Plant practice innovations in a phospate concentrator

Fosfertilʹs Tapira orebody is the most important phosphate deposit in Brazil. A combination of mineralogical and technological features renders the concentration by froth flotation a challenge. iginally designed plant allowed recover of only 40% of the available phosphate rock. The search for a new flotation route started with characterisation studies that revealed the existence of two major kinds of ore: a brittle or friable ore (associated predominantly with siliceous gangue) and a tough or grainy ore (associated predominantly with carbonaceous gangue). scale flotation tests indicated the need for individual circuits for each ore type. The grainy ores required a new reagent scheme, based on the utilisation of a blend of sulphosuccinates, sulphosuccinamates and vegetal origin fatty acids as collector. The friable ores required a special flowsheet with individual circuits for coarse and fine fractions. nnovations were implemented industrially and allowed the beneficiation of the full orebody.