Jean Nesset

7/27/2019 Jean Nesset

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100 Years of Blowing Bubbles for Profit(With an Emphasis on the Bubbles)

Jan E. Nesset

CIM Distinguished Lecturer 2008-9

Original presentat ion

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Outline...

What is flotation and why this talk now?

Lets step back 100 years

The Inventors

The Implementers

Lawsuits (always a good sign)

The Chilean and Canadian perspectives


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...Outline

The next 70 years people forgotabout the bubbles in the process

Renewed interest 1990s Last word to the historians


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What is froth flotation?


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Consider 2 different types of

mineral particles in water

The desired mineral particles are

selectively coated with a hydrocarbon

chemical collector making them

hydrophobic (water-hating)

UNDESIRED

MINERALS

DESIRED

MINERAL

IN

WATER


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Approaching gas

bubble


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rising gas bubblecollects

hydrophobic

particles only


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Role of Frother controls bubble size created

and prevents coalescence of bubbles

Courtesy of McGill University, Materials Engineering


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Modern plants

use large

capacityequipment

38 ft diameter SAG mill

160 m3 flotation cells


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Flotation is widely used

(examples) Base metals: Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Mo, Fe, Sn, Ti

Precious metals: Au, Ag, Pt, Pd

Industrial minerals: graphite, potash,phosphate, even diamonds

Environmental: Waste water treatment,contaminated soil remediation

Recycling: ink from paper, plastics from scrap

Energy: coal, bitumen from oil sands, uranium


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Lets step back about

100 years...

Comminution and Mineral

Separation Circuits at the end

of the 19th Century..

...not much change over the

previous 300 years


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Stamp Mills

Deadwood, South

Dakota gold mill, 1888

mid-1500s


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Hand Sorting of Ore

Sullivan Mine, BC,

circa 1910mid-1500s


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Gravity jigs, sluices and

tables

mid-1500s

Sullivan

Mine, BC,circa 1940

Jig, early

1900s


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Gravity methods and handsorting prevailed

Metal recoveries weretypically 50-70% at best

Recovery of smaller particles(slimes) and concentration oflower density materials was not

possible

Mineral Processing was at

an impasse....


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The example of Broken Hill, Australia,

at the turn of the 19th Century

+6 million tonnes of zinc

rich tailings in huge piles

An enormous Pb-Zn-Ag

deposit in New South

Wales (20%Pb, 18%Zn

300 gpt Ag)

new BHP ore

dressing plant, 1899


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0

200

400

600

800

1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902

Year of Production

Production,kTonnes

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Dividends,A

$x1000

Annual Ore Production

Bonuses & Dividends

At the BHP mine the mineral processing

methods could not treat the sulphides

efficiently

Profits plummeted as the mining moved

from the upper oxides to the lower

sulphide ore


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1. Britannia Beach coppermine in British Columbia.

2. Sullivan lead, zinc, silvermine in south-eastern B.C.

3. Porphyry copper mines inthe U.S. mid and south-west

and in Chile (Braden)

Other mines were running into

similar problems


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Bri tann ia Beachcopper m ine on Br i t ish

Columbia coast

Other mines were running

into similar problems

Discovered in 1888

Relatively fine-grained Cu

finally began production

in 1904. Used hand-sorting

Gravity circuit was a

disaster


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Sull ivan lead,zinc , si lver m ine in

Br i t ish Columbia

Other Mines were running


Discovered in 1892

direct smelting of ore

1898-1907

grades decreased from43%Pb, 600 gpt Ag to

16.5%Pb, 230 gpt Ag

High zinc contamination

Hand-sorting kept

the mine operating

from 1910-1914


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The U.S. Copperpo rphyry m ines



Feed grades 1-2% Cu

Cu recoveries only 60-70% with gravitymethods

Unable to treat slimes

0

10

20

30

40

50 60 70 80 90 100

Cu Recovery, %

ConcentrateGrade,%Cu

Utah

Chino

Ray

Nevada

Early 1900's

Modern

porphyry plants


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Braden Copper Co.

El Tenien te m ine (1906)



Feed grades 3.4%Cu, 250 tpd

Cu recoveries 45-55% with gravity methods

High costs, barely economic, tried Elmore cells


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1. The su lphide problem asox ide deposi ts depleted

2.The porphyry prob lem oflow Cu recover ies

3.The zinc p rob lem of no/lowrecovery and contam inat ion

(poo r d ifferen t ial separat ion

of lead from zinc )

The Industry Faced

Immediate Challenges


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1891 1st 60-cycle AC power distribution system

1892-3 GE and Westinghouse formed

1900 Max Plancks Quantum Theory

1900 - U.S Gold Standard Act 1901 1st Nobel prizes

1903 - Ford motor company founded

1903 Wright brothers 1st powered flight

1903 electric washing machine and vacuum cleaner

1905 Einsteins Theory of Relativity

1909 Plastic is invented

1913 electric refrigerator

What else was happening

in the World?


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Demand for metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Au )was inc reasing rapid ly wh i le the

supply was becom ing scarcer

Techno logy was at the forefront .Peop le expected eng ineers/scient ists

to f ind the solut ion

The Result

DEMAND

SUPPLY


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The Inventors


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In 1860 William Haynes (Britain) patented a process forseparating sulphides from ground ore by mixing with oil

(1-10%) and separated in water. He called it bulk-oil

flotation. There was no commercial application. The

agglomeration of oil/sulphides likely had a density less

than water so floated to the top.

In 1877 the Bessel brothers, Georg and Adolph(Germany), owners of a graphite business making

crucibles, patented a process for mixing oil and graphite

and then boiling the mixture in water to produce highgrade graphite (90%) in the froth. The process was a

commercial success.A modified patent in 1886

substituted lime and acid to produce the bubbles. The

first true commercial application of froth flotation

The Europeans


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In 1885, Rebecca (Carrie)Everson (U.S.), wife of a

physician who had invested in a

failed mining enterprise that she

wanted to help, patented a

process for separating sulphidesby mixing with small quantities of

oil and adding water and

sulphuric acid. Entrained gas in

the agglomerated mixture likelyresulted in flotation. Attempts to

commercialize on several ore

types failed. She was unable to

raise further funding.

An American Woman


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In 1898 Francis and AlexanderElmore (Britain) patented a bulk oilflotation process involving intimate

mixing of oil and lead sulphide ore in

mixing drums before adding to a

water-filled separation vessel.Entrained air resulted in flotation of

the agglomorated mixture. The

process was successfully applied at

the Glasnir lead mine in Wales. Thisbulk oil flotation process was

widely applied. A second

successful patent (1904) involved

applying vacuum to generate small

bubbles.

More Europeans...

Vacuum process

1898 Patent


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In 1902 Alcide Froment (Italy) patented(UK) a process for the use of any kind of

gas bubbles to float sulphide particles

treated with a minute quantity of oil/fatty

substance. His was the first link betweenoil flotation and gas flotation but he failed

to specify that the bubbles be generated by

air.

The British engineering firm MineralsSeparation bought Froments patent in1903 and it became the basis for their

string of patents covering froth flotation

...Still More Europeans


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It took over 40 years to make the linkthat both minute quantities of oil

and small gas bubbles were needed

for successful froth flotation of sulphides

It would take only another 10 years forthe implementers to make an effective

flotation machine and sort out most

of the key operational issues

In Summary


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The Implementers


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Back to Broken Hill, NSW, Australia,

where zinc tailings were piling up

and profits had disappeared

There wereseveral competing

companies: Zinc

Corporation,

Broken Hill

Proprietary (BHP),De Bavay

Company, British

Broken Hill Total estimated value of tailings,

(Ag, Zn, Pb) over 33 million


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BHP was first out (1903) with the

Delprat process (later Potter-Delprat)

They added acid or sodium sulphate (salt

cake) to hot tailings

pulp to generate CO2bubbles, no oil added

directly (residual ?)

Used until 1923

1st 50 tons of zinc

concentrate produced

from tailings (1903)


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Each Plant used different patented

device to avoid licence fees

Potter-Delprat

Used at BHPuntil 1923

Elmore vacuum

Used at ZincCorp. until 1917

De Bavay

Used at hisplant until

1913


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The Mineral Separation Co.

The true developers of froth flotation

A British company formed in 1905 toexploit flotation for separation of

sulphide ores

They bought up patents and chargedroyalties

Alcide Froment (1903) gasbubbles and oil together

Sulman, Picard, Ballot (1905 U.S.)- pneumatic cell

Constructed a new cell design for useon zinc tailings at Broken Hill Sulman, Picard, Ballot

patent


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The Mineral Separation Co.

The true developers of froth flotation

The key was to add avery small quantity of

oil (


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The Hoover Brothers...

...Key Connection to Flotation

Herbert Hoover, miningengineer (1895,Stanford)

Managed mines in Australia

and China made a fortune Founder of Zinc Corporation

(Broken Hill) 1906

Brought MS to Australia tosolve zinc flotation problem

Theodore Hoover, miningengineer (1901,Stanford)

Managing Director of MineralSeparation, 1906-1910

Wrote one of first texts onflotation, 1916

Prof of Mining/Met - Stanford


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At last...Pneumatic Flotation Machines

Circa 1915

Callow machines Air blown in through

a permeable cloth

on bottom

Mineral Separation sub-aeration machines

Air introduced with stirredmechanical agitator


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Leslie Bradford

Developer of Activators and

Depressants for Differential Flotation forLead and Zinc at Broken Hill

Use ofCuSO4 as activatorfor zincflotation (1912)

Use ofSO2 and sulphite asdepressants for zinc mineral (1913)

Implemented close air control, alkalineflotation circuits

Mineral Separation introduced asub-aeration flotation cell by 1916

True differential flotation fully implementedby 1916 at the Broken Hill mines


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Froth Flotation moves

to North America.

Th B i R d ti C Pl t B i


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The Basin Reduction Co. Plant, Basin

Montana (Butte and Superior Copper

Company), 1911

James Hyde running

a flotation test

Retreatment of zinc tailings in alead-zinc operation

Ultimate objective was to apply toporphyry copperrecovery

James Hyde was a MineralSeparation employee until 1910

when he left at the urging of

Herbert Hoover to implementflotation at the Basin plant

Hyde was a classmate of TheodoreHoover, who also left MS in 1910

Th B i R d ti C Pl t B i


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The Basin Reduction Co. Plant, Basin

Montana (Butte and Superior Cooper

Company), 1911

Start-up in Aug, 1911 onzinc recovery from lead

tailings

Used a modified celladapted from Mineral

Separation

1st application of arougher-cleaner circuit

A lawauit with MS shutthe mill down after 6

months

The Basin Plant

Rougher cells above,

cleaner cells below


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The Lawsuit (Hyde vs Mineral Separation)

Mineral Separation

Patent

June 28, 1910

T. Hoover Patent

April 5, 1910

Hyde countered with

a 2nd patent

Applied Nov 10, 1911


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The Judgement (U.S. and Britain)

(Dec 11, 1916)

The evidence of infringement is clear

the patent must be confined to the results obtained bythe use of oil within the proportions often described in thetestimony and in the claims of the patent as 'criticalproportions,' 'amounting to a fraction of 1 per cent on theore,'

This was the final litigation battle

Mineral Separation claimed royalties from manyoperations for the use of a froth flotation licence

provided the oil use was below 1% of the ore


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The Canadian andChilean Connections

Braden Copper Mine (El Teniente)

Bri tann ia Beach Copper Mine

The Su ll ivan Lead-Zinc -Silver Mine


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The Application of Froth Flotation at

Bradens El Teniente mine -1912

Mineral Separation cells

at Sewell concentrator

The first Chilean application offroth flotation (on gravity tailings)

30% increase in Cu Recovery Revolutionized Chilean copperindustry

First productionof copper byfroth flotation?

5

10

15

20

25

30 50 70 90

CuConcentrateGrade(%)

Cu Recovery (%)

Pre-1911

1911

1912

1913

1914

1915

1916

1917

1918

1919

Pre-flotation

gravity only

Flotationstarted Nov 16,

1912

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

MillFeed,MillionTPY Flotation started

Nov 16, 1912


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The Britannia Beach Copper Mine

West Coast of B.C., 1912

The original Britannia

flotation mill with

gravity mill behind,

1912.

The first NorthAmerican application of

froth flotation to copper

(gravity tailings feed)

Used Mineral Separationcell technology

Cu recovery improved

dramatically to 94% andthe mine became

profitable for the first time

First Canadian froth

flotation mill


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The Porphyry Problem Solved

..At the Britannia Mine inBritish Columbia where theplant has been in operationfor many months,recoveries of over 94 per

cent are being regularlyobtained, .

The Brittania Beach float

plant was operating

before any of the U.S.

Copper plantsTimes of London

June 18, 1913


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Solving the metallurgy of the highly

complex Sullivan Pb-Zn-Ag deposit

Differential Pb-Zn flotation used in Australia didnot work: high pyrrhotite, very fine grained

Mineral Separation offered little help. Other oreswere far easier and more plentiful

The Sullivan mill started

operation in 1923

The impact on Cominco


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The impact on Cominco

(Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co.)

All elements ofcomplex sulphide differential flotationwere developed: 3-stage grinding, regrinding middlings,stage/starvation reagents, multi-stage cleaning, heated pulp

The successful flotation plant at Sullivan changed the

fortunes of the Trail Smelter and Cominco

Flotation Began

Production by year

from the Sullivan Mine


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Smelting Practices had to change to

accomodate more fine concentrates

instead of lump ore

Open roasting of lump ore gave way to multi-

hearth roasters and large reverberatory furnaces

Victoria Roast Yard,

Sudbury, 1890s

Multi-hearth

roaster

Reverberatory

furnaces,

Anaconda 1915


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The Impact on World Pb, Zn, Cu Production

It is clear that Pb, Zn and Cu production increasedrapidly following the introduction of flotation

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920

Year

Output

,million

tonnes

Zinc

Lead

Copper

Advent of Flotation

1905 - Australia

Trends in World Lead, Zinc and Copper Output

1800 to 1920


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The Insight of Thomas. A. Rickard

Mining engineer (RSM, 1885)

Friend of the Hoovers Historian, writer and publisher of

Mining & Engineering Press

we know that the key to the flotationprocess is to be found, not in the oil, notin the acid, or in the apparatus, but inthe bubbles. The man who understands

the mystery of a soap bubble hasmastered the chief mystery of flotationThe Flotation Process (1916)

Key Role in Technology Transfer


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For the next 70 years people forgot

about the bubbles in the process

In 1910, the true role of bubbles in flotation wasmisunderstood

By 1920, the significance of the bubbles andhow to make them was understood

Mechanical, sub-aeration flotation

machines Need forfrothers separate from collectors:

Pine oil, pine-tar oil, cresylic acid, eucalyptus

oil were still in use 60 years later

1990s: The Study of Gas Dispersion


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1990 s: The Study of Gas Dispersion

and Cell Hydrodynamics

Gorain (JKMRC) validated

the key k-BSAFrelationship

Finch and Gomez (McGill) developed industrialsensors now used in plants all over the world

Jim Finch and

Cesar Gomez

Gas Hold-up(Conductivity) Bubble Size

(Imaging)Gas Velocity

(Pressure)

Barun

Gorain


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What do the

Technology Historians

Have to Say ?


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The development offlotation was the greatestsingle metallurgical improvement of the

modern era.....it is not overstating the case to

claim that flotation was of central importance

to the smooth functioning of the global

economy Jeremy Mouat (1996)

both the internationalism of the mining industryand the nature of its technology transferblurr

the lines between invention, innovation and

adaptation. Mining machinery, techniques and

people were all highly mobile. Hence attributing

national origins to mining technology often

seems irrelevant. Diane Menghetti (2005)


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Final Thoughts (mine)

The development of flotation took a long time

because it involved physical and chemicalconcepts that were entirely new

Flotation was the enabling technology for modern

mining business. The economical processing ofnew ores by flotation created companies that

became mining giants, many of which are still

here today, and changed global business

Rickard was right, understanding the bubbleswas, and continues to be, the key to improving

the flotation process

Acknowledgements....Many Thanks to


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Acknowledgements....Many Thanks to Canadian Mineral Processors

Robertina Pillo and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Bob Hartzell, U.S. National Mining Hall of Fame

Prof. Jeremy Mouat, University of Alberta

Frances Noone, Teck Cominco Archives, Trail BC

Jo-Anne Colby, CP Archives, Montreal

Dr. Phillip Mackey, Xstrata Process Support

Don Wilson, Crowsnest Highway Project, BC Prof. Mike Nelson, University of Utah

Dr. Peter Koh, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia

Michael Allan, Teck Cominco

Dr. Michael Fairweather, Consultant

Prof. Jim Finch, Dr. Cesar Gomez, McGill University, Montreal

Dr. Alban Lynch, Rick West, Angie Spry, AusIMM, Australia

Dr. Glenn Dobby, SGS-Minnovex

Diane Mitchell, B.C. Mining Museum

Canadian Mining Hall of Fame


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Acknowledgements....Many Thanks to


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Acknowledgements....Many Thanks to Canadian Mineral Processors

Robertina Pillo and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Bob Hartzell, U.S. National Mining Hall of Fame

Prof. Jeremy Mouat, University of Alberta

Frances Noone, Teck Cominco Archives, Trail BC

Jo-Anne Colby, CP Archives, Montreal

Dr. Phillip Mackey, Xstrata Process Support

Don Wilson, Crowsnest Highway Project, BC Prof. Mike Nelson, University of Utah

Dr. Peter Koh, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia

Michael Allan, Teck Cominco

Dr. Michael Fairweather, Consultant

Prof. Jim Finch, Dr. Cesar Gomez, McGill University, Montreal

Dr. Alban Lynch, Rick West, Angie Spry, AusIMM, Australia

Dr. Glenn Dobby, SGS-Minnovex

Diane Mitchell, B.C. Mining Museum

d ll f

Jean Nesset

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