Author 1:
Name & Surname: Bobrakova A. A.
Company: RIVS Science and Production Association (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Work Position: Process Engineer
Contacts: e-mail: rivs@rivs.ru

Author 2:
Name & Surname: Kuptsova A. V.
Company: RIVS Science and Production Association (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Work Position: Mineralogist

Author 3:
Name & Surname: Aleksandrova T. N.
Company: National Mineral Resources University (University of Mines) (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
Work Position: Head of Chair
Scientific Degree: Doctor of Engineering Sciences

The main source of molybdenum is porphyry copper. In case of mono-molybdenum systems, their processing profitability, even considering relatively high molybdenum content, is extremely low and totally depends on the market-determined prices of molybdenum. As a matter of fact, there is a single way out of this situation, namely, production of concentrates with silicate and aluminum silicate composition. The previously developed processing technology for Yuzhno-Shameisky molybdenum deposit is aimed at comprehensive utilization of natural mineral and production of additional commodities—feldspar, mica or quartz concentrates. One of the methods of improving the qualitative and quantitative performance of the dressing technology is enhancement of the reagent conditions in the mica circuit, by means of optimization of flotation parameters for dark-colored minerals (dark-colored flotation). Aided with the X-ray phase analysis, the contribution of each mineral to the total recovery of iron in the dark-colored flotation froth has been studied, involving different collecting agents, their varied consumption and pH values. This approach to flotation of nonsulphide mineral improves the quality of the resultant muscovite mica concentrate. Namely, adjustment of pH value (to 0.8) favors to flotation of iron-bearing minerals (amphiboles, achmatite, biotite) while the fitted consumption of tall oil soap allows reducing the loss of the valued mineral (muscovite mica) with the dark-colored flotation froth. As consistent with the plant practice, the optimization of the muscovite mica flotation parameters in the closed cycle with scavenging circuits doubles the output of the marketable mica concentrate with the muscovite mica content not less than 80%.

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