Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia:

K. E. Ananenko, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences
A. A. Kondratyeva, Senior Lecturer, ankondratieva@mail.ru

Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Krasnoyarsk, Russia:
A. V. Zashikhin, Researcher, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

Refinement of rough gold concentrates is the final and one of the most signifi cative stages of placer gold recovery. First, the refinement flow charts use standard processing equipment: jig washers, concentration tables and centrifuge machines. The final stage of refinement may employ magnetic fluid separators in combination with the preparatory magnetic separation, and various cradles. Gold loss in refinement can reach high values – 10% and above. In connection with this, it is urgent and important to improve gold recovery efficiency at the stage of refinement of rough god concentrates. The current approach to cleaning circuit design is based on the use of mineral processing machines separation performance of which is characterized by such indexes as density or size of particles. When gold recovery circuits are designed, simplified separation characteristics are chosen; these characteristics satisfactorily model gold recovery though disregard the behavior of smaller density grains, in particular, aggregates of gold and primary concentrate minerals. Aiming at more appropriate uncomplicated model, it is suggested to use a set of separation characteristics for gold and for primary concentrate minerals, and the latter in this case will model the behavior of gold aggregates as well. The article describes the research findings on separation characteristics for mineral with the comparable density to primary concentrate minerals – ferrosilicium. The research involved centrifuge concentrators Itomak KN-0.1 and Falcon L40 and centrifuge jig washer Kelsey J200. The results make it possible to define the recovery index for mineral of certain specific weight given the known grain-size composition of the valuable component.

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