Application of the New-type Composite Collector TA in Flotation Technology of a Scheelite Ore in Hunan

A scheelite ore of Hunan province contained 0.36% WO3 and the distribution rate of WO3 in scheelite,wolframite and tungstite is 83.10%,11.91% and 4.99% respectively.The content of arsenopyrite in the ore is higher(2.76%As).When the gravity separation method is adopted for recovering seheelite,the separation result is unsatisfactory.Through a number of experimental research,following technological flowsheet is selected.Firstly,flotation of sulfide minerals,then,flotation of scheelite under the conditions of adding Na2CO3,Na2SiO3 and a high-efficiency composite collector TA,finally,after addition of modified Na2SiO3 and composite collector TA,warming cleaning flotation of scheelite rough concentrate was carried out.In the bench test a scheelite concentrate of 70.19% WO3 was obtained with a recovery of 82.86%,and in the continuous test(1.44t/d),a scheelite concentrate of 65.41% WO3 was obtained with a recovery of 81.12%.Test results showed that in terms of increasing techno-economic index of mineral processing process,using composite collector TA is a critical factor.