EXAMINATION OF THE POSSIBILITY OF OBTAINING PYRITE CONCENTRATE FROM THE FLOTATION TAILINGS OF THE LECE MINE

Predrag Lazić; Đurica Nikšić; Dejan Stojanović; Tamara Stojanović

Predrag Lazić University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Djušina 7, Belgrade, Serbia
Đurica Nikšić University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Djušina 7, Belgrade, Serbia
Dejan Stojanović Mine and flotation Lece, Medvedja, Serbia
Tamara Stojanović University of Pristina, Faculty of Technical Sciences in Kosovska Mitrovica

Keywords: Lece mine, Flotation, Pyrite concentrate, Gold, Silver

Abstract

The Lece mine is characterized by the fact that it has gold and silver besides the main valuable components in the flotation concentrates of lead and zinc. Practically since the opening of the mine and flotation, research has been carried out with the aim of obtaining better technological indicators on all four valuable metals (lead, zinc, gold and silver), especially on gold. This paper represents a contribution to that research in order to increase the recovery of gold in flotation concentrates. Gold occurs in ore in several ways (native, with lead and zinc, with pyrite and quartz), which requires a complex technological scheme of gold valorization. Most of the gold is bound to galena and is valorized through lead concentrate. A smaller part of the gold is bound to zinc and is valorized through zinc concentrate. However, about 25% of the gold remains in tailings. Researchers ie. the authors of this paper tried to valorize part of the gold that is lost in the tailings by introducing a third pyrite concentrate with an increased gold content.
The paper presents the results of laboratory experiments on the possibility of obtaining pyrite concentrate from the Lece tailings and a proposal for a technological scheme of the process.

References

LAZIĆ, P., NIKŠIĆ Đ. and STOJANOVIĆ, D. (2021) Zamena starih flotacijskih ćelija u flotaciji rudnika „Lece“.

Lece (2020) Technical report: Industrijski rezultati ostvareni u decembru 2020 u flotacijskom postorjenju rudnika „Lece“.

DRAŠKIĆ, D. (1986) Industrijska primena pripreme mineralnih sirovina II knjiga, Univerzitet u Beogradu - Rudarsko-geološki fakultet, Beograd.

ĆALIĆ, N. (1990) Teorijski osnovi preipreme mineralnih sirovina, Univerzitet u Beogradu - Rudarsko-geološki fakultet, Beograd.

JELENKOVIĆ, R., et al. (2010) Ležišta mineralnih sirovina, Univerzitet u Beogradu - Rudarsko-geološki fakultet, Beograd.

RADOSAVLJEVIĆ, S., et al. (2012) Mineralogical and chemical study of siver in polymetallic ore of the Lece Mine - Medveđa in Proceedings of the 44th International October Conference on Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 21-26, 1-3 October 2012, Bor, Serbia.

Metallurgist (2016) Webarticle