Process intensification in the separation of fine minerals

The transition from a carbon to a metals-based economy is creating an unprecedented demand for minerals, and in turn a diabolical process engineering challenge, given the decreasing grade of the accessible ore, the need to address new and more complex mineralogy, while reducing the environmental footprint. This challenge demands transformational change to the practice of minerals processing, including the need for process intensification. This paper examines recent developments associated with the Reflux Classifier to illustrate how it is possible to achieve significant improvement in separation efficiency, with a significant increase in processing "speed". Here, it is necessary to control the forces that act on the particles in new ways to enhance the selectivity and ultimately the segregation of the valuable particles from the gangue. The paper explores the application of forces that exploit differences in particle density and differences in surface properties within a hydrodynamic medium such as water. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.