Abstract

flotation is a process of separating precious minerals from the gangue, based on the differences in the surface properties of the particles, using reagents added in the presence of air bubbles. The consumption of flotation reagents represents a very important part in the mineral enrichment cost. In this study of optimizing the mineral flotation reagents consumption, we have empirically modeled the concentrate contents according to the influence of elements, based on the experimental designs theory[1-4]. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal experimental conditions, in order to study the main effects of the different parameters and the effects of possible interactions between them, which cannot be revealed by conventional methods. The method of factorial design was applied to optimize the specific consumption of flotation reagents[5-7]. The important parameters which affect the concentrate y (%) are the flotation reagentsR1 (g/t), R2 (g/t) andR3 (g/t)[8],the other parameters are assumed to be constant by working on the same ore quality with laboratory tests. These parameters were respectively coded x1, x2 and x3, and were studied between two levels -1 (low level) and +1 (high level). The flotation tests are based on the fixation of the specific concentration of two reagents and changing the third, in order to identify the test that leads to maximum percentage of concentrate y (useful product) and minimum undesirable products (impurities).