MBE Coal and Minerals Technology Ltd (Moscow, Russia):

Lebedok A. V., Director of Mineral Processing, Artem.lebedok@mbe-cmt.com

The article outlines the results of laboratory and pilot-scale tests of the Pneuflot pneumatic flotation technology at existing gold recovery plants in Russia and Kazakhstan and in the recovery of silicon concentrate from borogypsum production tailings. The tests were carried out to evaluate the efficiency of the Pneuflot pneumatic flotation machine for the recovery of fine-grained gold from flotation tailings of a gold-processing plant and for obtaining silicon concentrate with a SiO₂ mass fraction of at least 65 % and a final product yield of over 20 %. The pilot-scale tests of the Pneuflot machine were conducted in an open cycle at a capacity of 6–8 m³/h; in laboratory tests, subsamples of SiO₂ with the dry weight of 7.5 kg were used in a 50 l agitation tank. The results obtained confirmed a reduction of the gold content in flotation concentration tailings and an increase in the operational and throughout recovery of gold, which indicates the expediency of using this technology on slimes and of its introduction in the short term.

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