SELECTIVE COLLECTION OF NONMAGNETIC RUTILE AND QUARTZ BY MEANS OF A MAGNETIC REAGENT BY HGMS

A single wire HGMS collection scheme is used to study the selective attachment of rutile or quartz to a magnetic reagent. Data is presented for the magnetic collection of rutile and quartz, both individually and as a mixture as a function of the pH of the slurry, and the zeta-potentials of the several contents of the slurry which are given as a function of the pH. Single wire build-up data shows that at a pH below about 3, both quartz and rutile are attached to the magnetic reagent with nonselective capture of both minerals in a single wire experiment. An increase of pH, however, to 3.5 (or higher) results in the selective capture of rutile only. Typical experimental parameters are fields of 9 kOe and flow rates of 0.2 cm/s. The amount of magnetic reagent required to achieve these results is about two orders of magnitude smaller than the amount of minerals (e.g. rutile) to be separated.