Abstract

Water recirculation in mineral processing plants is an effective solution to water scarcity. However, this causes some operational challenges. In this work, the depressing effect of a residual anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) on chalcopyrite flotation under different conditions of mechanical degradation, pH and concentration is presented. Tests of micro-flotation, reagent adsorption and induction time were performed. The results showed an inverse relationship between PAM degradation and chalcopyrite depression at pH values of 7 and 9. On the other hand, for the highly sheared flocculant, the chalcopyrite depression increased with pH, reaching the greatest impact at pH 11. These effects have not been previously studied and may be important for the industry.