Lead-Zinc Ore Combined Beneficiation Process

Lead-Zinc Ore Flotation Process

First, the raw ore is crushed, using equipment such as jaw crushers to coarsely crush large lumps of ore. It is then further crushed using equipment such as cone crushers to achieve the required particle size. Next, grinding is performed, using equipment such as ball mills to finely grind the ore to achieve a certain degree of separation between the lead and zinc minerals and the gangue minerals. Flotation agents are then added. Xanthate is often used as a collector for sulfide lead-zinc ores, and pine oil and other agents are used as frothers. In the flotation cell, agitation and aeration cause the lead and zinc minerals to float to the surface, forming a froth product. After scraping and dehydration, lead and zinc concentrates are obtained. However, this stage has significant limitations in terms of recovery and concentrate grade improvement for complex ores.

Lead-Zinc Ore Combined Beneficiation Process

In the combined gravity separation and flotation process, gravity separation can pre-separate coarse lead and zinc ore based on the density difference between lead and zinc minerals and gangue, reducing the processing capacity of subsequent flotation. Flotation then further separates fine-grained minerals, utilizing differences in mineral surface properties and using reagents to concentrate bubbles attached to lead and zinc minerals, thereby increasing concentrate grade and recovery.

A combined flotation-magnetic separation process is also widely used. For lead-zinc ores with associated magnetic minerals, flotation is first used to separate the lead-zinc concentrate, followed by magnetic separation to extract the magnetic minerals, achieving comprehensive recovery of multiple useful minerals. This combined process has significant advantages, leveraging the strengths of different beneficiation methods while overcoming the limitations of individual processes. This improves comprehensive resource utilization and enhances the overall economic efficiency of the beneficiation plant.