INNOVATIVE PROCESS FOR BENEFICIATION OF DOLOMITIC PHOSPHATE ORES

In current phosphate beneficiation practice, double-float froth flotation is widely used for upgrading siliceous phosphatic ores. However, this process has generally been ineffective for beneficiating high dolomite/limestone phosphate ore because the fatty acid collectors used to float phosphate minerals also collect carbonate minerals. This work describes a new approach for selective fatty acid carbonate/phosphate flotation. The technique employed allows selective removal of carbonate gangue in the forth without the specific use of a phosphate depressant and without conditioning the pulp with the fatty acid collector. The samples tested were two dolomitic ores (Jhamarkotra, India and Guizhou, China), one dolomitic calcareous siliceous ore (Mussoorie, India) and a dolomitic siliceous ore (South Florida). 4 Refs.