The design and scale-up of a new flotation cell

Abstract

In 1978 the Chamber of Mines of South Africa started a study into the possible concentration of mineral values underground 1. Preliminary process development soon identified some very specific needs for equipment. Where suitable equipment did not already exist, equipment had to be developed for the purpose. This development could proceed in parallel with the process development provided that the work was structured in such a way that mathematical models could be constructed for each piece of equipment and the models then integrated to describe the overall process. One of the new pieces of equipment that was required was a flotation cell that would (i) accept a relatively coarse feed, and (ii) recover metal values from the feed efficiently, and, in particular, rapidly so that the cell volume would be as small as possible. A development programme was therefore initiated. This paper summarizes the progress made in this development programme.