Abstract
The Bureau of Mines conducted laboratory batch- and small-scale continuous flotation processing tests on waste granite fines from Georgia to determine the feasibility of recovering usable feldspar and quartz products by flotation. Two flotation methods were utilized for the removal of biotite and other iron-bearing minerals: one was in an acid-cationic circuit, and the other, in an alkaline- anionic-cationic circuit. Feldspar was recovered using an acid- cationic method. To produce commercial-grade feldspar and quartz products, it was necessary to employ either two sequential froth flotation circuits or one froth flotation circuit supplemented by wet-magnetic separation techniques to remove iron contaminants. Continuous flotation processing yielded a commercial-grade feldspar concentrate containing, in percent, 3.8 Na2o, 5.4 K2o, and 1.10 Cao, with recoveries of 77.8, 70.3, and 64.4 Respectively. The feldspar tailing was high-quality glass sand containing 98.2 percent sio2 and 0.024 percent fe2o3. About 42 percent of the quartz was recovered at glass sand specifications. An effective separation of potash feldspar from the bulk feldspar concentrate was achieved by batch flotation in a mineral separation cell. Work done in cooperation with the University of Alabama.
