At present time, many operations related to extraction of precious metals, face the necessity to separate blends, consisting of metallic and mineral particles, without use of water. As distinguished from the gravity concentration technologies, commonly used at the present day, the technology developed by the author permits to separate blends into components that differ not only in density and geometrical parameters, but also in a number of physical properties, such as friction coefficient and impact recovery factor in interaction with chosen surface material. In the first place, the proposed technology provides for preliminary aerodynamic separation of blend into three flows: concentrate, middling and tailings. At this stage, non-uniform acceleration is induced to each individual particle, being initiated by dynamic pressure of laminar air flow. Middling flow bumps against profiled surface, and particles of different components, depending on the above mentioned physical properties, bounce from surface under different angles into different directions, thus providing for additional separation. The experiments, performed by the author, provided for effective aerodynamic separation of fayalite and quartz, magnetite and quartz, lead and tantalum. In separation of components differing in density greater than three-fold, hundred-percent separation was provided without formation of middling. In its turn, impact separation permitted to decrease circulating load on aerodynamic separator by 37.5 %.

1. Pat. 102312 Russian Federation, IPC⁸ B 07 B 7/04.
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