• In Mineral Processing ore is physically processed into two products:

 a concentrate (enriched portion) containing most of the ore minerals, and

 a tailing (discard) containing the bulk of the gangue minerals.

• There are two main functions of a mineral processing technology:

1 equal liberation of valuable minerals from gangue minerals by Size Reduction Technologies

2 separation of these valuable minerals from gangue, called concentrate by Concentration

Technologies.
Mineral Processing Unit Operations
 Mineral Processing-II
(Separation Techniques)
• Separation or concentration is the 2nd major steps in the mineral processing
technology, in which liberated minerals (valuable and gangue) are separated from each
other others.

• Separation techniques use different physical characteristics of the valuable and non
valuable part for their separation.

• There are various physical methods for a particular ore beneficiation, depending on the
physical characteristics of valuable and gangue minerals, such as, color, specific gravity,
density, electrical, magnetic and other surface properties of minerals.
 Separation Techniques
(Selection Criteria)
• Two parameters have to be determined in any separation
process:
Recovery. This is the percentage of the metal recovered in the
concentrate.

Grade. This is the metal content of the concentrate expressed in

percent.
• There is an inverse relationship between recovery and grade. To
obtain a high grade concentrate, a larger quantity of the metal
will be lost in the tailings, hence the recovery will be low. A 100%
recovery is only possible when the ore is not concentrated.
 Separation Techniques
(Based on Mesh of Liberation)
• Separation or Concentration technique for an ore is selected on the basis of:

• Mesh of liberation of Ore : Liberation Size of Minerals and Gangue Particles of Ore, and

• Mineralogy of Ore: Physical Characteristics of Minerals and Gangue Particles of Ore

 Separation Techniques
(Based on Mesh of Liberation)
• Fig. indicates that how the mesh of liberation play a vital role in the selection of separation
method for iron ore
Separation Techniques
Gold Panning Gold Wash Plant

Small Sluice Box

Flocculation and Dispersion
Magnetic Separation
Electrostatic Separation
Froth Flotation