Thrane Teknikk (Russia):

Alushkin I. V., Specialist in Radiometric Beneficiation; info@thrane.ru
Shchipchin V. B., Chief Specialist in Radiometric Beneficiation; info@thrane.ru
Leonov V. B., Chief Specialist in Beneficiation Technologies; info@thrane.ru

Institute of Mining Engineering, Far East Branch of RAS (Russia):

Shepeta Ye. D., Ph. D. in Engineering Sciences; Senior Researcher; Elenashepeta56@mail.ru
Samatova L. A., Ph. D. in Engineering Sciences; Associate Professor; samatovaluiza@mail.ru

A possibility in principle of low-grade –50+6 mm size scheelite ores separation by means of X-ray absorption method on TOMRA Sorting equipment is considered. As a result of the studies, it was established that preliminary separation permits to increase WO₃ content in subsequent flotation processing stage feed by the factor of 4–5, removing at the process head up to 84 % of machine-processed size fractions as separation final tailings regarding WO₃ grade, thus providing in total for capital and operating expenses decrease, without sacrificing of high metallurgical and economical results. It is noted, that XRT-separation performance figures are consistently reproduced with regard to different size fractions, corroborating reliability of the method and chosen separating attribute; separation of scheelite ores machine-processed size fractions by means of separator with XRT-sensor does not require any special preparation of feed material (washing, surface cleaning, etc.); feed material moisture, its color, texture, admixtures, impurities, dirt, dust, pigment, etc., do not affect feed material lumps measuring quality by XRT-method. It is shown, that «bottleneck» of the technology in question is unsorted –6+0 mm size fraction, and its yield may be decreased through separated feed material size increase, which will be the subject of further studies.

1. Gvozdev V. I. Rudno-magmaticheskiye sistemy skarnovykh sheelit-sulfidnykh mestorozhdeniy Vostoka Rossii (Ore-magmatic systems of skarn scheelite-sulfide deposits of Eastern Russia). Vladivostok, Dalnauka, 2010, 15 p.
2. Standart Rossiyskogo geologicheskogo obshchestva. Tverdyye negoryuchiye poleznyye iskopayemyye. Tekhnologicheskiye metody issledovaniya mineralnogo syrya. Radiometricheskiye metody obogashcheniya. STO RosGeo 08-009—98 (Standard of Russian Geological Society. Solid incombustible minerals. Technological methods of minerals research. Radiometric beneficiation methods. RosGeo Standard 08-009—98). Moscow, RosGeo, 1998, 74 p.
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