How to float weathered phosphate ore?

The weathered phosphate ore has fine particles and is intricately embedded with gangue minerals, making it difficult to separate. There is a lot of ore mud in weathered phosphate ore. Pre-demuding of semi-weathered and weathered phosphate ore can obtain higher-grade phosphate concentrate.

When selecting weathered phosphate ore, first float out the porous fine-grained minerals with a smaller volume density in the original ore, and then use positive and reverse flotation for the "light and heavy" products respectively. If the weathered phosphate ore contains minerals such as silicon and magnesium, positive flotation can be performed in a weak alkaline environment to remove silicate minerals. Reduce the silicon content in the ore, and then adjust the pH value of the pulp to weak acidity for reverse flotation to select magnesium-containing minerals, and finally obtain phosphate concentrate that meets industrial requirements.

Since weathered phosphate ore contains a large amount of ore mud and the mineral particles are fine, in addition to pre-de-sludge, the conventional sorting process must be optimized. For weathered phosphate ore with low original grade, high silicon and magnesium content, and fine embedded particles, the fine-grained minerals are separated by grading methods, and the silicate minerals are removed by "direct-reverse flotation process" to reduce the content of other non-target minerals, so that higher-grade phosphate concentrate can be obtained.