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Application of Knelson Concentrator For Beneficiation of Copper-Cobalt Ore Tailings
Application of Knelson Concentrator For Beneficiation of Copper-Cobalt Ore Tailings
An International Journal
To cite this article: Christian Ndolwa Katwika, Meschac-Bill Kime, Pierre Ngoy Mwana Kalenga,
Bienvenu Ilunga Mbuya & Tony Rukan Mwilen (2018): Application of Knelson concentrator for
beneficiation of copper–cobalt ore tailings, Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review,
DOI: 10.1080/08827508.2018.1481057
Article views: 34
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
The beneficiation of high talc-containing copper–cobalt flotation tailings was studied by centrifugal Gravity separation; Knelson
gravity concentration. It was found that copper and cobalt minerals were finely disseminated in the concentrator; copper–cobalt
gangue matrix so that conventional gravity concentration using spirals and shaking tables would be ore; froth flotation; tailings
ineffective. The actual experimental test work was performed using the Knelson gravity concentrator reprocessing
and the results were transposed to industrial scale by simulating several beneficiation scenarios. The
results indicated that integration of Knelson concentrators in the concentration circuit to treat the
flotation tailings would significantly improve copper and cobalt recoveries from 65.00% to 86.09% and
67.00% to 86.96%, respectively.
CONTACT Meschac-Bill Kime meschackime@engskillsconsulting.com Department of Metallurgy, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/gmpr.
© 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 C. N. KATWIKA ET AL.
Figure 1. Schematic flowsheet of NCK concentrator and metallurgical balances at selected sample points.
concentration circuit to recover copper and cobalt from the samples were collected across the entire diameters of the
flotation tailings. This beneficiation technique proved to be pipes using standard 4 L buckets. After collection, the samples
cost-effective and environment friendly for low-grade ores and were homogenized and placed into plastic bags before being
finely disseminated minerals in complex matrices (Meza et al. transported to the laboratory for analysis. Out of the 4 L
1994; Poulter et al. 1994; Patchejieff et al. 1994; Laplante et al. collected, 1 L was taken for density measurement. The
1995a, 1995b, 1996; Huang 1996; Ancia et al. 1997; Majumder remaining 3 L was placed in a barrel containing clear water
and Barnwal 2006; Gupta et al. 2007; Chen et al. 2008; Das et al. to dilute the pulp and accelerate the decantation. Each barrel
2009; Uslu et al. 2012; Jordens et al. 2013, 2014; Schriner and received all samples of the same product obtained after 24 h.
Anderson 2015; Angadi et al. 2017; Das and Sarkar, 2018). This was referred to as “sample of the day.” About 18 L of the
Previous studies demonstrated that a Knelson concentrator can pulp of each product could be obtained after 24 h. The sample
be used effectively to beneficiate low-grade copper–cobalt ores of the day was allowed to settle for 12 h. The water phase was
and tailings (Poulter et al. 1994; Ramakokovhu et al. 2012). siphoned off and the solid phase was dried at 100°C for 24 h.
The objective of this work was to investigate the beneficiation After 8–10 days sampling campaign, the dried products
of copper–cobalt flotation tailings by using a Knelson centrifugal obtained from the same stream were disaggregated, mixed,
gravity separator. Based on the mineralogical, separation, and and homogenized. Representative subsamples were obtained
simulation studies, a process flow scheme including froth flota- for size-assay, mineralogical analysis, and chemical analysis by
tion and Knelson concentrators was proposed. riffle splitting the bulk samples. The remaining bulk of the
sample, about 50 kg, was used for the Knelson concentration
testing.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Field testing
2.3. Mineralogical characterization of ore samples
Two phases of field testing were performed to evaluate the
metallurgical performance of NCK. The first phase of the work The mineralogical composition of the ore samples was carried
involved a characterization study performed on the feed and out with electron microprobe (EMP, CAMECA SX50) and
products of the milling circuit of NCK. The first phase of the optical microscope (Leica DMLP, equipped with INFINITY X
work consisted of a characterization study carried out on the camera), both housed at the Mineralogy Laboratory of the
feed and the products of the milling circuit of NCK. The milling Department of Geology and Applied Geology, Polytechnic
circuit feed sample was collected from Luiswishi mine in the Faculty, The University of Mons.
Democratic Republic of Congo. The second phase of the work
consisted of a characterization study carried out on samples
taken from NCK streams. The samples were taken from the 2.4. Knelson concentration
pulp flows of the feed and selected tails. The Knelson gravity concentration experiments were per-
formed using a laboratory-scale KC-MD3 Knelson™ batch
concentrator (Knelson 2003), hosted in the Minerals
2.2. Sampling procedures
Processing and Valorisation Laboratory at the University
All plant samples were collected using a systematic 4-h sam- of Mons. The bowl had a capacity of 65 mL of concen-
pling of pulp flows on selected streams. This sampling mode trate. The optimum operating conditions determined were
was suitable for the flows and was easy to carry out. The a mass load of 1000 g and a centrifugal force of 120g. All
MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY REVIEW 3
Table 1. Apparent density and d80 of the tailings samples. of iron oxides and quartz and was very porous. In the
Tailings samples d80 (µm) Apparent density stratified dolomite (DSTRAT) ore sample, the grains of
Pre-float tails 50 2.75 malachite were intimately related to heterogenite. The
Cleaning tails 115 2.65
Scavenger tails 106 2.65
majority of mineral grains observed were less than
Final tails 102 2.65 150 μm in size. The particle size distribution of the pre-
flotation feed and tailings samples is given in Figure 4.
With the exception of the pre-float tails, their d80 lied
the heavy particles (malachite, d ≈ 4.00 and heterogenite, between 75 and 150 μm. The fine particle size of the
d ≈ 3.00) sedimented at the bottom of the inter-riffles samples is indicative of the fine dimensional domain of
spaces of the concentrator as concentrates, while lighter flotation of oxidized copper–cobalt ores, generally less
particles overflowed from the outlet of the gangue. The than 100 μm. Figure 5 shows the distribution of the metals
actual experimental tests were carried out by varying water in the feed before flotation. Table 2 presents the grades of
counterpressure in order to optimize the fluidization of metals in the pre-flotation feed, as well as in the tailings
the gangue materials. Determination of Cu and Co was samples. It is observed that the pre-flotation and cleaner
carried out using an inductively coupled plasma atomic tailings still contain appreciable amounts of copper and
emission spectrometer (NOVA 400). Data on the apparent cobalt; 3.63% Cu and 1.08% Co, and 5.16% Cu and 1.01%
density and d80 of the tailings samples are given in Co, respectively. In addition, the mineralogical and che-
Table 1. mical analysis showed that approximately 80% of recover-
able copper and cobalt metals in the tailings were found in
the size fraction less than 50 μm. Therefore, it would be
3. Results and discussions inconceivable to treat them by conventional gravity
separation (spirals and shaking tables).
3.1. Characterization
Figure 6 shows the distribution of Cu, Co, Fe, and Mn in
Samples from different geological units of the Luiswishi the tailings samples. As can be seen, most of the recoverable
mine were collected and analyzed. Figures 2 and 3 show copper and cobalt was contained in the fraction less than
the results obtained from the optical microscopy and 38 μm.
microprobe analyses of the ore samples under the study. The identification of the major mineral phases was
As can be seen, the results indicated that the ore was well done with X-ray diffraction (XRD, Siemens D5000) on
oxidized, with predominantly quartz and iron oxides as disoriented powders of five selected streams: pre-float
gangue materials. Copper and cobalt were much more feed, pre-flotation tails, cleaning tails, scavenger tails,
localized in the porosity left by the dissolution of the and final tails. For the purpose of the analysis, samples
primary sulfide bodies. Some oxidized sulfide grains were were finely ground (<50 µm), placed on sample holders,
also observed at the surface. This was the case of the and then crushed using a glass slide so as to have a flat
argillitic sandstone ore sample (RAT, from the French and smooth surface before being placed in the apparatus
Roches Argileuses Talqueuses). The RAT sample also con- for analysis. The semi-quantification of the weight fraction
tained a significant amount of malachite. The mineralized of phases was carried out by comparing the integrated
black ore zone (BOMZ) sample contained large amounts intensities of the diffraction peaks from each of the
Figure 2. Minerals observed at the microprobe on the Luiswishi mine samples. (A) Backscattered-electron image of RAT, (B) siliceous rocks with cavities, (C)
backscattered-electron image of DSTRAT, (D) DSTRAT sp1 (Cu), € DSTRAT sp3 (Co), (F) reflected image of DSTRAT, (G) transmitted image of DSTRAT, (H)
backscattered-electron image of micaceous dolomitic shale (SD1a), (I) backscattered-electron image of carbonaceous dolomitic shale (SD2a), (J) transmitted image
of SD2a.
4 C. N. KATWIKA ET AL.
Figure 3. Minerals observed under optical microscope on the Luiswishi mine samples: (A) SD1a under polarized reflected light, (B) SD1a under polarized reflected
light + polarized transmitted light, (C) DSTRAT, under polarized transmitted light, (D) DSTRAT, under polarized and analyzed in transmitted light, (E) RAT, under
polarized transmitted light, (F) RAT, under polarized and in analyzed transmitted light, (G) SD2a, under polarized transmitted light, (H) SD2a, under polarized and
analyzed in transmitted light, (I) foliated and silicified rocks under polarized transmitted light, (J) foliated and silicified rocks under polarized and in analyzed
transmitted light.
Figure 5. Distribution of Cu, Co, Fe, and Mn in the pre-flotation feed sample.
Table 2. Grades of metals in the pre-flotation feed and tailings samples. capacity. For the purpose of the simulations, the Knelson
Cu Co Fe Mn models were selected according to the data in Table 5. It
Pre-float feed 4.79 1.09 2.33 0.10 was also hypothesized that the Knelson recovery on an indus-
Pre-flotation tails 3.63 1.08 1.71 0.06 trial scale was 95% of that found in the laboratory. This
Cleaning tails 5.16 1.01 2.88 0.06
Scavenger tails 1.45 0.34 2.23 0.07 hypothesis was justified by the fact that almost all copper–
Final tails 1.88 0.40 2.50 0.09 cobalt minerals in the tailings were well liberated. Therefore,
any further beneficiation process applied to the tailings should
be efficient and cost-effective.
in the processing scheme in Figure 1. Data on the flow rate of The process flowsheet, shown in Figure 10, and which
the pre-flotation were collected at the inlet of the pre-flotation includes a configuration of the flotation circuit and individual
section, that of the tailings was collected at the outlets of their Knelson concentrator for treating each tailing was evaluated.
respective flows. All the samples were dried and characterized The simulation results showed that by using Knelson concen-
with respect to their grade and recovery of copper and cobalt. trators, recoveries about 60.36% Cu, 59.77% Co,; 67.54% Cu,
65.66% Co; 60.41% Cu, 57.05% Co; and 61.11% Cu, 59.52%
3.3.1. Simulation of optimal circuit configuration Co for pre-float tails, cleaning tails, scavenger tails, and final
Simulations were performed in Excel to explore the beneficia- tails, respectively, could be achieved. Similarly, their grades
tion options for the Luiswishi high talc-containing ore. There were 30.36% Cu and 7.96% Co; 37.50% Cu and 8.27% Co;
are several types of Knelson concentrators according to the 9.70% Cu and 2.11% Co; and 14.25% Cu and 3.07% Co for
diameter of the concentration bowl and the processing pre-float tails, cleaning tails, scavenger tails, and final tails,
Figure 6. Distribution of Cu, Co, Fe, and Mn in the tailings samples. PFT: Pre-flotation tails; CT: cleaning tails; ST: scavenger tails; and FT: final tails.
6 C. N. KATWIKA ET AL.
Table 3. Semi-quantitative XRD results of the selected streams. 31.57% Cu and 7.44% Co. This is an indication that the
Concentration (wt%) Knelson concentration process achieved the minimum
Pre-float Pre-flotation Cleaning Scavenger Final requirements of copper–cobalt concentrates for direct smelt-
Mineral feed tails tails tails tails ing or leaching.
Quartz 68.19 4.91 56.83 75.86 77.81 The possibility of mixing different Knelson concentrates
Phyllosilicates 23.82 92.44 21.40 15.85 18.71
Cuprite 5.15 0.40 4.63 6.00 1.56 obtained from the tailings was also explored. This was done to
Malachite 1.50 1.89 10.92 1.24 1.31 see which Knelson concentrate could have a significant
Goethite 0.58 0.23 0.98 0.65 0.23 impact on the global recovery. The simulation results are
Chalcopyrite 0.39 0.00 0.66 0.00 0.20
Hematite 0.36 0.14 2.02 0.40 0.16 presented in Figures 11a and 11b. It appears that only con-
centrates from pre-flotation and cleaning tailings or their
combination had significant values to improve overall recov-
respectively. Using the current configuration (Figure 1), NCK ery. The Knelson concentration of the pre-flotation and clean-
achieves overall recoveries about 65.00% and 67.00% for cop- ing tailings yielded individual concentrates grading 30.36% Cu
per and cobalt, respectively. The concentrates grade about and 7.96% Co; and 5.16% Cu and 1.01% Co, respectively, with
Figure 8. Minerals observed in the pre-flotation feed. Optical microscopy – (A) observed under polarized transmitted light, (B) under polarized and analyzed in
transmitted light, (D) observed under polarized reflected light. Microprobe analysis – (C): observed under polarized transmitted light, (E): BSE, (F) observed under
polarized transmitted light.
MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY REVIEW 7
Figure 9. Effect of counterpressure on the recovery. Constant variables: mass load: 1000 g and centrifugal acceleration: 120g.
Table 4. Recovery of copper and cobalt from the tailings samples as a function recoveries about 68.36% Cu and 59.77% Co, 67.54% Cu and
of optimum counterpressures. 65.66% Co, respectively. This means, they would individually
Cu Co contribute to the overall concentrate at 0.23 and 0.40 t/h, or a
Samples Recovery Grade Recovery Grade global contribution of 0.63 t/h.
Pre-float tails (12 kPa) 71.96 32.55 62.92 8.40 Two configurations were then selected and evaluated to
Cleaning tails (48 kPa) 71.09 42.67 69.12 8.26 optimize the overall recovery. The first one, shown in
Scavenger tails (43 kPa) 63.59 10.15 60.05 2.41
Final tails (42 kPa) 64.33 15.46 62.65 3.22 Figure 12, included the flotation circuit and a single Knelson
Constant variables: mass load: 1000 g and centrifugal acceleration: 120g. concentrator to treat the pre-flotation tails. The simulation
results showed that the overall copper recovery would result
in an additional recovery of 0.06 tCu/h and that of cobalt by
0.02 tCo/h. However, the contribution of a concentrate less
Table 5. Considerations on the choice of Knelson models.
rich in copper (30.36% Cu) obtained from the centrifugal
Bowl
d80 Apparent Flow rate Bowl capacity
treatment of the pre-float tails would lead to a slight decrease
Tails (µm) density (t/h) diameter (″) (t/h) in the overall content of the global concentrate (31.46% Cu
Pre-float tails 50 2.75 2.78 10 8 instead of 31.57% Cu). The cobalt content of the overall
Cleaning tails 115 2.65 4.67 10 8 concentrate would remain unchanged at around 7.44%. The
Scavenger tails 106 2.65 52.66 20 80
Final tails 102 2.65 56.75 20 80 low contribution can be explained by the low mass contribu-
tion (0.23 t/h) of the pre-float tails concentrate to the overall
Figure 10. Schematic for separate treatment of tailings. PFT: Pre-float tails; CT: cleaning tails; ST: scavenger tails; and FT: final tails.
8 C. N. KATWIKA ET AL.
Figure 12. Contribution of pre-float tails concentrates to the overall concentrate. PFT: Pre-float tails; CT: cleaning tails; ST: scavenger tails; and FT: final tails.
Figure 13. Contribution of separate tailings concentrates to the overall concentrate. (A) Current final concentrate, (B) contribution of pre-float tails (PFT) concentrates
to the overall concentrate, (C) contribution of cleaning tails (CT) concentrates to the overall concentrate, (D) contribution of scavenger tails (ST) concentrates to the
overall concentrate, and (E): contribution of final tails (FT) concentrates to the overall concentrate.
MINERAL PROCESSING AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY REVIEW 9
Figure 14. Contribution of joint PFT–CT concentrates to the overall concentrate. PFT: Pre-float tails and CT: cleaning tails.
Table 6. Summarized results of the simulated circuit configurations compared to the actual NCK circuit configuration.
Recovery Concentrate Concentration
(%) grade (%) ratio
Circuit configuration Cu Co Cu Co Cu Co Concentrate weight yield (%)
Current NCK circuit 65.00 67.00 32.10 7.52 6.60 6.80 9.80
Addition of pre-float tails concentrate 66.89 69.57 31.46 7.44 6.60 6.80 10.20
Addition of concentrate obtained from the joint processing of PFT and CT 69.21 69.57 32.66 7.50 6.80 6.90 10.10
Addition of concentrate obtained from the joint processing of PFT, CT, and ST 84.44 84.06 22.89 5.21 4.78 4.78 15.83
Addition of final tailings concentrate 86.09 86.96 24.19 5.58 5.10 5.10 17.00
PFT: Pre-float tails; CT: cleaning tails; ST: scavenger tails.
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