Investigation of the effect of ulrasound energy on the recovery and selectivity of sulphide ore flotation

Flotation is commonly used in seperation sulphide ores.. Various studies are conducted to increase the selectivity and recovery in flotation. The use of Ultrasonic energy is one of the new and effective ways of separating minerals from each other by the flotation method. Ultrasonic energy is generally used in surface cleaning processes in the mining and metal industry In this study, the effect of ultrasonic energy was investigated in two stages. At the first stage, its effect on pure sulphide ores (galena, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and pyrite) was investigated by performing micro-flotation tests. In these investigations, it was determined that ultrasonic energy had a rejuvenating effect on all minerals when it was applied before and during the conditioning phase. However, when it was applied before conditioning (refloating of the concentrate), it was found that its rejuvenating effect continued on galena while it had a suppressing effect on chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and pyrite. By using this feature of ultrasonic energy, it was revealed that galena mineral could be separated from other sulphide minerals with high selectivity and efficiency when it was applied before refloating of the concentrate. At the second stage, an ultrasonic-assisted test setup was established. The tests were then performed with the samples we took from Balıkesir-Balya, Giresun-Şebinkarahisar and Kütahya-Çatak facilities in line with the results we found at the first stage. As a resuL of our tests, it was determined that ultrasonic energy increased both grade and efficiency when it was applied before and during conditioning, and when it was applied after conditioning, galena could be separated from other sulphide minerals with high selectivity and recovery by this method without using a fine size suppressor. In addition, the sulfur content of the Kütahya-Çatak ore was reduced by the application of ultrasonic energy. Keywords: Flotation, hallimond tube, ultrasonic energy, sulphide ore, recovery and selectivity