Antimony is a scarce resource. It is a silver-gray metal that is acid-resistant at room temperature. Its specific gravity is 6.68, its melting point is 630.5°C, and its boiling point is 1590°C. It is brittle and has no flexibility. It is a poor conductor of electricity and heat, is not easily oxidized at room temperature, and has corrosion resistance. The primary function of antimony in alloys is to increase hardness, often called a hardener for metals or alloys. Antimony and antimony compounds were first used in wear-resistant alloys, printing-type alloys, and the arms industry.
However, its antimony ore beneficiation is a complex process involving multiple methods to improve the recovery rate of this valuable metal. A practical method is gravity separation, which relies on differences in specific gravity to separate antimony ores from gangue minerals. Flotation is often used to increase antimony recovery by selectively attaching air bubbles to mineral particles. Another innovative method is magnetic separation, which can effectively remove impurities and improve the overall quality of antimony concentrate.
Antimony Ore Beneficiation Methods
There are many varieties of antimony ore, including antimony ore, antimonyite, antimony ore, antimony ocher, etc. The selection of antimony ore beneficiation processes is not unique. Depending on the properties of the ore, the available beneficiation processes include manual selection, gravity separation and flotation. The density, color and metallic luster of stibnite are significantly different from gangue minerals, and its floatability is relatively good. Therefore, whether single flotation or re-selection is used and supplemented by hand selection, the points are selected. Both can get better results.
- At present, flotation is the main beneficiation method for antimony ore.
- Gravity separation is mainly used for the beneficiation of antimony oxide ores and the separation of coarse antimony ores.
- Heavy media beneficiation and hand separation are mainly used for pre-selection of antimony ores.
Therefore, the beneficiation process of a single antimony sulfide ore includes a single flotation process and a combined gravity separation and flotation process.
(1) Hand selection
The hand selection process of antimony ore is carried out by utilizing the differences in color, luster and shape between antimony-containing mineral deposits and gangue in antimony ore. Although this method is primitive and labor-intensive, it still has special significance when used in antimony ore beneficiation. Since antimony mineral deposits are often produced in the form of coarse monomer crystals or massive aggregate crystals, hand selection can often yield higher-grade lump antimony concentrates, which are suitable for the technical requirements of vertical roasting furnaces in antimony metallurgical plants. In addition, hand selection can also reduce mineral processing production costs and energy consumption, so it is widely used in our country.
(2) Gravity Separation
It is one of the most economical, ideal and effective antimony ore beneficiation methods. It can also be used as a pre-enrichment operation for flotation to reduce the burden on grinding equipment and improve the efficiency of the process. In short, gravity separation is an important factor in the antimony ore beneficiation process. and methods occupy a very important position. The process and methods of antimony ore gravity separation are briefly introduced.
The particle size of antimony ores is generally coarse, and the specific gravity of antimony crystals is much greater than that of associated gangue. Therefore, it is an ideal method to use gravity separation to treat antimony ores. The primary condition for beneficiation by gravity separation is monomer dissociation. For antimony ore beneficiation, the degree of monomer dissociation of antimony ore and waste rock directly affects the effect of gravity separation and the beneficiation index. Therefore, the first step in the antimony ore gravity separation process is The antimony ore must be crushed or even ground to break the continuous structure and dissociate the antimony ore and waste rock monomers. The higher the degree of monomer dissociation, the higher the beneficiation effect and recovery. Antimony ore gravity separation equipment mainly refers to jigs, and sometimes shakers are also used. The cost of gravity separation is low, and it can sort out a large amount of qualified coarse-grained concentrates in a coarser particle size range and discard a large amount of gangue. Gravity separation is still the beneficiation method used by antimony beneficiation workers today.
(3) Flotation
Flotation is the most important extraction method for antimony mineral deposits. Antimony sulfide mineral deposits are easy-to-float mineral deposits, and flotation methods are mostly used to increase the crystal position of the ore. Among them, stibnite often uses lead salt as an activator first, or a combination of copper salt or lead salt and copper salt, and then floats it with a collector. Commonly used collectors include dixanthate or a mixture of shale oil and ethyl sulfide, and the foaming agent is pine oil or No. 2 oil. Antimony oxide ore is classified as a refractory ore. Flotation is the main mineral processing method to obtain powdered antimony concentrate, and almost all mineral processing processes include flotation. The types of ores used for processing are: mono-antimony sulfide ore, sulfide-oxidation mixed antimony ore, tungsten-antimony-gold polymetallic sulfide ore, antimony-arsenic-gold sulfide ore, tin, lead, antimony, zinc polymetallic sulfide ore, antimony, lead , zinc, mercury polymetallic sulfide ore and arsenic, antimony, gold multi-gold sulfide ore, etc. Now we take the single sulfide ore of Xikuangnan Mine and Guangxi Dachang tin, zinc, lead, antimony polymetallic ore as an example to illustrate the single sulfide ore. Flotation process of antimony sulfide ores and complex antimony sulfide ores.
Complex polymetallic minerals containing antimony are often accompanied by multiple heavy non-ferrous metal sulfides: arsenopyrite FeAsS, realgar AsS, orpiment As2S3 and other arsenic-containing sulfide minerals; galena and other lead-containing sulfide minerals; sphalerite and other zinc-containing sulfide minerals ;Cinnabar and other mercury-containing sulfide minerals, etc. Sometimes it is also associated with oxidized minerals of great economic value, such as cassiterite, scheelite, etc.; it is also associated with precious metal minerals such as natural gold. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the issue of comprehensive filtration recovery when beneficiating minerals.
How to improve antimony ore beneficiation recovery rate
1. The flotation reagent system is the key to improving the level of mineral processing technology. The main purpose is to find an economical and effective collector for antimony oxide ores. This goal must be achieved through mineral processing experiments and research.
2. Under the existing process flow structure and conditions, strengthen operation management and adjust process conditions to adapt to changes in the properties of raw ore. Every link must be strictly managed, and control of ball mill operating conditions is the key to reducing mineral processing costs and improving flotation effects. When adding medicine, consider adding it in stages to improve medicine efficacy and reduce medicine consumption. By controlling the amount of additional water, the roughing concentration is increased and the fine concentration is reduced to ensure the recovery rate of roughing and improve the concentrate grade. It is also necessary to adjust the pH value of the slurry to ensure the selective flotation of useful minerals;
Antimony can be efficiently extracted from ores by utilizing technologies such as gravity separation, flotation, and magnetic separation. In addition, continued research and development of mineral processing processes is necessary to improve recovery rates further and reduce environmental impact. The specific process flow needs to be designed according to the nature and characteristics of the ore. JXSC supports customized antimony ore beneficiation plants and equipment and has senior engineers to design a more reasonable and economical process line for you free of charge so that you can double your profits.