The main aim of a flotation circuit is to separate a mineral/metal of interest in the feed ore from the gangue (undesired) material. This separation is done after a comminution step, which reduces the particle size enough to liberate the desired mineral/metal or gangue species enough to make sufficient separation possible. In the flotation process, separation is done based on differences in hydrophobicity between the mineral of value and gangue material.

Given the purpose of a Flotation circuit, the main objective of a Flotation circuit is to achieve the desired grade (metal concentration) improvement, while losing as little as possible of the desired mineral/metal in the separation process (metal recovery). A third component here is to maximise the overall concentrate production rate, which is associated with the material throughput. Optimizing a Flotation circuit involves achieving an on-spec product grade, while the net metal production (i.e. maximising both recovery and throughput in the right balance).

The above is the metallurgical picture, which impacts the revenue of the Flotation circuit.

For full Financial optimization, costs can also be included - such as specific power (kWh/kg of metal in concentrate) and specific reagent usage (g/kg of metal in concentrate). Reducing costs is secondary to increasing the Flotation circuit revenue.

Flotation circuits are employed in the processing of different ores and commodities around the world. From direct floating copper-containing ores and reverse floating iron ore to separating sulphide and oxide precious metal-containing ores. It’s used in the majority of mining operations around the world. Different kinds of flotation cells are used in different flotation circuit setups, with different kinds of reagent additives - to achieve very specific separation tasks. So it’s difficult to generalise and present a single, as-is scenario.

However, the same physical principles hold. And given the significant knowledge share across the global mining industry, IntelliSense.io has seen that there is a significant degree of overlap between how Flotation circuits are operated around the world.

Many people and roles are involved in successfully operating a flotation circuit. Mine planners, geologists, metallurgists, instrumentation & control, maintenance, plant operators and control room operators, to name a few. The Flotation App currently focuses on two of these:

The Metallurgist (or Process Engineer) is tasked with the question: how should we operate the Flotation circuit to achieve the best production and separation performance - to turn the planned feed material into an on-spec product (concentrate grade), while losing as little as possible (recovery)? The answer to this question is ever-changing as both the feed (properties & throughput) as well as the market conditions keep changing. The Metallurgist therefore needs to continually make this decision. Typically this is done by deciding

The Control Room Operator (CRO) is tasked with the job of keeping the flotation circuit stable within its safe operating limits, ideally at the setpoints provided by the Metallurgist/Process engineer. They make real-time adjustments to control setpoints and actuators via the SCADA screen.

Subsequent Help Articles will outline how the Flotation App helps Metallurgists and Operators better operate and optimize their Flotation circuit.