DISTRIBUTION OF SURFACE METAL-IONS AMONG THE PRODUCTS OF CHALCOPYRITE FLOTATION

An EDTA extraction technique has been used to evaluate the amount and type of metal ions present on particles in chalcopyrite flotation of Kidd Creek ore. Plant (Kidd Creek, division of Falconbridge Ltd.) and labortatory generated flotation slurries were reacted with EDTA, filtered, and the residues and filtrates analyzed for copper, iron, zinc and lead. Attention is focused here on the results for iron as it was the most abundant of the metals extracted. The data were analyzed in two ways: Es, the mass of metal extracted per unit mass of metal in the dry solid, and Em, the mass extracted per unit mass of dry solid, both with units of mg/g. Es values were lowest for copper (approaching zero) and increased in the order zinc, iron and lead (up to 70% of lead being extracted in some tailings products). Em values increased in the order copper, lead, zinc and iron. Consistent findings for the Em for iron (E(m)(iron)) were that E(m)(iron) was greater in tailings than concentrates, and addition of collector increased the difference. It was observed that Cu/Zn separation efficiency (difference in Cu and Zn recovery) increased with the difference in E(m)(iron) between tailings and concentrate. The EDTA extraction technique is relatively straightforward and may find a role in plant diagnosis and in providing a readily accessible link with more specialised (and expensive) surface analysis techniques.