A study of the reprocessing of fine and ultrafine cassiterite from gravity tailing residues by using various flotation techniques

This study investigates the reprocessing of once disposed tin tailings from a historic German tin operation through different surface properties based processing techniques. Froth flotation and agglomeration flotation, by using commercially available cassiterite collectors from Clariant, were chosen as processing techniques. Isooctane as a nonpolar oil was used to promote the collection of ultrafine (-10 mu m) cassiterite by selective agglomeration, and thus, size enlargement. Results indicate that by using sulfosuccinamates as a collector, around 80% of the fine (-50 mu m) to very fine (-20 mu m) cassiterite can be recovered (representing similar to 50% of the total cassiterite in the tailings sample). Agglomeration flotation experiments showed inferior results for recovering the ultrafine cassiterite (for feed fractions in the similar to 25 mu m size range). Oil/froth interaction and increased pulp ion content are considered as the main contributing causes. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.