' Patented Febi22,1944

2,342,277 '

UNITED STATES PATENT 0FFlCE_

234.2211

SEPARATION OF PYRITE, ARSENOPYRITE,

AND PYRRHOTITE BY FLOTATION ,

Earl G. Herkenho?, Stamford, Conn., assignor to American Cyanamid- Company, New York
N. Y a corporation of Maine ,

No Drawing. Application February 2, 1943,

Serial No. 474,491
4 Claims. (01. 209-167) producing a concentrate containing pyrite and This invention relates to a process of separat ing pyrite from arsenopyrite and/or from pyr-i arsenopyrite which can then be conditioned with
' rhotite by froth ?otation. Many sul?de ores contain mixtures of pyrite "

larger amounts of permanganate and again ?oat

ed to produce a pyrite concentrate. The amount of. permanganate used will, of course, vary with the nature of the ore and with the relative contents of arsenopyrite and pyrrho tite. In general a satisfactory depression of ar

and arsenopyrite and in some cases mixtures of . pyrite, arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite. It is desir

able to obtain concentrates of the minerals sep arately because of the different uses to which the

minerals may be put. Thus, for example, if ~pyrite

is to be burned to sulfadioxide for the production 10 manganate of the order of a quarter of a pound of sulfuric acid by the contact process the pres per ton or less. Selective depression of pyrrho ence of arsenic is undesirable and pyrite contain tite without depressing arsenopyrite will ordi

s'enopyrite is obtainable with, amounts of per

ing considerable amounts of arsenopyrite is not suitable for this purpose. The mixed ores may in
\some cases contain precious metal values, par ticularly gold or silver, and it is common in such cases for the precious metals to be primarily as sociated with the arsenopyrite. Inasmuch as the

narily require amounts of permanganate less than

0.05 pound per ton. "

It is an advantage of the present invention that the ?otation operation on the conditioned pulp is
not-critical and the normal sul?de ?otation re agents may be used such as xanthates, dithio

precious metal content of such ores frequently phosphates, mercapto-benzothiazoles, and the represents a considerable portion of the values 20 like. While ordinary sul?de reagents may be it is important to obtain a concentrate which con used, they differ somewhat in e?fectiveness, and tains a large portion of the arsenopyrite. I have found that the best results are obtained It has been proposed in the past to depress one with dithiophosphoric acids, dithiophosphates, or or other of the minerals by the addition of agents mixtures of dithiophosphates with mercaptc
such as lime )r sodium cyanide. These proce

25

benzothiazole and reagents of this type are pre

sired.

The invention will be described in greater de tail in conjunction with the following speci?c ex According to'the present invention froth ?ota-I " amples. The parts are by weight. tion is effected after conditioning with a small 30
'

dures do result in some separation but the sep aration is not sharp and leaves much to be de

ferred.

amount of a permanganate such as sodium or

potassium permanganate.v

The permanganate

EXAMPLE 1

An ore containing pyrite, arsenopyrite and pyr as pyrite is but little affected and can thereafter 35 rhotite, associated with a gangue which also con be recovered as a concentrate by froth ?otation. tained iron and sulfur, was treated for high arsenopyrite recovery. The arsenic content rep In the case of ores containing onlypyrite and arsenopyrite this procedure results in a. satisfac resented the major value or the ore under present economic conditions. The ore was ?rst subjected tory practical procem. _ to a bulk sul?de ?otation with stage oiling using It has further been found that the depressing dicresyldithiophosphoric acid and sodium iso- action of the permanganate is not the same for

depresses the arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite, where

arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite, the pyrrhotite be

ing more readily depressed than the arsenopyrite'. It is, therefore, possible to effect a separation of

V propyl xanthate as promoters. The concentrate

was then conditioned with 0.02 lb. ofpotassium permanganate and ?oated in two stages using the three minerals by ?rst conditioning with a 45. a small. additional amount of the dicresyldithio phosphoric acid. The purpose of the ?otation smaller amount of permanganate which is suf was to produce a nvrite-arsenopyrite concentrate ?cient to- substantially depress pyrrhotite with with a maximum rejection of the pyrrhotite. The out depressing any considerable portions of ar sequence. of conditioning and amounts of re. senopyrite. Froth ?otation will then result in

2,842,277 benzothlazole '- dlsecondarybutyldithiophoshate agents, together with metallurgical results, ap

pear in the following two tables:
reagent. ' , ,

Conditions and reagents

Conditions
Point at addition
minutes
Condition ______________ ..

Reagents, pounds per ton

Time,

NBICOI

AF 15

343

00nd. eoneentrate._..::
Cl. ?otation ..... -'_ ____ __

I .The promoters are referred to by tradedesig

Metallurgical results
Per Assays
Product cent (git.

nation. "AF 15 is dicresyldithiophosphoric acid diluted withcresols. "343 is sodium'isopropyl 20

xantha'te_

Metallurgical results

Weight

is

Assays
Product Weight As Fe S
Per cent Percent Percent
1
.

good).--"
01. Tall. -

1034511:
1:13
3.59
94.71 1.70

8.5;
18:10
0. 37
0 015 12.77

26 ii'colfii::::::'"""':::::::::::::::::::::::::
Rgh.Tail ................................ __ Comb. Cone _______________________________ _.i-.

Rgh. Cone ....................................... ._

5.29

4.36
con

0.24

15.95

3.28

g '15'653 9M7 M06

353 -'22

3523 so ~
1'62

It willb eapparent that

amounting to 196 to 1.

h1gh degree ' 0r

Rgh'Ta? """""""""" "

centration of arsenopyrite was obtained, 84 to 1,

A blank test which followed the same sequence tion of the. arsenic was recovered in a relatively 35 but omitted the potassium permanganate con high grade arsenopyrlte-pyrite concentrate. ditioning gave an arsenopyrite concentrate hav

It will be apparent that a very effective depres sion of pyrrhotite took place and a major por

and the pyrite concentration was even higher,

'When the same procedure was carried out but the potassium permanganate conditioning omit ted the cleaner concentrate contained only 4.56% of arsenic and but little rejection of pyrrhotite took place.
' EXAMPLE 2 \

ing only 1.17% of arsenic, more than 92% of the arsenopyrite remaining in the pyrite concentrate.
Flotation operations in the examples were car

ried out under standard conditions using Fager gren ?otation machines and operating conditions
such as air and the like were the same for both.

An ore similar in nature to that of Example 1 was subjected to the same type of treatment as

blank tests and those using permanganate condi

tioning. b '

described in Example 1, but the cleaner concen

trate was then further conditioned with addi

45

In the examples potassium permanganate has been described because of its ready availability.

sodium permanganate gives the same result and inlarge scale use presents some economies. ' a third ?otation. The additional permanganate I claim: ' . which acted as a depressant required further 50 1. A method of separating pyrite from arseno addition of collectors and frothers, the additional pyrite which comprises subjecting a mixture con collector being a mixture of the sodium salts of mercaptobenzothiazole and disecondarybutyldi taining both to conditioning with a su?iclent

tional potassium permanganate and subjected to

thiophosphoric acid. The ?otation procedure

an; arsenic assays- appear in the following

ta les:

alkali metal permanganate to depress the ar'seno pyrite and subjecting the conditioned material to
froth ?otation in the presence of a promoter for

Conditions and reagents

Conditions
Point of additions > . ' v ' >

n Reagents, pounds per ton

> .

m'fg?lfs Pgucggt
3
g. v
i

pH

cuso. mic 0.
0- 50
........ ..

AF 15
- 0.111
_.

34s
p 0. 05

KMn04

P. o

404

4.0
0. 015 .................. ..

'2
10 ~

0. 039
\ 0. 06

00nd. 01. 00110.

Py. ?otation ...................... ..

1 3

0. 054

0.03

10.02 added at 5 minutes.

The promoters are referred to by trade desig

nation. AF 15 is a dicresyldithiophosphoric acid diluted withcresols. 343" is sodium iso

pyrite, whereby a concentrate is obtained rich in

pyrite and a tailing rich in ars'enopyrite.

2. A method of separating pyrite, arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite which comprises subjecting a mix; propyl xanthate. P. 0. stands for pine oil and 404" for an undiluted mixed sodium mercapto- 75 ture containing the three minerals to condition

2,342,217

ing with a small vamount of an alkali metal per iector whereby a concentrate is produced rich in manganate sumcient to depress the pyrrhotite - 1 Pyrite and a tailing containing thearsenopyrlte.

but insu?icient to substantially depress the arsen opyrite, subjecting the conditioned material to
froth ?otation in the presence of a sul?de pro- .

3. A method according .to claim 1 m which the

froth ?otation takes place in the presence of a

moter whereby a concentrate is produced rich in

collector" containing the dithiophosphoric acid

' 4. A method according to claim 2 in which both ?otation operations are re?ected in the presence

pyrite and arsenopyrite and the tailing containing most of the pyrrhotite, conditioning the concen trate with an additional amount of alkali metal permanganate su?icient to depress the arseno 10 pyrite and subjecting the conditioned material to ,froth ?otation in the presence oi a sul?de col

oi a collector containing the dithiophosphoric

acid radical. '

EARL c. rmnxnmror'r'.