The article investigates dressing of zinc concentrate of Zhezkent processing plant with the purpose of receiving conditioned zinc concentrate and copper product output. The scheme of the zinc concentrate ressing is suggested which includes the following operations: desorption of the initial concentrate by sodium sulfide and activated carbon; preliminary hydraulic classification (washing of thin sludge) complicating the flotation process; comminution of the concentrate in a ball mill up to the size of 96 %, class - 0,044 mm; flotation of copper minerals by reagents: xanthate, Methyl isobutyl ketone blowing agent, and depressors (Na2S, FeSO4, ZnSO4). The proposed dressing scheme provides obtaining conditioned zinc concentrate of grade KC-3 with Zn 47,0 %, and Cu 1,9 %

Ivashchenko, Y. N.

Ramazanova, R. A.

Saurbayeva, B. S.

Tantybayeva, B. S.

Zhamanbayeva, M. K.

English

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275METALURGIJA 62 (2023) 2, 275-278R.A. RAMAZANOVA, B.S. SAURBAYEVA, Y.N. IVASHCHENKO,  B.S. TANTYBAYEVA, M.К. ZHAMANBAYEVARESEARCH ON ZINC CONCENTRATE DRESSING  AT THE ZHEZKENT PROCESSING PLANT TO OBTAIN CONDITIONED CONCENTRATEReceived – Primljeno: 2022-10-23Accepted – Prihvaćeno: 2022-12-24Preliminary Note – Prethodno priopćenjeThe article investigates dressing of zinc concentrate of Zhezkent processing plant with the purpose of receiving conditioned zinc concentrate and copper product output. The scheme of the zinc concentrate ressing is suggested which includes the following operations: desorption of the initial concentrate by sodium sulfide and activated car-bon; preliminary hydraulic classification (washing of thin sludge) complicating the flotation process; comminution of the concentrate in a ball mill up to the size of 96 %, class - 0,044 mm; flotation of copper minerals by reagents: xanthate, Methyl isobutyl ketone blowing agent, and depressors (Na2S, FeSO4, ZnSO4). The proposed dressing scheme provides obtaining conditioned zinc concentrate of grade KC-3 with Zn 47,0 %, and Cu 1,9 %.Key words: zinc concentrate, hydraulic classification, sludge, flotation, copper product.ISSN 0543-5846METABK 62(2) 275-278 (2023)UDC – UDK 546.47/66.082:541.9:661.185:66.065:546.56.002=111INTRODUCTIONDue to the increasing requirement in high-quality zinc concentrate production the problem of upgrading ordinary and substandard concentrates is of great ur-gency.The major problem of the technology improvements of lead and zinc complex processing, copper and zinc, and polymetallic ores in Kazakhstan is the increase of concentrate quality at rather high extraction of metals in the same-name concentrates [1].Decrease of metal content in the processed ores, in-crease of the number of thinly disseminated hard-to-enrich ores in the total volume of extracted ore raw ma-terials, transfer of the majority of plants to recycled water supply make it difficult to obtain relatively pure and rich concentrates. Under the existing conditions, the majority of factories in the lead and zinc sub-indus-try allow for significant mutual losses of metals in con-centrates.Thus, zinc losses in lead and copper concentrate products comprise from 10 to 17 %, lead losses in zinc concentrates are from 7 to 13 %, and copper losses in zinc concentrates are from 5 to 9 %.To date, a number of scientists have been engaged in improving the quality of zinc and copper concentrates. For example, in [2] effective chemical and mechanical methods of zinc flotation process intensification were R.A. Ramazanova (raigul_77_33@mail.ru), B.S. Saurbayeva, Y.N. Ivashchenko, M.К. Zhamanbayeva D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical university, Ust-Kamenogorsk, KazakhstanB.S. Tantybayeva, S. Amanzholov East Kazakhstan University, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstandeveloped, providing the improvement of zinc concen-trate quality. The authors [3] effectively separated zinc from zinc-containing sulfide-copper concentrate by chemical leaching to improve the quality of copper con-centrate product, etc.It is necessary to note, that previously we studied reg-ularities of oxidized zinc minerals leaching. Additionally, it investigated kinetics of zinc leaching from calamine and smithsonite minerals by sulfuric acid [4,5].It became necessary for our research to study dress-ing of low-quality zinc concentrate of Zhezkent pro-cessing plant to determine the possibility of improving the concentrate quality.EXPERIMENTAL PARTIt used in our researche the representative laborato-ry-technological sample of zinc concentrate of Zhez-kent processing plant. The chemical composition of the investigated sample is given in Table 1.Table 1 Original Sample Chemical Composition Componentry Content / %Zink 44,77Lead 2,30Copper 3,20Iron 15,96Sulfur pyrite 14,82Chemical analysis given in Table 1 shows that zinc concentrate contains 44,77 %, iron 15,96 %, copper 3,20 % and lead 2,30 %. The outcome of the rational analysis of zinc concentrate is given in Table 2.276  METALURGIJA 62 (2023) 2, 275-278R.A. RAMAZANOVA et al.: RESEARCH ON ZINC CONCENTRATE DRESSING AT THE ZHEZKENT PROCESSING…Rational analysis given in Table 2 shows, that sphal-erite in zinc concentrate for 96,76 % and chalcopyrite for 99,71 % are represented by sulfide forms.According to the mineralogical analysis, zinc con-centrates are represented by sulfides, in the form of thin clusters. Size of minerals in these clusters varies from 3 to 200 microns, with prevailing grains from 3 to 50 mi-crons. The composition and characteristics of the clus-ters are heterogeneous. There are thin increments of sphalerite to pyrite, and to galenite, and of sphalerite and galenite to chalcopyrite. Zinc concentrate contain aggregate compounds of pyrite-chalcopyrite-sphalerite; sphalerite-pyrite-halenite. There are additions of galen-ite to sphalerite and chalcopyrite. Galenite in concen-trates is completely in the mineral cluster, with prevail-ing size of 15-20 microns. The degree of the main min-eral disclosure in zinc concentrates is given in Table 3.While analyzing this table, it can be noted mutual as-sociation of zinc, copper, iron and lead that zinc concen-trates are characterized by a close sulfide with each other, which must be considered when choosing the parameters of the reagent mode and the scheme of zinc concentrate quality improvement [6,7].The character of valuable components distribution in minerals in zinc concentrate was studied by means of Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) with the INCA Energy microanalysis system. The SEM of the initial zinc concentrate is shown in Figure 1. Chemical analy-sis of spectra is given in Table 4.As it can see from Table 4, the content of copper, zinc, sulfur and iron in separate spectra varies within a wide range, which testifies to their uneven distribution in the initial zinc concentrate.According to the previous data, the zinc concentrate sample submitted for the research has black color visually. The dark color of sphalerite, according to mineralogical analysis of zinc concentrate, is caused practically in all clusters by the significant content of chalcopyrite emul-sion inclusions in sphalerite, most often associated with fine and less often with relatively fine subgraphic chalcopyrite inclusions [6].It recommends the dressing scheme according to the scheme of direct selective flotation including the fol-lowing operations:• Desorption of initial zinc concentrate with sodi-um sulfide and activated carbon followed by laundering of xanthogenate from sphalerite sur-face;• Pre-washing of thin sludge (without zinc loss) complicating the flotation process;• Zinc concentrate regrinding in a ball mill to 96 % fine, grade – 0,044 mm;• Flotation of copper minerals with reagents: xantho-genate, Methyl isobutyl ketone blowing agent, and depressors (Na2S - sodium sulfate, FeSO4 - iron sul-fate, ZnSO4 - zinc sulfate) at pH 7-8. Agitation time Table 2 Rational analysis of zinc concentrateMinеral FormsZinc concentrate Соntent / % Distribution / %Cufr. 0,01 0,29Cusecon. 0,17 4,96Cuprim. 3,25 94,75Cucom. 3,43 100,00ZnCO3 1,06 2,45ZnSiO2 0,34 0,79ZnS 41,82 96,76Zncom. 43,22 100,00Table 3  Degree of disclosure of minerals in zinc concentratesProduct nameProduct size, mcm% of free min-eral grainsPredominant size of minerals in the clusters-74- 44chalcopyritesphaleritepyritechalcopyritesphaleritepyriteZhezkent concentrate 91,372,752 90 9520-4020-4015-30Table 4 Distribution of valuable components in initial zinc concentrateSpectra О S Fe Cu Zn Pb OutcomeSpectrum 1 17,25 16,74 3,00 0,82 18,85 43,34 100,00Spectrum 2 7,88 44,42 30,64 - 17,06 - 100,00Spectrum 3 15,98 21,79 3,46 - 30,27 28,50 100,00Spectrum 4 4,71 31,24 3,31 0,93 59,81 - 100,00Spectrum 5 10,74 17,45 3,47 1,47 20,34 46,53 100,00Average 10,98 30,58 16,82 1,15 38,44 37,52Maximum 17,25 44,42 30,64 1,47 59,81 46,53Minimum 4,71 16,74 3,00 0,82 17,06 28,50Figure 1 SEM of initial zinc concentrate (350 x magnification)277R.A. RAMAZANOVA et al.: RESEARCH ON ZINC CONCENTRATE DRESSING AT THE ZHEZKENT PROCESSING…METALURGIJA 62 (2023) 2, 275-278with butyl xanthogenate and foaming agent con-sisted 3 minutes, with depressors 10 minutes fol-lowed by main flotation of 3 minutes. All open ex-periments were conducted at the temperature of 30-32 Celsius, with pulp density of 25-30 %.The research was carried out by open experiments according to the scheme shown in Figure 2. The flota-tion was carried out through Mekhanobr laboratory flo-tation machine, with a chamber volume of 1 dm3.To obtain high-quality zinc concentrate, preliminary hydraulic classification is required, i.e. it is required to exclude harmful influence of fine sludge. For this pur-pose, it is recommended to make hydraulic classifica-tion (washing) of fine grades of zinc concentrate before regrinding and feeding of pulp for flotation [8,9].In order to optimize the hydraulic classification process carried out in the thickener, and to reduce water consump-tion, it is necessary to determine the optimum sludge yield in this operation.In this connection, open experiments were carried out on different sludge yields during washing.The experiments were conducted at different washing rates and water flow rates to determine the op-timum sludge yield.The sludge yield was calculated based on the water consumption for washing and the performance of the thickener by draining.On the basis of the research data, taking into account factory productivity and the chosen thickener, the opti-mum degree of washing is considered to be a sludge yield of 3,5 %. The water consumption is 12 dm3 per 200 g, accordingly 60 m3 per 1 ton of concentrate product.Open experiments carried out in laboratory condi-tions according to the scheme in Figure 2, using a facto-rial experiment, tested the effect of grinding time and depressants consumption (Na2S - sulfuric sodium, FeSO4 - iron sulfate, ZnSO4 - zinc sulfate) for copper mass fraction in zinc concentrate product.The research resulted in the confirmed following regularities of dependence of copper mass fraction in zinc concentrate on separate parameters under other equal conditions (Figures 3,4).Figure 2 Scheme of open laboratory experimentsFigure 3  Dependence of copper mass fraction in zinc concentrate on the grinding time of the initial zinc concentrateFigure 4  Dependence of copper mass fraction in zinc concentrate on depressor consumptionThe results of preliminary hydraulic classification of the material before flotation showed that this opera-tion has a significant impact on crude zinc concentrate quality. According to previous studies [6,10] and the practice of zinc concentrate enrichment at Zhezkent processing plant, the preliminary washing of the initial concentrate before milling ensures the production of high-quality zinc concentrate products. The sludge out-put when washing the initial zinc concentrate during this experiment consisted 3,5 % according to the closed-loop scheme.278  METALURGIJA 62 (2023) 2, 275-278R.A. RAMAZANOVA et al.: RESEARCH ON ZINC CONCENTRATE DRESSING AT THE ZHEZKENT PROCESSING…Increasing the grinding time has a significant impact on the crude zinc concentrate output, on the zinc con-tent and its extraction. The increase of depressors con-sumption has a depressing effect on copper flotation and improvement of the crude zinc concentrate quality with a natural decrease in copper extraction.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONSThe results of scheme experiments are given in Ta-ble 5.The results of the scheme experiment on the investi-gated sample of zinc concentrate showed:• the possibility of obtaining conditioned zinc  concentrate of KC-3 grade with zinc content of 47,0 % and copper content of 1,9 %, with their extraction of 86,65 % and 45,10 % respectively;• copper product output with mass fraction of 8,92 % with its extraction of 54,9 %.The results of closed-loop scheme experiment on dressing based on the investigated sample of zinc con-centrate have demonstrated obtaining conditioned zinc concentrate of KC-3 grade with Zn 47,0 % and Cu 1,9 %, corresponding to the technical requirements for chemical composition of this product. At that, zinc ex-traction in flotation tailings is 86,65 %, compared to 72,77 % in earlier research on zinc concentrates con-ducted by Kazzinctech Ltd [10].The commercial zinc concentrate is further processed to produce zinc in metallurgical production. It is recom-mended to process copper product by autoclave leaching.CONCLUSIONThe possibility of a regulated hydraulic classifica-tion of zinc concentrate in the thickener before dressing process has been determined. The sludge output was 3,5 %, at water consumption of 60 m3 per 1 ton of con-centrate.The influence of grinding time, consumption of xan-thogenate and depressors on the dressing process has been studied. The optimal technological scheme of sub-standard zinc concentrate dressing has been proposed.The results of scheme experiment with the investi-gated zinc concentrate sample have are as follows:• obtaining conditioned zinc concentrate of KC-3 grade with Zn content of 47,0 % and Cu 1,9 %, with their extraction of 86,65 % and 45,10 % re-spectively;• copper output with a copper mass fraction of 8,92 % and its extraction of 54,9 %;Table 5 Results of scheme experiments on zinc concentrate dressingProduct Name Output / %Content / % Extraction / %Cu Zn Fe Cu Zn FeTotal copper concentrate 20,04 8,92 29,88 21,57 54,90 13,35 27,09Flotation tailings 79,55 1,83 48,51 14,55 44,77 86,20 72,53Sludge 0,41 2,60 49,00 15,00 0,33 0,45 0,39Total tailings 79,96 1,90 47,00 15,00 45,10 86,65 72,91Initial zinc concentrate 100,00 3,25 44,77 15,96 100,00 100,00 100,00• an increase in the zinc mass fraction in zinc con-centrate by 2,5-3 % due to a decrease in the mass fraction of copper and iron;• additional copper product output with a mass fraction of 9 % and more, used in metallurgical production.This work was supported by the grant IRN AR14 972774 Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of KazakhstanREFERENCES[1] Abramov A.A. 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M.: Izda-tel’stvo Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo gornogo univer-siteta, Gornaya kniga, Mir gornoj knigi, 2008, 710 s.[10] Bykov R.A., Laboratornye issledovaniya po razrabotke tekhnologicheskoj skhemy obezmezhivaniya cinkovyh koncentratov VKMHK, Otchet Kazcinktekha, Ust’-Kame-nogorsk, 2006.Note:  The responsible translator for English language is E.V. Popkova, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan

Research on zinc concentrate dressing at the zhezkent processing plant to obtain conditioned concentrate

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