Reprocessing of the old flotation tailings deposited on the RTB Bor tailings pond - a case study

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Stanković, Velizar Milošević, Vladan Milićević, Darko Gorgievski, Milan D. Bogdanovic, Grozdanka
Copyright Year	2018
Abstract	Flotation waste, which was produced through seventy years of copper ore processing in RTB Bor, Serbia, is deposited in a flotation tailings pond. In total, almost 26.4 Mt could be considered as available for eventual reprocessing and reuse. Chemical analysis has shown that an average concentration of targeted metals in the tailings is: 0.183% Cu, 0.35 g/t Au and 2.17 g/t Ag. The tailings contain 60 to 70% of SiO2, 10 to 17% of Al2O3 and pyrite 5 to 8%. Flotation tailings reprocessing consisted of acid leaching followed by re-flotation of the leach residue. Leaching of the tailings resulted in leach liquors containing Cu ions from 50 to 580 ppm. The average copper removal degree in the leaching stage was 70%. After re-flotation, the total copper removal degree reached 83 to 85%. Sulphur removal degree reached 77%. Sulphur concentration in the treated tailings was reduced almost 5 times compared to the inlet concentration. An equivalent amount of iron was also reduced through the flotation process. Concentration of total copper was reduced 3 times.
Starting Page	333
Ending Page	344
Page Count	12
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.2298/ciceq170817005s
Volume Number	24
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://www.ache.org.rs/CICEQ/2018/No4/CICEQ_Vol24_%20No3_p333-344_Oct-Dec_2018.pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.2298/ciceq170817005s
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article