Abstract

Flotation of apatite contained in the tailings produced in the magnetic concentration process of the Pellet Plant of the Pacific Mining Company has been studied and analyzed. The mining activity annually produces millions of tons of tailings generated by the treatment of minerals, which are discharged in the form of pulp in dams. In recent years there have been several studies aimed to the recovering of valuable minerals contained in such tailings. For this reason, flotation tests were performed in a mini flotation column, where the following variables were analyzed: froth height, air flow, feed and wash water, with collector and frother dose constant at pH 9. It is concluded that it is possible to recover 75.3% of P2O5 contained in the tailings with a 21.8% grade in a single stage, using an air flow of 1.4 cm/s, washing water flow of 0.41 cm/s, feeding flow of 1.4 cm/s and froth height of 15 cm; using 400 g/t of collector, 400 g/t of dispersant and 10 g/t of frother agent.