As an important non-metallic mineral raw material, barite is widely used in industrial production. It can be used as drilling mud weighting agent, lithopone pigment and various barium compounds, etc. With continuous mining, high-quality single barite mines are decreasing day by day. Due to the close association of other metal ores and non-metal ores, its industrial utilization value will be affected. Therefore, using reasonablemineral processing technology to select high-grade barite concentrate is one of the solutions to this situation. Barite mineral processing methods generally include: gravity separation, flotation and magnetic separation.
5 mineral processing steps of barite re-election
The gravity separation process of barite can be divided into five parts, namely crushing operation, screening operation, buffer operation, gravity separation operation and dehydration operation. In this article, we will give you a detailed introduction to the process of barite gravity separation.
process flow 1 # : Crushing operation of barite
Because barite is brittle and fragile, jaw crushers are mainly used for barite crushing. In order to make the crushed barite meet the particle size range required by the jig re-selection machine, two-stage crushing is generally used. The raw barite ore enters the jaw crusher through the feeder for primary crushing. The crushed products are transported by the belt conveyor to the second-stage jaw crusher for fine crushing.
process flow 2 # :Screening of barite
Barite re-election generally uses a jig machine. Because it has strict requirements on the particle size of the incoming materials, it requires classification and separation to improve the processing capacity and mineral processing indicators. Therefore, the crushed products are screened before barite re-election. The screened products enter the jig machine for re-selection. When screening, the concentrator can use a circular vibrating screen. This equipment has the advantages of easy operation, high efficiency, and large processing capacity. It is an ideal equipment for barite screening operations.
process flow 3 # : Buffer operation of barite
In order to ensure the normal operation of the jig, a uniform and stable amount of ore should be ensured when feeding the ore. So it is necessary to set up a buffer section before the screened product enters the jig. The concentrator can choose silo or vibrating feeder. When using the buffer silo, ensure that some materials are pre-stored in the silo, so as to avoid the sudden increase and decrease of the feeding amount at the beginning of work. The vibrating feeder can ensure that the material can enter the jig machine evenly and stably for re-selection.
process flow 4 # : Gravity selection of barite
The separation of barite by jig is mainly based on the difference in specific gravity between barite and other associated gangue minerals. The barite enters the jig machine through the silo or the vibrating feeder, and undergoes density stratification under the action of the alternating water flow generated by the agitated water flow of the equipment. Due to the large specific gravity of barite, the sedimentation speed is fast, and it will enter the lower layer of the sorting tank. Gangue minerals with small specific gravity will occupy the upper part of the sorting tank. The sorted barite and gangue minerals will be removed from the body through the ore discharge device, and barite concentrate and tailings can be obtained.
process flow 5# : Dehydration of barite
Because a large amount of water is used in the jig gravity separation process, the obtained barite concentrate has a high moisture content and needs to be dewatered. Concentrators can choose different dehydration processes according to their needs, such as mechanical dehydration, dryer dehydration, etc. In order to avoid waste of water resources, the concentrator can also set up a water circulation system according to needs, which can not only ensure the smooth progress of the process, but also make full use of resources and avoid waste of resources.
In summary
The above content is the gravity separation process of barite. Since the composition and characteristics of different types of barite are different, the concentrator needs to design the process according to the actual situation. It is recommended that the mineral processing plant conduct ore mineral processing tests before process design, and then formulate a reasonable mineral processing flow.