurry, the residual total moisture content of the fine coal was further decreased.

Kirka Boron Inc., which is the largest boron processing plant in Turkey, produces tincal from the run of mine ore and sodium penta borax in the same complex. However, the deficiency of the tailings ponds causes significant problems, since approximately 75 % of the current pond volume is filled with waste water, which consists 3 g/L boron. The boron content of this water should be decreased for its usage in the plant again, meanwhile about concentration of 3 g/L boron creates an environmental risk. In this study, the boron in the effluents of the Kirka Boron Inc. was precipitated using Ca(OH)2 and Al2SO4. The effects of several parameters such as Ca(OH)2 dosage, initial pH, agitation duration, and settling duration were investigated. It was found that, the precipitation was strongly related to the Ca2+ concentration. Therefore, when the initial pH was proceeded towards acidic values, boron precipitation was increased. In conclusion, 97 % of the boron could be precipitated from the solution by two stages and a precipitate assaying 38 % B2O3 was obtained.

The conventional flowsheet of coal washing plants includes sequential units where different coal size fractions are washed. Generally, coal washeries include dense medium vessels/drums and cylones for coarse and intermediate sizes as well as spirals and flotation units for fine/ultrafine fractions. Three product-dense medium cyclones (TPDMC) may replace the traditional flowsheet, enabling coals of a wide size range to be treated at once. TPDMC is widely used in the world, particularly in China, and has many potential advantages, yet there is limited data about its performance and simulation. In this study, the performance of a 70 t/h feed capacity TPDMC used for hard coal washing was investigated and its separation behavior was simulated using two different dense medium separation models. Test results revealed that the separation performance of TPDMC was efficient, yet different geometric designs might be required for the treatment of various coal types.