Removal of graphite from lead rougher concentrate using water-only cyclones

Water-only cyclones use water as medium for separation of minerals on the basis of specific gravity. Water-only cyclones are presently being used in coal processing and its applicability in processing mineral fines has not been explored. In the present study, the possibility of using water-only cyclones to separate graphite from lead rougher concentrate is analysed on the basis of investigations carried out.\ud \ud Experiments were conducted on lead rougher concentrate of Hindustan Zinc Ltd., India, using a 76 mm water-only cyclone to obtain a lead concentrate having less than 3% graphite. A 23 factorial experiment was carried out to study the effect of important variables such as vortex finder diameter, apex diameter and percent solids on the separation of graphite and galena. These results show that the diameter of vortex finder has a significant effect on the separation of graphite. The experiments indicate that it is possible to get a lead concentrate of 39% lead with 2.6% graphite at a recovery of 45% from a feed assaying 19.6% lead and 9.8% graphit