Nonsulfide flotation technology and plant practice

There are hundreds of nonsulfide mineral flotation plants throughout the United States, and most have a plant design that depends upon the specific ore characteristics and the market specifications for their product. There is no common thread of technology between the design and processing of different nonsulfide minerals, or even between processing minerals of the same kind. Although most nonsulfide processing plants utilize flotation, other mineral separation techniques are often necessary to yield a marketable product. Typical beneficiation techniques used in conjunction with flotation include gravity separation, magnetic separation and chemical leaching. Sometimes several different flotation systems are used in the same processing plant, such as the flotation of mica, quartz and feldspar from pegmatite ores. Usually there is a primary material produced at a nonsulfide processing plant with other mineral products sold as by-product material. Often the economics of a facility is dependent upon the by-products and sometimes the by-products become the most profitable commodity produced at a plant. The stone, sand and gravel industry is the exception and is not included in this chapter. This nonsulfide mining industry is huge, exceeding all the metals industry and fuel industry tonnage combined. These mining operations do not beneficiate their material by flotation nor do they normally use any other mineral separation process. This industry mines a one-component deposit that only requires removal of fines and clays to produce a saleable product.