CHINA MINE ENGINEERING

An iron mine tailing with the cobalt content of 0.012% has not been effectively utilized. To investigate the feasibility of cobalt resource recovery, related experimental study was carried out in this paper, focusing on the effects of flotation concentration and slime on cobalt mineral flotation recovery. The study found that desliming and appropriate flotation concentration are beneficial for cobalt mineral flotation recovery. Finally, it was determined to use a cyclone for desliming. Under the condition of a flotation concentration of 25%, butyl xanthate was used as the collector, and a process flow of one coarse, two fine, and one sweep was used to obtain a cobalt concentrate with a grade of 4659.11 ppm and a cobalt recovery rate of 54.41%.