Control of clay minerals effect in flotation. A review

Abstract

The increased exposure to low grade ores highlights the importance of understanding phyllosilicate gangue mineralogy which consists of common gangue minerals. To improve the flotation performance and ore quality the negative effect of the clay minerals on flotation should be identified. The presence of clay minerals leads to problems, such as changing the froth stability, which are related to swelling behaviour, increase in pulp viscosity, overconsumption of reagents, slime coating and mechanical entrainment. The clay content in the ore is changing from time to time and it is necessary to provide quick solutions to the issues caused by the new ore composition. The objective of this paper is to give an overview how to control the colloidal properties of clay minerals on flotation.