Nickel ore magnetic separation+flotation combined process
The main source of nickel production in various countries is nickel sulfide ore, accounting for about 60%; Rich ores containing more than 3% nickel can be directly smelted, and the sulfide minerals of nickel mainly include sulfide copper nickel ore, nickel pyrite, needle sulfide nickel ore, etc. The commonly used ore dressing method is flotation, and gravity and magnetic separation are also used as auxiliary means; The flotation process includes priority flotation process, mixed flotation process, mixed priority flotation process, and flotation magnetic separation combined process. Nickel oxide ore mainly utilizes laterite nickel ore, accounting for about 40% of the production; The treatment methods for laterite nickel ore mainly include pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and combined beneficiation and metallurgy.
The combined process of magnetic separation and flotation for sulfide nickel ore is a treatment method for nickel ore with high iron content. This process combines magnetic separation and flotation methods to improve nickel recovery rate and reduce reagent consumption.
process flow
- 1.Crushing： The raw ore first goes through two stages of crushing: coarse crushing and fine crushing, and is crushed to a certain size for subsequent grinding processing.
- 2.Grinding：The crushed ore is sent to a grinding machine for grinding, and it is ground into fine powder. The fineness of grinding is usually controlled at around 0.074mm to ensure that mineral particles are fully exposed, facilitating subsequent magnetic separation and flotation treatment.
- 3.Magnetic Separation：The ground slurry is fed into a magnetic separator, and some magnetic minerals, such as magnetite, are separated through the magnetic separation process. Magnetic separation can effectively remove ferromagnetic impurities from ores and reduce interference with flotation processes.
- 4. Flotation:Further flotation treatment of magnetic separation tailings. At this stage, specific collectors are used to flotation nickel minerals together with other useful minerals to form a mixed coarse concentrate.
- 5.Concentrate treatment: The mixed coarse concentrate is further separated and flotation is carried out to separate nickel minerals and other minerals. The separated nickel mineral concentrate is processed through drying, dehydration, and drying to obtain nickel concentrate products.
Technological advantages
- Multiple product types:The combined process can produce a variety of products, such as magnetic mineral products, nickel mineral products, and tailings, improving the comprehensive utilization rate of resources.
- Save reagents:The magnetic separation process can remove some impurities, reduce the consumption of reagents in the flotation process, and lower the cost of beneficiation.
- Improving Nickel Recovery:Through the combined application of magnetic separation and flotation, nickel minerals can be more effectively recovered, improving the nickel recovery rate.
- Simplified process:Compared with other single beneficiation methods, the combined process can simplify the beneficiation process and reduce operational complexity.
- Environmental Protection and Energy Conservation:Saving the use of reagents helps reduce the impact on the environment, while magnetic separation and flotation typically require less energy consumption, meeting the requirements of green mineral processing.
- The combined process of magnetic separation and flotation for sulfide nickel ore can efficiently and economically recover nickel minerals, while also having advantages such as product diversification, simplified process, environmental protection and energy conservation.
Typical beneficiation plant
Canada’s Clarabel beneficiation plant: The main metal minerals in the ore are magnetite, chalcopyrite, nickel pyrite, as well as a small amount of magnetite and ilmenite. The specific process is as follows:
