Floatation Separation Research on Siderite-Containing Iron Concentrate
With the development of mining operation, the content of iron carbonate typically siderite increases evidently in the iron ore produced in Dong Anshan floatation plant, China. The presence of siderite significantly decreases the iron grade in the concentrate produced by the current reverse anionic flotation process. The study shows that the floatability of hematite, siderite and quartz differs with an increase of pH by using the combination of starch and CaCl2 as depressant. A two-step flotation process has been developed to treat Dong Anshan iron ore by which siderite was removed in the first step floatation and in the second step, reverse anionic flotation was used to produce high quality iron concentrate.