Beneficiation Process for Different Types of Lead Zinc Ores

01Ore beneficiation process of lead zinc sulfide ore

Lead-zinc sulfide ore is mainly composed of galena and sphalerite, both of which are primary minerals. Three methods: preferential flotation, mixed flotation and equal flotation are suitable for selecting lead and zinc sulfide ores. Most lead-zinc sulfide ores adopt a preferential flotation process, with lead-inhibited zinc ores flotated first. The main reason for using preferential flotation is that galena has good floatability and is difficult to be activated after suppression. And because the content of zinc in the ore is higher than that of lead, it is more reasonable to adopt the principle of flotation less and suppression of more, and the flotation process of preferential flotation of lead is more reasonable.

02Ore beneficiation process of lead zinc oxide ore

In lead-zinc oxide ore, lead mainly exists in cerussite and lead vitriol, while zinc exists in smithsonite and willemite. Sulfide ores gradually form oxide ores under long-term weathering. Lead-zinc oxide ore can be divided into lead oxide ore and zinc oxide ore. Lead oxide ore is flotated by sulfide xanthate flotation technology, and zinc oxide ore is treated by amine sulfide flotation technology.

(flotation site)

Lead oxide ore beneficiation process

The main beneficiation methods for lead oxide ore include independent flotation, combined gravity separation and flotation beneficiation, and metallurgical methods. They can be divided into easy-to-select lead oxide ore and difficult-to-select lead oxide ore.

1. Easy to select lead oxide ore

The easily selected lead oxide ore is mainly composed of cerusite and lead vitriol, and exists as separate minerals. It is not contaminated by iron oxide and contains very little mud in the ore. For this kind of ore, separate flotation and gravity separation-flotation combined processes are adopted. The post-sulfide xanthate flotation method and fatty acid flotation method can be used for flotation of lead oxide minerals.

2. Difficult to select lead oxide ore

Refractory lead oxide ores mainly include arsenic lead ore, phosphorite, lead vitriol and other lead oxide ores. When this type of ore is sorted, general methods often fail to obtain good beneficiation indicators, and metallurgical methods are generally chosen for processing.

(Ore flotation process)

Zinc oxide ore beneficiation process

Zinc oxide minerals are mainly smithsonite and hemimorphite. When there is a large amount of iron hydroxide in zinc oxide minerals, gravity separation cannot be used. When zinc minerals exist alone, they can be recovered by flotation. The fine sludge should be removed before flotation to avoid affecting the flotation effect. There are four main flotation methods for zinc oxide minerals: heating sulfurization method, fatty acid reverse flotation method, fatty acid forward flotation method and amine method.

03Ore beneficiation process of mixed lead-zinc ore

When selecting mixed lead-zinc ores, the flotation method can refer to the beneficiation methods of sulfide ores and oxidized ores. But during the mineral processing process, attention should be paid to the flotation sequence, which mainly includes lead sulfide-lead oxide-zinc sulfide-zinc oxide or lead sulfide-zinc sulfide-lead oxide-zinc oxide. When the lead oxide content is small, you can choose the former option, and vice versa.

(flotation equipment)

The above content is the beneficiation process technology of three lead-zinc ores: lead-zinc sulfide ore, lead-zinc oxide ore and mixed lead-zinc ore. Because the conditions of lead and zinc in the ore are different, different processing methods need to be selected for separation. Xinhai Mining recommends conducting mineral processing test analysis to determine the composition of the ore, and customizing the design of the lead-zinc ore production line according to production requirements, which can further improve the production efficiency and economic benefits of the processing plant.