Measurement of oxidation reduction potential in ore beneficiation

Claim 2

IN A SYSTEM FOR THE BENEFICIATION OF AN ORE SLURRY OVER A RANGE OF COMPOSITIONS OF THE ORE BODY FROM WHICH SAID SLURRY WAS DERIVED BY ADDITION TO SAID SLURRY OF A CHEMICAL SUBSTANCE OF AN OXIDIZING OR REDUCING CHARACTER INCLUDING FROTH FLOTATION AGENT AND A FLOTATION COLLECTOR TO IMPROVE THE CONTINUOUS SEPARATION OF MINERAL VALUES FROM SAID SLURRY BY TREATMENT INCLUDING THE STEP OF FROTH FLOTATION, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING MEASURRING THE RANGE OF OXIDATION-REDUCTION POTENTIALS OF THE SAID CHEMICALLY TREATED SLURRY DEVELOPED IN EFFICIENT OPERATION OF SAID SYSTEM AS IT IS VARIED WITH VARIATIONS OF SAID ORE BODY TO DEFINE A PRESELECTED RANGE OF OPTIMUM POTENTIALS, AND SUPPLYING SAID CHEMICAL SUBSTANCE TO THE SLURRY IN QUANTITY CONTROLLED TO MAINTAIN THE OXIDATION-REDUCTION POTENTIAL OF SAID SLURRY IN SAID PRESELECTED RANGE DURING THE FLOTATION STEP OF SAID TREATMENT.

Claim 3

In the beneficiation of an ore slurry by addition thereto of chemical substance to improve the separation of mineral values from said slurry by froth flotation, the improvement comprising pre-determining a range of oxidation-reduction potentials developed in a slurry of the ore beneficiated to a condition of high flotation yield of mineral values therein, and then modifying the quantity of beneficiating chemical substance supplied to said slurry to continuously maintain an oxidation-reduction potential of said slurry in the same pre-determined range as the flotation proceeds.

Claim 4

In the beneficiation of an ore slurry by addition thereto of chemical substance to improve the separation of mineral values from said slurry by froth flotation, the improvement comprising pre-determining a range of oxidation-reduction potentials developed in a slurry of the ore beneficiated to a condition of high flotation yield of mineral values therein, and then modifying the quantity of beneficiating chemical substance supplied to said slurry to continuously maintain an oxidation-reduction potential of said slurry in the same pre-determined range as the flotation proceeds.

Claim 5

The method as defined in claim 2 wherein at least a portion of the chemical substance added reacts with the mineral values in the ore slurry to improve its flotation yield.

Claim 6

The method as defined in claim 3 wherein at least a portion of the chemical substance added is a flotation agent.

Claim 7

The method as defined in claim 3 wherein at least a portion of the mineral values to be recovered by flotation are sulfidable, and the chemical substance added to improve the separation of the mineral values from said slurry includes a sulfiding agent.

Claim 8

The method as defined in claim 5 wherein the sulfiding agent is a member of the group consisting of hydrogen sulfide, alkali metal hydrosulfide and alkali metal sulfide.

Claim 9

The method as defined in claim 6 wherein the alkali metal component of said alkali metal sulfides is sodium.

Claim 10

The method as defined in claim 2 wherein the flotation of said slurry to recover mineral values from the ore is performed by flowing said slurry through several of a series of flotation cells, each cell having a pre-determined range of oxidation-reduction potentials developed for the slurry beneficiated to a condition of high flotation yield of mineral values for that cell, and the quantity of beneficiating chemical supplied to the slurry of each cell is adjusted to maintain the said range of pre-determined oxidation potentials for that cell.

Claim 11

The method as defined in claim 2 wherein the quantity of beneficiating chemical added to said slurry is manually controlled to maintain the oxidation-reduction potential measured in the flotation cell in said pre-determined range.

Claim 12

In a system for the beneficiation of a copper ore comprising copper sulfide and other sulfidable particles of copper mineral by addition to a slurry of said ore of oxidizing or reducing chemical substances as well as of flotation collectors, flocculants and frothers and including a sulfiding agent to improve the separation of the copper mineral values from said slurry by froth flotation, the improvement comprising pre-determining a range of oxidation-reduction potentials developed in a slurry of the ore beneficiated with said chemical substances to a condition of high flotation yield of mineral values therein, and then modifying the quantity of said beneficiating chemical substances supplied to said slurry to continuously maintain an oxidation-reduction potential of said slurry in the same pre-determined high flotation yield range as the flotation proceeds.

Claim 13

In a system for the beneficiation of a copper ore comprising copper sulfide and other sulfidable particles of copper mineral by addition to a slurry of said ore of oxidizing or reducing chemical substances as well as of flotation collectors, flocculants and frothers and including a sulfiding agent to improve the separation of the copper mineral values from said slurry by froth flotation, the improvement comprising pre-determining a range of oxidation-reduction potentials developed in a slurry of the ore beneficiated with said chemical substances to a condition of high flotation yield of mineral values therein, and then modifying the quantity of said beneficiating chemical substances supplied to said slurry to continuously maintain an oxidation-reduction potential of said slurry in the same pre-determined high flotation yield range as the flotation proceeds.

Claim 14

The method as defined in claim 10 wherein the sulfiding agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen sulfide, alkali metal hydrosulfide and alkali metal sulfide.

Claim 15

The method as defined in claim 11 wherein the alkali metal component of said alkali metal sulfides is sodium.

Claim 16

The method as defined in claim 10 wherein the sulfiding chemical component is sodium sulfide.

Claim 17

The method as defined in claim 10 wherein the flotation collector is an alkyl xanthate.

Claim 18

The method as defined in claim 10 wherein the flotation of said slurry to recover mineral values from the copper ore is performed by flowing said slurry through several of a series of flotation cells, each cell having a pre-determined range of oxidation-reduction potentials developed for the slurry beneficiated to a condition of high flotation yield of mineral values for that cell, and the quantity of beneficiating chemical supplied to the slurry of each cell is adjusted to maintain the said range of pre-determined oxidation-reduction potentials for that cell. 16. The method as defined in claim 10 wherein the flotation of said slurry to recover mineral values from the copper ore is performed by flowing said slurry through a series of several flotation cells, each operating to remove mineral values by flotation, the first cell being a Maxwell cell for effecting primary recovery of the mineral values and the subsequent cells of the series being Fagergren cells operative to clean up additional values by flotation from the remaining ore slurry, each cell having the oxidation reduction potential of its slurry, the continuously flowing ore slurry therein continuously measured, and the beneficiating chemical added to the slurry passing to each of said cells being independently varied in quantity to maintain the pre-selected oxidation-reduction potential for each cell.

Claim 19

The method as defined in claim 16 wherein the requisite quantity of beneficiating chemical added to each cell is automatically controlled to be independently supplied to the slurry being floated in each cell in quantity responsive to the pre-selected range of oxidation-reduction potentials of each cell of said series.

Claim 20

The method as defined in claim 10 wherein the copper ore is predominately sulfidable compounds of copper other than copper sulfide.

Claim 21

The method as defined in claim 10 wherein the copper ore is predominately oxides of copper.

Claim 22

In a system for the beneficiation of a copper ore comprising copper sulfide and other sulfidable particles of copper mineral by addition to a slurry of said ore of oxidizing or reducing chemical substances as well as of flotation collectors, flocculants and frothers and including a sulfiding agent to improve the separation of the copper mineral values from said slurry by flotation, said froth flotation being performed in a series of flotation cells, said beneficiatng chemical substances being added to said ore slurry to adjust its flotation condition in each flotation cell, the improvement comprising predetermining a range of oxidation-reduction potentials developed in the slurry of the ore being benificiated with said chemical substances to a condition of high flotation yield of mineral values for each cell, and then controlling the quantity of said beneficiating chemical substances supplied to said slurry passed to each cell to maintain an oxidation-reduction potential of said slurry in each cell in the said predetermined high flotation yield range as the flotation proceeds.

Claim 23

In a system for the beneficiation of a copper ore comprising copper sulfide and other sulfidable particles of copper mineral by addition to a slurry of said ore of oxidizing or reducing chemical substances as well as of flotation collectors, flocculants and frothers and including a sulfiding agent to improve the separation of the copper mineral values from said slurry by flotation, said froth flotation being performed in a series of flotation cells, said beneficiatng chemical substances being added to said ore slurry to adjust its flotation condition in each flotation cell, the improvement comprising predetermining a range of oxidation-reduction potentials developed in the slurry of the ore being benificiated with said chemical substances to a condition of high flotation yield of mineral values for each cell, and then controlling the quantity of said beneficiating chemical substances supplied to said slurry passed to each cell to maintain an oxidation-reduction potential of said slurry in each cell in the said predetermined high flotation yield range as the flotation proceeds.