Mineral Processing 561 Section 1 ‘When the grade ofthe ores low some preliminary gravity concentration ofthe economic minora may be used to eliminate some ofthe associated gangie prior to mineralogical ‘examination. Laboratory methods for such preliminary separations include the Hata Stperpanner and sink ad float. The methods of minerlogical examination ae as follows |. Examination of large pieces of oe after washing andr custng antrough polishing “Microscopic examination of cu and polished or thin sections using elected, incident ot transmited light Image analysis for measurement of percent mineral (grain counting), or particle size distribution 4. Scanning electea microscope to deter rmincrl identification distribution of mineral phases and Electon probe micro analysis for mineral identification. Microscopic examination of test or mil products detaileby statistical microscopic counts re, together with te usual chemical analysis essential fora metallurgical improvement in the coarse of beneficiation of a complex or, ‘An important faction of mineralogical assessment isthe determination ofthe Degree of Liberation of the desived mineral, Ue aia ofthe mineral dressing enginceris always (0 produce the largest amount offre, non-intrlocked particles from the feed material, with the {coniomic aspects also taken into consideration. The engineer can obtain indications onthe «eat of the grinding process from the ore microscopy stuies~ Size of Liberation can be deternined fom the degree of liberation and degree of intersrowth, ln most cases, by using polished sections of ore samples the size of liberation can only be estimated. A tore accurate determination ofthe sizeof liberation can only be obtained by ‘rushing average samples witha certain maximum gran size and determining the degree of Tieration ofthe grains inte crushed materi LIBERATION (One ofthe prime purposes of crushing and grinding of an ore is to liberate ome mineral fom ‘mother, This may be necessary forthe fllowing reasons =Section 1 Mineral Processing 561 |. Liberate the economic mineral from its gangue Liberate asociated economic minerals from each other 3, Expose a mineral Teaching or resting agents Particles of ore consisting ofa single mineral phase are termed Free particles wile those ‘consisting of two or more phases are termed Locked particles (or Composites, Middlings. ‘The Degree of Liberation f, of certain mineral is defined as = £ quantity of mineralas fee partite x 100 {oval quantity of mineral present in the sample | Upon crashing or grinding (collecsvely known as Comminution) a mineral may be liberated by 8) DETACHMENT b) SIZE REDUCLION Liberation by Detachment This oscurs when the bond between adjacent minetals is weaker than the bonds within either ‘mineral. In this ease, fracture ean accu preferentially atthe grain boundaries and complete Tieration should result, Liberation by Size Reduction In this type of liberation, although size reduction does nt reslt in grain boundary fracture, it restriets the ogcurrence of locked particles 1o a relatively smal portion ofthe original and the result practically equivalent to freing ofthe minerals For the following descriptions the tems particle size refers tothe results of eomminution and tain size refers to the size ofthe mineral phases wii. the original rock,Mineral Processing 561 Section 1 Crushing tock to produce a particle size equivalent tothe grain size ofthe mineral does not To illustrate this Gaudin considers an ore sample consisting of 1mm as shown below Scheraterpesenation of iteraton by superposition of nang ice oer grin ate (au 1939) the rock is erushed to Smm particles some ofthe gains would be feed but composite particles would also be present, MINERALS OF EQUAL ABUNDANCE For evenly dispersed minerals the three dimensional iberation is 18/144 or 1/8 f minerals combined 1 the two For each mineral the degree of liberation i 9/72 oF 1/8 ‘What this indicates is that ithe pace size is one half the size of the original grin sie, the degre of ideation is still small (12.5%).Section 1 Mineral Processing 561 MINERALS OF UNEQUAL ABUNDANCE Its more usual for one mineral to be more abundant than the other and in this case the ‘ibeation oF the lester nineralssimilr to that already discussed, For the more abundant ‘and Gaudin derives the formula = minesal the liberation i rea where k= sizeof grain sizeof particle 1h = numberof times more abundant 109 y 1 so) Percentage Vberotion aC K.Clogaritnmic sale) Peocmtge beaton of 0 pase Aan B (AB) ‘eer parce ize (Gaui, 1939) “This figure was obained from the above formulae, fora value of n= 25 and is based on the assumption that only a single size is produced by comminutin. In fact a whole disteibution ‘of panicle sizes is produced and if typical size distribution is incorporated int the plot then tne following diagram is producedMineral Processing 561 Section 1 "See t 9 f pee | a a Tz T T_T { a at ‘lotr he) Percentage eran of 9 pass A and B AB) ‘uibuon of parle sae (Gn, 1939) Te shows that |. The ess abundant pas canbe liberated to some extent at particle sizes greater than the grain size 2 The particles must be finer than the grain size ifthe less abundant mineral sto be substantially ibeated 3. finis large (10) the more abundant phase may be appreciably liberated at particle sizes greater than the gran size 4, The more abundant phase is always more liberated than the less abundant phase, Liberation by detachment and iberation by size reduction are the two extremes, most ores behave somewhere in between, Composite particles ean be grouped into varius types sccoring to their appearanceSection 1 Mineral Processing 561 C8 Ca S88 as ter tntneno gw & Typesof compose parties Amst) "he degree of liberation commonly determined microscopically by a system of point counting. Particles to bemeasured are mounted ina suitable medium (Bakelite o epoxy resin), and polished for riicroscopic examination. The microscope has a cros-har eyepiece and a microscope stage controlled by stepping motors in bot the X and Y directions. The specimen surfice is traversed and the panicle appearing atthe cross-har is noted for composite type. Some system of toalising the numberof particles ofeach type liberated or composites usualy avilable which also automaticaly adjusts the mieroscope stage to the next field.” The more field scanned the greater the accuracy. This type of measurement is very tedious but allows caleulation ofthe ultimate chemical analysis, degree of association of ‘minerals to form composite particles and the extent to which each mineral eontebues to each particular typeof composite particle, Modern computerised image analysis instruments (eg (QEM*SEM) ave available which make this typeof measurement much les tiresome. \With these microscope techniques an eror arises due to the fact tha a polished section only ives a two dimensional view ofthe paicles. A composite particle canbe sectioned in such vay that it appears to ke liberated. In this way the microscopic observations produce a ‘count which oversttes the degre of liberation. To coret this error its necessary to increase the composite count by a Locking Factor.Mineral Processing 561 Section 1 oo 2a] “ll aa SS | 4 L Loching factor a ue ‘oe © Pere Relionship of sking fico to pent Aint nner sre (Gui, 939) Finally the degree of iberation common in sulphide ore treatment sof the onder of 9% or ‘more whereas in treatment of eal, iberaton often is ofthe order of 10-20%, The reason for thisis essentially economic Bibliography Gaudin, A.M, "Principles of Mineral Dressing” A.M., (1939) chapter 1V Grant G. etal, “Characterisation of Particulate and Composte Mineral Grains by On-line Computer Processing of SEM images”, 1Sth APCOM Symposium, Brisbane, 59,1977) 3. Barbery G. etal, “Liberation Analysis by means of Image Analysers: Theory and Applications", Mineral Processing Vol 2, pt A,J. Laskowski (e) (1981)Section 1 Mineral Processing 561 4. Jones M.. "Automatic Mineralogical Measurements in Mineral Processing”, Mineral Processing, Vol. 2. pt A,J. Laskowski (1), (1981) 5. Gong Wen Qi eta, “A QEM*SEM Study of the Flotation of Composite Fates” In of Min. Proc , 34, 9p. 71-82 (1992)