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Principles of Mineral Processing
Most men involved in the field of mining and beneficiation understand and appreciate the direct relationship among various unit operations of drilling, blasting, loading, hauling, crushing, grinding, and concentration. But mineral processing is most the time related to crushing, grinding and concentration. The first two are involves with the degree of fragmentation and liberation achieved at each step of the integrated system, as well as to matching of the equipment. With the development of new approaches in the mine, and in view of the large size of the mining ventures of today, increasing attention is being given to the optimization of the overall fragmentation system because they are the first step and change in their route affects positively or negatively the next step of concentration and recovery.
It is essential that the personnel involve in both mine and the mill consider the overall effect of any change in practices. Top management must support the concept of optimization by appreciating that a few extra cents spent at the mine can be recovered several fold later in the process. Oftentimes, it is difficult to evaluate the effect of a particular change because it is masked by other events. In such cases, knowledge of the principles involved is perhaps the best guide to the proper direction to take indecisions related to the throughput.
Current comminution technology is inefficient both in utilization of energy and in promoting mineral liberation. Conventional steel milling produces much transgranular fracture with relatively little intergranular fracture. However, there are promissory methods that can minimize the bad fracture mechanism. For example, there is evidence that liberation can be improved by high pressure roller presses. These devices are being used to comminute cement and limestone, and it expected that they also can be used in the grinding of industrial and metalliferous ores.
Developments in the design, fabrication and application of concentration devices have been rapid and widespread due the lack of good efficiency in the traditional designs which are used around the world. This is perhaps a key element in mineral processing because the manufacturer must to know relating the physiochemical principles involved in each concentration process. For example, some magnetic concentrators present a serious problem of entrainment of non magnetic particles in the magnetic fraction, there is always a trade off between the quality and recovery of the products. When a magnetic fraction is the objective product, for example separation of wolframite and chalcopyrite must produce low entrainment else the final product will have a low quality. Other case very special is froth flotation due to the lack of complexity that many ores need to be treated successfully. Consequently, a careful study trends to solve many problems in mineral processing and basic principles and founded in theoretical aspects of chemistry and physics that no one can avoid.
