The beneficiation process of lead-zinc ore usually includes processes such as crushing, grinding, flotation and dewatering, and the resulting concentrate is further processed to obtain pure lead and zinc products through processes such as smelting and refining. According to the different properties and composition of lead-zinc ore, its types mainly include sulfide lead-zinc ore, lead-zinc oxide ore, carbonate lead-zinc ore and other types, because the specific geology and mineral composition of each deposit may be different, so the beneficiation method of lead-zinc minerals will also be different.
Lead-zinc sulfide ore
Lead-zinc sulfide ore accounts for a large proportion of lead-zinc ore resources, is the main ore of lead-zinc ore beneficiation, lead-zinc sulfide ore mainly contains lead, zinc, copper, sulfur and other minerals, these minerals have obvious differences in floatability, and the embedded particle size is fine, so the main beneficiation method of lead-zinc sulfide ore is flotation method, and the more commonly used is direct preferential flotation method and mixed flotation method. In the flotation process, it is necessary to use some specific flotation agents, such as xanthate, black medicine, etc., to improve the flotation effect of the ore, the concentrate grade after flotation is higher, but the tailings grade is also relatively high, so the tailings need to be reprocessed.
Lead-zinc oxide ore
Lead-zinc oxide ore is not as easy to distinguish as lead-zinc sulfide ore. First, because the composition of lead-zinc oxide ore is relatively complex, there are a large number of gypsum, copper sulfate, zinc sulfate and other soluble salts, but also carbonate, sulfate, silicate, arsenate and other oxygen, sulfide, and a large amount of brown soil will be produced in the oxidation process, which is easy to mud and make it difficult to control the flotation operationThe second is that lead-zinc oxide ore usually has a relatively complex structure, including breccia, disseminated, vein-like and other structures, and the particle size of the mineral embedding is uneven, and the embedding relationship is also complex, and the lead-zinc oxide and gangue minerals are complex inlaid and cut through each other. Therefore, the beneficiation technology of lead oxide zinc ore mainly includes sulfide flotation method and direct flotation method, in addition, there are flocculation flotation method, re-flotation joint separation method and other beneficiation technologies, which technology needs to be determined according to the nature of the ore and production conditions.
Carbonate lead-zinc ore
The difficulty of carbonate rock lead-zinc ore beneficiation lies in the gelatinous structure and metasomatic structure of the ore, the difficulty of grinding and dissociation, the floatability of lead-zinc sulfide minerals is changeable, and they are staggered and overlapped with each other, and the interference of pyrite on the separation of lead ore and sphalerite leads to the increase of beneficiation, and the beneficiation technology of carbonate lead-zinc ore is mainly flotation method, magnetic separation method and gravity separation method.
The above is a simple description of different types of lead-zinc ore beneficiation process, in summary, there are great differences in the beneficiation technology of different types of lead-zinc ore, in the actual production process, it is necessary to select the appropriate beneficiation technology and equipment according to the specific ore properties and process requirements, so as to realize the efficient utilization of lead-zinc ore resources and the continuous improvement of environmental performance.