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The Effect of Clay Minerals On The Process of Flotation of Copper Ores. A Critical Review
The Effect of Clay Minerals On The Process of Flotation of Copper Ores. A Critical Review
Review article
A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T
Keywords: The presence of clay leads to low recoveries in the process of flotation of copper ores which is also reflected in a
Clays decrease of the concentrates grades. Due to this, the scientific interest in studying the effect and mechanisms of
Copper action of clay minerals in the flotation process has increased, which has resulted in a better understanding of the
Flotation physicochemical foundations behind. This paper reports a comprehensive bibliographic review in which the
Seawater
mechanisms through which clay minerals cause harmful effects in the flotation process are explained. The main
Rheology
studies reported to date are systematised and classified in five topics in this paper: i) rheology of clayey pulps; ii)
Reagents
specific reagents for dispersing clays; iii) interactions between clays and valuable minerals in saline media; iv)
mechanical entrainment and v) copper oxidation on clay coating. The strategies currently used to improve the
processing of clayey mineral pulps have been insufficient to achieve optimal operational results, so the following
work is intended to promote the development of new technologies that allow improving the performance of
these processes. In this review, research opportunities which consider the use of nanoparticles, based reagents
organic polymers, technologies using seawater inter exposed.
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ricardo.jeldres@uantof.cl (R.I. Jeldres).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2019.01.013
Received 5 July 2018; Received in revised form 15 January 2019; Accepted 20 January 2019
0169-1317/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
modifiers and/or the use of reagents that adsorb on the surfaces of clay
particles thus preventing them to attach to valuable minerals. A dif-
ferent alternative is to lower the pulp solids concentration to obtain low
viscosities and yield stresses. However, this methodology may lead to
reduce metal production. Using physical methods to remove clays be-
fore the flotation stage is another possibility. Recent studies conducted
with coal showed that a high intensity agitation during conditioning
improve the performance when kaolinite is present (Yu et al., 2017a,
2017b). On the other hand, Oats et al. (2010) and Quast et al. (2008)
found that the desliming by hydrocyclones could be more effective than
the addition of dispersants. However, a huge amounts of valuable mi-
neral may be lost with the slimes, so the recommendation is that the
method can only be applied when the quantity of valuable minerals is
negligible. In the case of ultrasonic treatment, Celik et al. (1998) stu-
died showed that for boron flotation in the presence of high con-
centrations of clay minerals ultrasonic pretreatment showed promising
benefits in the lab trials, but they indicate that the application of this
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of clays with structures 1:1 and 2:1; O and T technique at an industrial scale can be challenging when compared to
refer to octahedral and tetrahedral layers, respectively. intense agitation and hydrocyclone desliming.
An additional challenge is to understand the clays interaction in
36 saline environments, like seawater (Uribe et al., 2017; Hernández et al.,
2012, 2015; Ordóñez et al., 2013; Cisternas, 2014; Goñi et al., 2015;
34 Jeldres et al., 2016, 2017a, 2017b; Quezada et al., 2017; Cisternas and
Gálvez, 2018; Costine et al., 2018; Romero et al., 2018). A highly saline
32 environment modifies the inter-surface interactions that govern the
pulp stability, and the impact is mainly reflected by the changes in the
Cu grade, %
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R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
display a non-Newtonian behavior, properties like viscosity and yield 100 100
stress have a significant importance in the hydrodynamics of the pulps,
and consequently in all the physical sub-processes that take place
80 80
Fig. 3. Comparison of the structural networks formed by a) bentonite-ore mixture and b) kaolinite-ore mixture, in flotation pulps (Cruz et al., 2015).
59
R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
100 8
Cumulative copper recovery (%)
7 a)
80
0 2 4 6 8
Cumulative flotation time (min) 1.8
1.6 b)
Fig. 5. Cumulative copper recovery with time, as a function of different quartz/ 1.4
Natural pH 8.7
80 0.4
NaOH pH10
0.2 Lime pH10
0.0 Na2CO3 pH10
60
0 100 200 300
40 -1
Shear rate (s )
Fig. 7. Rheograms of clay suspensions in the presence and absence of pH
pH 4
20 modifiers: a) kaolinite 30%wt; b) bentonite 5% (adapted from Cruz et al.,
pH 6
pH8 2013).
pH 10
0
flotation operations. However, the knowledge that has been generated
can be of great help to propose new guidelines regarding the handling
0 2 4 6 8 of reagents. For example, Goodwin and Hughes (2008) showed the ef-
Cumulative flotation time (min) fect of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTAB), which corre-
sponds to a cationic surfactant, on the rheology of two different sus-
Fig. 6. Cumulative copper recovery with time, as a function of pH, at a 30/70
pensions of kaolinite with a volumetric fraction of 0.02. In both cases,
quartz/kaolinite ration in the gangue phase (adapted from Forbes et al., 2014).
the suspensions without surfactant showed a pseudoplastic behaviour,
with the appearance of yield stress, due to the particles networks gen-
zones to which the experimental assays were performed. For example. erated by interactions between the edges and the faces of the clays.
How do the tests respond to the quartz/clay ratio, but at different pH However, the addition of HDTAB changed the aggregation mechanism
values (beyond pH 8). by increasing the face-face interactions and caused the suspensions to
The complexity of the rheological behaviour is increased when behave under a Newtonian regime. Abu-Jdayil et al. (2016) found that
considering the interaction that arises between clay particles with the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was very effective in modifying the
reagents used in flotation. This aspect has been little explored, although bentonite rheology. The authors found that in the range of concentra-
the selectivity and recovery of minerals could be substantially improved tions close to the critical micelle concentration (cmc), the suspension
if suitable rheology modifiers are selected, as well as dispersants that showed an increase in viscosity and even a certain degree of thixotropy.
can control the clays detrimental effects (Section 2.2). Cruz et al. (2013) However, the addition of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)
showed that the use of different pH modifiers could alter the rheological significantly reduced the viscosity and changed the behaviour from
properties of clay suspensions very differently. The researchers used shear thinning with yield stress to a pure Newtonian fluid. Desai et al.
lime, sodium carbonate, and sodium hydroxide to reach pH 10 in sus- (2010) studied the effect of the surfactant concentration (including
pensions of kaolinite and bentonite. While lime promoted the kaolinite anionic, cationic, and non-ionic) on the viscosity of pyrophyllite sus-
aggregation, sodium carbonate disperses them (Fig. 7a). On the con- pensions. The viscosity, measured at a fixed rate of 60 s−1, depended
trary, sodium carbonate acts as a coagulating agent instead of a dis- fundamentally on the surfactant charge. The authors said that when the
persant for bentonite suspensions, even generating a more significant reagent was anionic (sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate - SDBS) or non-
effect than lime. Sodium hydroxide also induces aggregation in bento- ionic (TX-100), there was an increase in viscosity with respect to their
nite suspensions but is having a minor impact on kaolinite (Fig. 7b). concentration, although the change was much more significant with
While literature offers a wide range of reports that show the effects TX- 100 (see Fig. 8), in fact with SDBS a plateau was reached. While
of surfactants on clay rheology (Güngör, 2000; Abu-Jdayil and with the cationic surfactant (Cetilpiridinium Bromide - CPB) there was
Ghannam, 2014; Abu-Jdayil et al., 2016, Magzoub et al., 2017), un- an increase in viscosity, but after a specific value, this began to de-
fortunately, no systematic studies integrate this behaviour with crease. According to the authors, this was due to the formation of
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R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
the first systematic studies emerged from the work of Seaman et al.
1.5 (2012) who used three polymers (polyacrylate, modified carboxylic
acid, and lignosulfonate-based polymer F-100) to improve the recovery
Viscosity,
of copper and gold ores in Minera Telfer operations, Australia. All the
1.0 dispersants showed positive results, being the biopolymer F-100 who
achieved better recoveries, in particular, the secondary copper sulfide
chalcocite. Unfortunately, the promising results obtained in the la-
0.5 TX-100 (non-ionic)
CPB (cationic)
boratory were not able to replicate in-plant trials, and the main reason
SDBS (anionic) was attributed to the differences in the grinding media. Corrosion-re-
sistant stainless steel grinding media were used in the laboratory, while
0.0
carbon-forged steel media that corrodes quickly when exposed to air
0 2 4 6 8 10 and moisture was used in the plant. This is a critical consideration for
Concentration (mM) flotation efficiency, given that the conditions under which grinding is
carried out, including the type of mill, the gaseous atmosphere, and pH,
Fig. 8. Viscosity of 55 wt% pyrophyllite suspensions at a constant shear rate of
lead to electrochemical behaviours that can significantly modify the
60 s−1, in the presence of TX-100, CPB, and SDBS (Adapted from Desai et al.,
hydrophobicity of the copper minerals (Bruckard et al., 2011). Based on
2010).
the previous observation, Wei et al. (2013) studied the impact of lig-
nosulfonates on a low clay ore and a high clay ore, obtained from un-
bilayers between the molecules of the adsorbed surfactant. They also derground and open pits of Telfer operation, respectively. The analyses
explained that the increase in viscosity produced by the anionic sur- to determine the nature of copper ores indicated that both ores contain
factant, SDBS, could have been caused by the formation of bridges copper associated with oxides, secondary copper minerals, but mainly
between two particles due to the possible presence of calcium ions, primary copper minerals (over 65%). The different grinding media
which would be released by the clay. Unfortunately, the authors for- demonstrated the enormous influence of comminution stage. For ex-
mulated their explanations considering different concentration ranges ample, Fig. 10a shows the results obtained by using a mild steel
for each surfactant. For example, the non-ionic reagent TX-100 was medium, where there was no improvement in copper and gold recovery
analysed regarding the range 0–2 mM approx, but what would have after applying the dispersing reagents (F-100). The explanation was
happened if the concentration reached the same value that was reached that the steel medium produces large amounts of oxidised iron, which
with the cationic reagent CPB (0–10 mM)? For this reason, we believe depresses valuable minerals independent of the presence of dispersants.
that the explanations proposed by the researchers should be re-ana- On the contrary, when using a stainless steel medium, the products of
lysed. iron oxidation are minimised, facilitating the activity of the clay dis-
Undoubtedly, a deeper understanding of this matter is necessary for persant. The radical contrast in the performance of the biopolymer is
the application in flotation operations, where industrial waters usually evidenced in Fig. 10b, where the floatability of copper, gold and mass is
have significant levels of hardness, and the primary reagent to modify shown as a function of the water recovery after grinding in a stainless
the pH is lime (CaO). steel medium. After the application of 100 g/t of F-100, the copper
In general terms, the effect caused by surfactants on rheology is recovery increased by 7% while that of gold by 20%.
diverse and in some cases difficult to understand. These could cause the Important work was recently published by Wang et al. (2016). The
system to acquire a Newtonian behaviour, while in other cases a sub- researchers considered an aspect that had not been reported in the
stantial rheology increase appear. However, this not only depends on literature, where they quantified the surfactant properties of some
the surfactant characteristics, but also of the nature of the clays and on dispersants, especially when they interact with the frother. For this
the medium conditions. study, three lignosulfonate-based polymers (DP1775, DP1777, and
Section 2.2 delves in one of the leading strategies to face the clays, DP1778) were analysed for the flotation of copper minerals with the
which is using polymeric reagents that can coat their surfaces. Although presence of kaolinite. The three polymers improved the copper recovery
this technique has been useful, few studies have examined the results and in turn decreased its grade, with a tendency that was strongly de-
caused by the polymer addition on the pulp rheology. Amarasinghe and pendent on its structural characteristics such as the content of func-
Abelev (2015) found that small doses of guar gum significantly in- tional groups, molecular weight, and type of counterion. However, one
creases the viscosity of clay suspensions, although the effect was much of the main conclusions was that the surface activity of the biopolymers
higher in suspensions of montmorillonite compared to that obtained could play a preponderant role on their performance, mainly when they
with kaolinite (see Fig. 9). interact with the frother since essential changes in the froth properties
can be generated, with consequences in the mechanical entrainment.
2.2. Specific reagents for clays For example, in Fig. 11a, is observed that the froth height has little
sensitivity to the frother (DSF004) and the biopolymer DP-1777 dosage,
A strategy used to counteract the damaging effects of clays is but in the case of the biopolymers DP-1775 and DP-1778, the behaviour
through the use of specific reagents, which exert a dispersing role be- was different since there was a gradual growth of the froth height. On
tween the clay and the valuable minerals. These reagents usually cor- the other hand, Wang et al. showed the synergistic effect that can arise
respond to polysaccharides (e.g., carboxymethylcellulose, guar gum, when mixing a biopolymer with a frother. For this, 10 ppm DSF004 was
etc.) that can adsorb onto the particle surface, creating electrostatic applied, and the biopolymer dosages varied. The results, presented in
and/or steric repulsions that stabilise the suspension (Pawlik et al., Fig. 11b, showed that the joint action of the reagents could cause more
2003). One of the first studies reported dates back at the beginning of intense changes than when they act separately. This synergy was very
the 80s, when Edwards et al. (1980) proposed the use carbox- easy to detect in the biopolymers DP-1775 and DP-1778.
ymethylcellulose (CMC) to improve the recovery of pentlandite, after An issue of great interest is to identify how these reagents behave
reducing the effects caused by the serpentine sludge. Since then, the when operating at different types of waters, especially those with high
61
R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
2.2 2.2
Apparent Bingham viscosity [mPas]
1.8 1.8
1.6 1.6
1.4 1.4
1 g/L 1 g/L
1.2 3 g/L
1.2 3 g/L
5 g/L 5 g/L
1.0 1.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Total guar gum content [g/L] Total guar gum content [g/L]
Fig. 9. Bingham apparent viscosity as a function of the guar gum and clay mineral content: a) montmorillonite, b) kaolinite (adapted from Amarasinghe and Abelev,
2015).
salinities. Unfortunately no studies were found to evaluate copper mi- increased markedly (Fig. 12), but as stated above, the carbon recovery
nerals; however, it is worth mentioning the work of Liu and Peng decreased for all range of dosages. The authors indicated that low
(2015), who assessed the flotation of coal minerals with high clay polymer dosages would not be enough to generate a steric repulsion.
content, both in freshwater and in saline water (processed water). The Meanwhile, increasing the doses would expect steric repulsion among
dispersing agent (lignosulfonate) showed results that much depending the minerals, but the carbon surface begins to lose hydrophobicity
on its dosage and the medium conditions, moreover, the only case which directly affects its floatability.
where the biopolymer showed good results was when it was applied in Recently, Ramirez et al. (2018) published results on the interactions
small doses (< 100 g/ton) in deionised water. For example, the addi- between chalcopyrite and kaolinites of different crystallinity, over the
tion of 50 g/ton of lignosulfonate increased carbon recovery from 45% pH range from 7 to 12, in both fresh and seawater. The effect of the
to 63%; but when 200 g/ton was applied, the recovery fell to 26%. dispersants, sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) and sodium silicate
However, when using industrial water, the beneficial effect of lig- (SS), was evaluated in this work. It is shown that both tested dispersants
nosulfonate was not observed, in fact, the coal recovery decreased to all are able to restore the chalcopyrite flotation in the presence of kaolinite
the dosages used. The researchers correlated the behaviour with in- in seawater over the pH range from7 to 11. These authors also report a
terfacial studies that allowed to establish the mechanisms by which better effect when a poorly-crystallized kaolinite was used, which was
these reagents act. Then, measurements of adsorption isotherms the one that caused the stronger depressing effect.
showed that the affinity of lignosulfonate with the surfaces of kaolinite Another type of reagents are the so-called ‘clay binders’, developed
and carbon depends fundamentally on the type of water employed by Giorgia Pacific (Tao et al., 2007). The goal is that the reagent can
(Fig. 12). The proposed explanation was that in the deionised water adhere to the clay surfaces and promote their agglomeration to act as
there is minimal adsorption of the dispersant onto the clay mineral, but depressants. Tao et al. (2010) showed the performance after using them
it can adhere onto the carbon surface generating a better electrostatic in phosphate flotation, whose pulp had high contents of insoluble clays.
repulsion between the minerals. This reduces the heterocoagulation, The results were very interesting, where the use of the reagent im-
improving the coal recovery. A subsequent increase in the lig- proved the recovery between 5 and 7%, under a fixed grade of con-
nosulfonate dosage is counterproductive since it continues to adhere to centrate. At first glance, it is appreciated that the clay binder made the
the valuable mineral surface, giving it a higher hydrophilic character flotation faster, in fact, Tao et al. determined that the reagent increase
that reduces its floatability. In saline water, the situation was different the flotation rate by 17.1% (this when fitting a first-order flotation
where the lignosulfonate adsorption on the surfaces of both minerals model).
100 100
Mass recovery with F-100 Mass recovery with F-100
Copper recovery with F-100
a) b)
Copper recovery with F-100
Cumulative recovery (%)
40 40
20 20
0 0
5 10 15 20 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Water recovery (%) Water recovery (%)
Fig. 10. Cumulative gold, copper, and mass recovery, as a function water recovery in the flotation of a high clay ore with F-100 dispersant and without dispersant
after grinding with a) mild steel and b) stainless steel (adapted from Wei et al., 2013). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)
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R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
Fig. 11. Froth height in steady state, as a function of the frother or biopolymer concentration: (a) pure reagent; (b) biopolymer mixed with 10 ppm of frother (Wang
et al., 2016).
4 also been used for coal and potash flotation (Tao et al., 2007, 2010).
Polymer adsorbed/Substrate (mg/g)
LS on kaolinite in deionized water This is interesting since the efficiency is fundamentally determined by
LS on kaolinite in saline water the physicochemical properties of the polymer, such as the molar ratio
LS on pure coal in deionized water between formaldehyde-urea, the addition of functional groups, the
3 LS on pure coal in saline water
degree of functionalization, the molecular weight, and the cross-linking
density. The mechanism with which these polymers act is very well
exemplified in Fig. 13. The first phenomenon that happens is the
polymer adhesion onto the clay surface, which occurs mainly by dipole-
2
dipole interactions and strong hydrogen bonds. After its addition, two
significant consequences arise: first, there are fewer available spaces on
the clay surface for the collectors to deposit, which are used to cover the
1 valuable mineral. Moreover, these hydrophilic polymers have a floc-
culating effect, which promotes the clay aggregation and depression,
decreasing the number of them that adheres to the valuable mineral
and/or bubbles.
0
0 100 200 300 400 500
2.3. Clays behaviour in flotation with saline water
Lignosulfonate concentration (mg/L)
Fig. 12. Adsorption isotherms of lignosulfonate in kaolinite and pure carbon in Clays are active from the physicochemical point of view. The che-
deionised water and saline water at pH 8.5 (adapted from Liu and Peng, 2015). mical reactivity is related to the internal and stoichiometric structure
and is a consequence of the small particle size and its predominantly
laminar morphology, which give a high surface area. Likewise, the
external and internal surface charges attract ions and water molecules,
giving rise to significant desorption characteristics and cation exchange
capacity.
In particular, it has been proposed that the phenomena of hetero-
coagulation are the primary responsible for affecting the flotation
performance. This refers to the generation of a hydrophilic coating
formed by a layer of fine particles that adhere to the surface of the
valuable mineral, preventing the interaction with the bubbles and/or
with the collector. Due to the anisotropic characteristics, clay coatings
can occur in positively or negatively charged minerals (Peng and Zhao,
2011), and different researchers argue that the formation of this coating
is due to electrostatic attractions. For example, in the case of minerals
like chalcopyrite and chalcocite has been reported that their interaction
with kaolinite is due to an attraction between the negative charges of
the clay and the positive charges of the sulfide mineral (Gan and Liu,
2008; Peng and Zhao, 2011; Farrokhpay and Zanin, 2012). However,
the occurrence of chemical interactions between the species is not ruled
out, and the pH and the presence of soluble ions influence this coating
Fig. 13. A mechanism in which binders interact with clay particles (Tao et al., to a greater or lesser extent (Liu et al., 2002; Holuszko et al., 2008;
2010). Gupta and Miller, 2010; Peng and Zhao, 2011; Zhao and Peng, 2012).
On the other hand, the adsorption of metal ions depends strongly on the
The clay binders correspond to low molecular weight polymers that hydrolysis capacity of the cations. Studies carried out by Gan and Liu
arise from the condensation of urea and formaldehyde. An advantage (2008) showed that the presence of multivalent ions (Ca2+, Mg2+,
mentioned by the researchers is that the polymer properties can be Fe3+) generated a high heterocoagulation between kaolinite and bi-
adapted depending on the desired application, that is, they might pre- tumen, due to a decrease in the magnitude of the zeta potential and an
pare reagents that work for copper ores, in fact, the clay binders have increase in cation adsorption metallic on both minerals. Mpofu et al.
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R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
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R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
Different studies have analysed the influence of the mill type and
grinding media on the sulphide ores flotation (Heyes and Trahar, 1977;
Gardner and Woods, 1979; Adam et al., 1984; Yelloji Rao and
Natarajan, 1990; Peng et al., 2003). Mild oxidation results in a surface
that is rich in polysulfides with some metal hydroxides, mainly due to
Fig. 16. Gold and copper recoveries, depending on the silica content in rougher the dissolution of metal ions from the surface and near-surface layers, as
and cleaner flotation concentrates. Molecular weight of PEO 8 × 106 (Gong observed in air, acidic and alkaline conditions. Peng and Zhao (2011)
et al., 2010). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, found that the oxidation of chalcopyrite and chalcocite had a different
the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) effect on their interaction with bentonite. Under normal grinding and
flotation conditions, chalcopyrite displayed good floatability reaching
91% recovery at the completion of 8 min, meanwhile, the chalcocite
presented at lower recovery corresponding to 75% at the same flotation
time. When bentonite was added, both minerals reduced their re-
coveries; however, the decrease was much more significant with chal-
cocite (Fig. 14). The results were attributed to the strong surface oxi-
dation that takes place in the chalcocite surface, which is
electrostatically attractive to bentonite resulting in bentonite slime
coating. The results were complemented with zeta potential measure-
ments, where at pH 9.0 a slightly oxidised chalcopyrite is electro-
statically repulsed from bentonite, while oxidised chalcocite is strongly
attracted to bentonite (Fig. 19).The argument was then confirmed by
EDTA extraction and XPS analysis (Zhao and Peng, 2012). In the EDS
analysis, Si and Al signals from bentonite were detected on the ran-
domly chosen chalcocite particle. Meanwhile, in the case of chalco-
pyrite, the signals from bentonite were not detected, confirming that
bentonite particles coated the chalcocite but not the chalcopyrite sur-
face (Fig. 20). Recently, Zhao et al. (2017) showed through electro-
Fig. 17. Recovery of Q38 kaolinite as a function of water recovery, in the chemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) the way in which electrolytes
presence and absence of PEO, using fresh water (Liu and Peng, 2014). reduce the kaolinite coating on chalcocite minerals. Interestingly, the
authors found that the ability of the ions to mitigate the coating effect is
related to the Hoffmeister series since larger ions reduce more the slime
coating than smaller ions.
Few studies have reported to date which consider the effect of
other researchers (Trahar, 1981). Under the PEO addition, lower kao-
linite entrainment was achieved in both media, while in a PEO-free
medium, a 30% of kaolinite was obtained in fresh water and 36% in
Fig. 19. Zeta potentials of chalcopyrite and chalcocite after grinding, and zeta
saline water. Consistent with what we have seen, the presence of
potentials of bentonite (Peng and Zhao, 2011).
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R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
3.1. Nanoparticles
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R.I. Jeldres et al. Applied Clay Science 170 (2019) 57–69
However, in the vast majority of cases, the studies have been conducted that in most cases involve extra costs for the process, or even sacrifice
only on a laboratory scale and have not faced the challenges involved in part of the production or product quality. For this reason, the invitation
the industry. A good example is a study conducted by Seaman et al. is for researchers to address this issue and include modern and un-
(2012), who found that lignosulfonate reagents might significantly conventional techniques in their researches that can transcend beyond
improve the copper and gold recoveries in the presence of clays, but the limited improvements that can be obtained by optimising tradi-
when tests were conducted in Minera Telfer, Australia, the results did tional methods. Attractive alternatives for exploration include the use
not show the same efficacy than in the laboratory. The reason was that of nanoparticles, and new organic reagents. Reagent selection meth-
a significant variable like the grinding type was not considered in the odologies should also be expanded to understand the rheological im-
study. Logically, this was not a positive result but generated a new plications that this entails, and of course, the suggestion is that the new
matter of study. In the same way, all the potential benefits of new findings obtained at the laboratory scale must be submitted to the
strategies like the use of nanoparticles, organic reagents, new rheolo- challenges involved in industrial scaling.
gical modifiers, pretreated seawater, etc., should offer their industrial
validation. Acknowledgement
4. Summary The authors are grateful for the financial support of CONICYT PIA
ACM 170005. RIJ thanks CONICYT Fondecyt n° 11171036. R.I.J. and
When mineral deposits present high clay contents, significant L.G. thank the support of Centro CRHIAM through Project Conicyt/
challenges for flotation operations appear. The pulps tend to behave Fondap/15130015.
like non-Newtonian fluids and properties such as viscosity and yield
stress begin to have a preponderant role in the hydrodynamics of the References
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