The influence of grinding and flotation environments on the laboratory batch flotation of galena

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Abstract

The flotability of galena in batch flotation tests on galena-quartz mixtures, in the presence and absence of xanthate, has been found to depend on the oxidation-reduction conditions in the mineral pulp both in grinding and flotation. For galena ground in non-reducing conditions, xanthate-induced flotation is rapid over a wide range of pulp potentials and terminates when the environment becomes sufficiently oxidising. For galena ground in reducing conditions, the range in which flotation is rapid is much smaller; the results are more reliable if reduction is achieved by the use of sodium sulphide rather than other reducing agents. In the absence of xanthate, flotation occurs only in a narrow range of potentials. The results appear to be consistent with some published electrochemical measurements on galena but attempts to relate them to predictions based on bulk thermodynamic properties have met with limited success.

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