Iranian Journal of Materials Science and Engineering

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Gold deposits are varied regarding their geological and geochemical settings. Hence,their processing methods must be best organized for achieving the desired recovery of preciousmetals. In this research, two types of hard-rock gold ores, each with specific characteristics fromKouh-zar region (south of Damghan city) were subjected to mineral processing tests at thelaboratory scale. The reference (head) samples of both veins contained on average 3.5-4.5 ppmgold. According to mineralogical investigations no observable gold particles reported even inSEM analyses except for rare over-micrometer gold particles locked in the silica matrix.Therefore, the major (invisible) gold supposed to exist in sulfides" crystal structure. Flotationapplied to recover the gold interlocked within sulfides. The highest grades achieved were 49.2ppm @ R=77.61% for Baghu samples and 57.0 ppm @ R=61.00% for Darestan samples gold inthe sulfide concentrates. In the cyanidation diagnostic tests the optimum conditions of pH,particle size, cyanide concentration and leaching time were determined for both ores. High goldrecoveries (> 95%) were achievable for Baghu samples for the pH conditions between 10.5 and11, and cyanide and hydrated lime consumptions of 0.6 and 2.5 grams per kilogram of orerespectively. As it had been expected, direct cyanidation of Darestan samples (containing up to1.5% copper), couldn"t be established as an efficient procedure (due to cyanide consumption ofabout 20 times higher than for Baghu tests to achieve similar recoveries) and the preliminarycopper removal phase was determined as a necessity for better recovery of gold.

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Multivariable regression and artificial neural network procedures were used to modeling of the input power and gas holdup of flotation. The stepwise nonlinear equations have shown greater accuracy than linear ones where they can predict input power, and gas holdup with the correlation coefficients of 0.79 thereby 0.51 in the linear, and R2=0.88 versus 0.52 in the non linear, respectively. For increasing accuracy of predictions, Feed-forward artificial neural network (FANN) was applied. FANNs with 2-2-5-5, and 2-2-3-2-2 arrangements, were capable to estimating of the input power and gas holdup, respectively. They were achieved quite satisfactory correlations of 0.96 in testing stage for input power prediction, and 0.64 for gas holdup prediction

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Petroleum coke contains high amounts of carbon and is used in the manufacturing of anode electrodes for the aluminum extraction. In the process of aluminum production, some particles separate from anodes as waste which contain petroleum coke. Therefore, recycling and processing of these petroleum coke particles is the subject of this study. The ash content reduced to 31% and 13% in the jig and shaking table concentrate, respectively. These two steps were considered as the pre-processing methods and heavy media separation was used to decrease the ash content much more. Finally, flotation was performed in order to purify the particles with the size of less than one millimeter.

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Kinetic models are the most important instruments for predicting and evaluating the performance of flotation circuits. To determine the kinetic order and rate of flotation of a gilsonite sample, flotation experiments were carried out in both rougher and cleaner stages. Experiments conducted using the combinations of petroleum-MIBC, gas oil-pine oil, and one test without any collector and frother. Five first order kinetic models were applied to the data obtained from the flotation tests by using the Matrix Laboratory software. Statistical analysis showed that the classic first order model perfectly matched the rougher and cleaner results performed using petroleum-MIBC combination. The kinetic constants (k) were calculated as 0.04 (s^-1) and 0.01 (s^-1) for the rougher and cleaner, respectively. Rougher and cleaner tests without collector and frother also matched with the modified gas/solid adsorption and rectangular models with the k values of 0.05 (s^-1), and 0.01 (s^-1), respectively. The relationship between flotation rate constant, maximum combustible recovery and particle size were also studied. The results showed that the maximum flotation combustible recovery and flotation rate were obtained with an intermediate particle size both in the rougher and cleaner flotation processes. The combustible recovery and flotation rate in the rougher flotation process were higher than that in the cleaner flotation process.

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The beneficiation of coal tailings is usually difficult by common oily collectors in the flotation process, so
it is necessary to use a suitable method for clean coal recovery from coal tailing dams. Thus, this study was aimed
to investigate the behavior of dissolved air flotation by zero prewetting time for the clean coal recovery and to
optimize the conditions of zero prewetting time for an effective flotation. In this regards, the effects of the process
parameters, i.e., pH, frother type, collector type on the rougher flotation recovery of coal tailings were assessed and
optimized. Additionally, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to understand the functional
groups of oily collectors on the surface of floated products. The findings indicated that the frother type and the
interactive effects between the type of frother and collector had the most effect on the performance of flotation. It
was also found that under the optimal conditions (150 g/t Methyl isobutyl carbinol, 1500 g/t gas oil, and pH 4), the
combustible recovery, yield reduction factor, and flotation efficiency index of coal reached to 67.79%, 0.056%, and
37%, respectively. Meanwhile, the FTIR analysis confirmed that the less adsorption of gas oil collector occurred in
the presence of SDS (Sodium dodecyl sulfate) as frother due to the interaction of SDS and collectors