Arsenic-rejection flotation circuit design and selection based on a multiple-objective evaluation

This paper describes the application of a shortcut computational method to analyse and compare alternative flotation circuits developed to treat high-arsenic copper ores. The methodology uses a superstructure that considers the many different available elements of the flotation circuits and compares the results. The circuits were evaluated using radial/spider graphs, and were evaluated based on the metric indices of efficiency, capacity, quality, economics and environmental impact. mulations were performed for a superstructure that considered 27 flotation circuits for an Australian sulphide ore containing chalcopyrite, tennantite, quartz and pyrite. The starting circuit corresponded to the flotation circuit described in previous work on this ore (Haque et al., 2010; Bruckard et al., 2010), and was used as the basis for comparison of the alternative flotation circuits. y result of the analysis is that the base condition is one of the best circuits with respect to the copper grade in the concentrates, CO2 emission, and fresh water usage. However, the base condition is one of the most inefficient circuits with respect to the percentage of arsenic in the products, profit, and copper recovery. This study shows that there are more suitable flotation circuits available than the stated base condition for a specific goal and/or multiple goals.