A Complete Guide to Nonferrous Metal Ore Dressing in Inner Mongolia

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is extremely rich in mineral resources, especially in non-ferrous metals, where the reserves are abundant and concentrated, mainly in the western part of Hulunbuir City, the south-central section of Ta Hsing-an Ling, and the Langshan area. It is an important supply base for non-ferrous metal raw materials in my country, covering a variety of non-ferrous metal resources such as copper, molybdenum, tungsten, lead, and zinc. According to the characteristics of these mineral resources, the ore dressing methods of various minerals are different. The following will introduce several common non-ferrous metal ores in Inner Mongolia and their corresponding ore dressing methods.

01Inner Mongolia lead-zinc ore dressing

Inner Mongolia lead-zinc ore dressing

Ore type: The lead-zinc ore in Inner Mongolia is mainly sulfide lead-zinc ore, and common minerals are galena and sphalerite.

Distribution: Lead-zinc minerals are often distributed in the ore in the form of impregnation, fine veins, agglomerates or stars, and have a close symbiotic relationship with gangue minerals.

Ore dressing technology:

-Flotation: This is a commonly used beneficiation method in lead-zinc ore dressing. By adding regulators, collectors (such as yellow medicine, black medicine, etc.) and frothers (such as pine oil, etc.), the difference in physical and chemical properties of the mineral surface is used to make the lead-zinc minerals adhere to the bubbles and float to the water surface, thereby achieving separation from the gangue minerals.

-Gravity separation: In some cases, gravity separation is also used in the lead-zinc ore dressing process. It uses the difference in density between minerals for separation and is suitable for processing coarse-grained ores. Common gravity separation equipment includes jigs, shaking tables, etc.

-Magnetic separation: Although lead-zinc minerals themselves are not magnetic, in some lead-zinc ores containing magnetic gangue minerals, magnetic separation can be used to remove these magnetic impurities and improve the efficiency of subsequent mineral processing operations.

02Inner Mongolia copper ore dressing

Inner Mongolia copper ore dressing

Ore type: The copper ore in Inner Mongolia is mainly copper sulfide ore, such as chalcopyrite.

Distribution: Copper minerals are often distributed in the ore in the form of impregnation, fine veins, net veins or agglomerates.

Ore dressing technology

-Flotation: Flotation is a commonly used beneficiation process in copper ore dressing. By adding regulators, collectors (such as yellow medicine, black medicine, etc.) and frothers, the difference in mineral surface properties can be used to promote copper minerals to adhere to bubbles and float with bubbles, thereby separating them from gangue minerals. In the flotation process, by adjusting the pH value and the dosage of reagents, the separation efficiency of copper minerals can be improved, and the grade of copper concentrate can be further improved.

-Gravity separation: Suitable for processing coarse-grained copper ores. By adjusting parameters such as water flow rate, stroke, and number of strokes, the copper mineral particles with higher density and the gangue mineral particles with lower density are separated, thereby achieving separation.

-Magnetic separation: Although copper ore itself is not magnetic, magnetic separation can be used as an auxiliary means to remove iron impurities in the ore when processing copper ore containing magnetic gangue minerals.

03Inner Mongolia tungsten ore dressing

Inner Mongolia tungsten ore dressing

Ore type: Tungsten ore in Inner Mongolia mainly exists in the form of wolframite and scheelite.

Distribution: Tungsten minerals are often distributed in fine particles or impregnation in the ore.

Ore dressing technology method

-Gravity separation: Gravity separation is the core method of wolframite dressing, which is mainly used to separate impurities and low-grade minerals in the ore after grinding, thereby improving the grade of wolframite ore. This method uses the differences in density and magnetism between minerals to effectively separate and purify tungsten ore by adjusting the parameters of the concentrator (such as slope, flushing water volume and flushing time, etc.).

-Flotation method: Flotation method is used to improve the grade of scheelite ore. Tungsten minerals are separated from gangue minerals by utilizing the differences in physical and chemical properties of the mineral surface. During the flotation process, the pH value of the slurry, the amount of flotation agent and collector added need to be adjusted according to the characteristics of the ore. Tungsten minerals are attached to bubbles and float to the water surface to form a foam layer, which is collected as tungsten concentrate. Through this process, tungsten minerals can be effectively separated and enriched.

04Inner Mongolia molybdenum ore dressing

Inner Mongolia molybdenum ore dressing

Ore type: Molybdenum ores in Inner Mongolia often coexist with copper, sulfur and other minerals to form copper-molybdenum ores or molybdenum-sulfur ores.

Dissemination: Molybdenum minerals are often distributed in fine particles or impregnation in the ore, and have a close relationship with the gangue minerals.

Ore dressing technology

-Mixed flotation method: When processing copper, molybdenum and sulfur dissemination ores with finer particle sizes, mixed flotation method is often used. By adding a collector with strong collecting power, copper, molybdenum and sulfur mixed flotation is achieved under the condition of coarse grinding, and then re-grinding is carried out according to the coarse concentrate situation to carry out copper-molybdenum-sulfur separation-copper-molybdenum separation.

-Partial mixed flotation method: By using highly selective copper-molybdenum mineral collectors, copper-molybdenum minerals are preferentially selected, and copper-molybdenum tailings are then selected for sulfur or directly discarded according to the situation.

-Iso-floatable flotation method: It is divided into copper-molybdenum iso-floatable-copper-sulfur mixed flotation process and copper-molybdenum iso-floatable-copper enhanced flotation process. This method can reduce the amount of copper ore during copper-molybdenum separation, reduce the difficulty of copper-molybdenum separation, and make the process easy to control.

The non-ferrous metal mineral resources in Inner Mongolia are very rich, and the composition, distribution characteristics and deposit genesis of various ores vary greatly. Therefore, in the ore dressing process, mineral processing tests must be carried out first, and the appropriate mineral processing methods and processes must be selected in combination with the characteristics of the ore. In order to improve the recovery rate and concentrate grade, ore dressing processes are usually combined with each other to form a more efficient comprehensive mineral processing process. The reasonable selection of ore dressing methods and the optimization of processes can effectively improve the recovery efficiency of ore and achieve the maximum utilization of resources.