Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Plant, Kadzharan, Armenia:

M. G. Poloskov, Chief Executive Officer

IVS Joint Venture, Saint-Petersburg, Russia:
M. A. Arustamyan, Chief Operating Officer, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, rivs@rivs.ru
Yu. P. Nazarov, IVS Joint Venture, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, Director of Production Research Department, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

RIVS-Project, Saint-Petersburg, Russia:
A. M. Arustamyan, Chief Project Engineer, A_Arustamyan@rivs.ru

Mutual loss and inter-contamination of concentrates with different metals is one of the crucial difficulties in beneficiation of nonferrous metal ores. Moreover, the presence of an unwanted metal can result in considerable reduction in cost of the concentrates and, sometimes, in complete discard of the concentrates for there are chemical constraints that make impossible further hydro- or pyro-processing of the concentrates. This difficulty is the feature of copper–molybdenum ore, particularly, concerning copper content of molybdenum concentrates. Hydrometallurgical processes are imposed with rigid constraints in terms of copper content of a marketable concentrate. As molybdenum concentrate reaches merchantability standards only after a few recleaning stages (5–7), it is highly important to manage and control these selective operating stages. The article describes an approach of including mechanical activation of bulk concentrate in the process circuit. Mechanical activation enables moderate, as against grinding, preparation of mineral surface for selective treatment with depressing agents towards perfectly higher effi ciency of copper mineral depression.

1. Bocharov V. A., Ignatkina V. A. Mineral concentration technology : in two volumes. Moscow : “Ore and Metals” Publishing House, 2007. 472 p.
2. Abramov A. A. Theoretical basis of intensifi cation of technological processes of flotation. Tsvetnye Metally. 2013. No. 2. pp. 17–21; No. 3. pp. 11–15; No. 4. pp. 12–17.
3. Karnaukhov S. N., Plyasovitsa S. S., Vilkova N. V. Technology of processing of molybdenium-bearing ores. Tsvetnye Metally. 2011. No. 8/9. pp. 55–61.
4. Shuhua Dua, Zhenfu Luo. Flotation technology of refractory low-grade molybdenum ore. International Journal of Mining Science and Technology. 2013. Vol. 23, Iss. 2. pp. 255–260.
5. Abramov A. A. Collection of proceedings. Volume 7 : Flotation. Collecting agents. Moscow : Gornaya kniga, 2012. 656 p.
6. Sorokin M. M. Flotation methods of concentration. Chemical basis of flotation. Moscow : MISiS, 2011. 411 p.
7. Nakhael F., Irannajad M. Investigation of effective parameters for molybdenite recovery from porphyry copper ores in industrial flotation circuit. Physicochemical Problems of Mineral Processing. 2014. Vol. 50(2). pp. 477–491.
8. Sataev I. Sh., Baranov V. F. About the global practice of concentration of copper-porphyric ores (review). Obogashchenie Rud. 2011. No. 4. p. 45.
9. Guang-yi Liu, Yi-ping Lu, Hong Zhong, Zhan-fang Cao, Zheng-he Xu. A novel approach for preferential fl otation recovery of molybdenite from a porphyry copper–molybdenum ore. Minerals Engineering. 2012. Vol. 36–38. pp. 37–44.
10. Vazifeh Y., Jorjani E., Bagherian A. Optimization of reagent dosages for copper flotation using statistical technique. Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China. 2010. Vol. 20, Iss. 12. pp. 2371–2378.
11. Asonchik K. M., Belova V. P. Improvement of scheme of processing of copper-molybdenium ore at Agarak plant. Obogashchenie Rud. 2010. No. 1. pp. 20–21.
12. Arustamyan A. M., Arustamyan K. M. Improvement of technology of concentration of coppermolybdenium ores of Kadzharan deposit. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2010. Special issue. pp. 44–47.