All-Russian Scientific-Research Institute of Mineral Resources named after N. M. Fedorovsky (Moscow, Russia):

Rassulov V. A., Senior Researcher, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, rassulov@mail.ru

Research and Production Enterprise GeoTestService (Moscow, Russia):
Nerushchenko E. V., Head of Department, nevkimi@yandex.ru

This paper establishes the conditions for selecting the optimal lump separation method based on the values of indicator properties of the ore minerals and demonstrates respective pilot testing results for low-grade quartz-type sulfide gold-bearing ores. The studies have shown the high efficiency of laser-photometric processing of ores with low contents of finely disseminated ore components, for which other methods are ineffective. On the example of ore from the Natalka deposit, it has been shown that acceptable lump separation performance requires division of the original ore into high-grade balance ore (the separation of which would be impractical), low-grade balance ore (to be subjected to lump separation), and an off-balance mineralized mass. Lump processing remains efficient up to ore temperatures of minus 15 °C, if rinsed with 4 °C water. The following concentration indicators were achieved for the lean ore of the process sample taken from the Alternativny section at ore temperatures above minus 15 °С: with the concentrate yield of 20 to 28 %, the gold content increases by 3.0–4.5, with an average level of metal losses in the tailings of approximately 13 %. At ore temperatures down to minus 21 °C, when an opaque ice film with the thickness of over 1 mm is formed on the lump during its screening with washing, metal losses in the separation tailings become 2.0–2.5 times higher.

The authors are grateful to the employees of TOMRA, CC of CJSC Polyus Zoloto, Natalka FMS department of OJSC RiM, and FSBI VIMS, who assisted in the pre-concentration technology testing for the ore of the Natalka deposit.

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