Cobalt, as a strategic resource, is known as "industrial monosodium glutamate". With the continuous popularization of the concept of carbon neutralization and new energy technology, the development and utilization of cobalt mineral resources are increasingly valued. In nature, most cobalt minerals are associated with iron, copper, nickel and other metal minerals, and single cobalt minerals are rare. Common cobalt bearing metal deposits include copper nickel cobalt deposits, copper cobalt deposits, iron cobalt deposits and cobalt earth deposits. This article will introduce you to common cobalt ore dressing processes from the perspective of these four types of deposits.
In copper nickel cobalt deposits, the main metal minerals are copper, cobalt, nickel, etc. The main gangue minerals are quartz, muscovite, biotite, plagioclase, serpentine, etc. There are many kinds of sulfide minerals. At the same time, copper, nickel and cobalt are closely related to arsenic minerals, and there are many independent minerals of arsenic.
Copper nickel cobalt ore is generally treated by mixed flotation process to obtain copper cobalt nickel mixed concentrate with large concentration, which can be priced and sold at the same time, and can also be smelted. It should be noted that this ore contains a lot of easy floating gangue minerals, and secondary slime is easy to be produced during grinding, which will affect the enrichment of copper nickel cobalt concentrate. Flocculant desliming mixed flotation process can be selected. First, the copper nickel cobalt concentrate with high concentration is mixed for flotation, and then the cobalt mineral is separated and extracted by hydrometallurgy.
There are two types of copper cobalt deposits, one often contains copper, lead, zinc, silver and other polymetallic minerals, and the other contains copper, cobalt, uranium and other minerals. The two types of deposits differ in the separation process, which is mostly determined according to the floatability difference of copper and cobalt minerals, generally including preferential flotation process and mixed flotation process.
When using the preferential flotation process to treat copper cobalt ore, copper concentrate and cobalt sulfur concentrate can be obtained by preferentially flotation of copper and then cobalt, using lime as the inhibitor, YK1-11 as the copper collector, and butyl xanthate as the cobalt collector.
When mixed flotation process is used to separate copper cobalt ore, butyl xanthate can be used as collector and BKNL as regulator for flotation to obtain copper cobalt mixed coarse concentrate. Inhibitors such as sodium silicate and lime are added to suppress gangue minerals during concentration to obtain copper cobalt mixed concentrate.
Iron cobalt deposits generally mainly contain cobalt minerals such as pyrite, pyrrhotite and a small amount of chalcopyrite. The main gangue minerals are quartz, try, epidote, biotite, chlorite, etc. The composition is relatively complex. Cobalt minerals are generally closely associated with iron minerals.
This kind of ore can be treated by flotation method. Sulfide and magnetite can be separated first, and then a small amount of chalcopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite can be separated by flotation method. At the same time, magnetite can be separated by magnetic separation to obtain copper concentrate, cobalt sulfur concentrate and iron concentrate respectively.
Cobalt ore is mostly produced in weathered ore deposits. In addition to cobalt, it also contains manganese, copper, nickel, iron and other metal elements. The recoverable part of the ore is often composed of manganese oxide and cobalt oxide. Cobalt minerals are closely associated with manganese minerals, containing more clay, iron slime and limonite. Generally, manganese minerals and cobalt minerals are recycled together.
In terms of beneficiation method, single or combined beneficiation process can be selected for cobalt earth ore. The single beneficiation methods include gravity separation, magnetic separation, flotation, acid leaching, etc. The combined beneficiation methods include roasting flotation, acid leaching flotation, among which acid leaching flotation is the commonly used beneficiation method for cobalt ores.
The above is the introduction of common cobalt ore dressing process. Cobalt mineral composition is complex, so comprehensive recovery and utilization of different mineral resources need to be considered when formulating beneficiation plan. Therefore, in actual production, according to the different types and compositions of cobalt bearing ores, there are also differences in plans. First, analyze the properties of cobalt ore components, and determine a scientific and reasonable beneficiation process plan through experiments to avoid economic losses and resource waste caused by improper process plans.
