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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Ore Processing

Flotation

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

/floʊˈteɪʃən/nounCommon term

In oil, gas & mining, flotation means: A process that separates valuable minerals from waste: chemicals make the mineral particles stick to air bubbles, which rise to form a froth that is skimmed off.

In Turkish: flotasyon, köpük flotasyonu

How it is used

The main method for copper, lead, zinc and many other sulphide ores. Plant staff talk about flotation cells, reagents (collectors, frothers), rougher and cleaner stages and flotation recovery. Metallurgists adjust air, pH and reagent dosage to improve results.

Example sentences

  1. Flotation recovery improved after we changed the collector.

  2. The ground ore is mixed with reagents before it enters the flotation cells.

Common collocations

  • froth flotation
  • flotation cell
  • flotation circuit
  • flotation reagents
  • flotation recovery
  • concentrateThe main product of a processing plant: a powder in which the valuable mineral is much richer than in the original ore, ready to be sold or sent to a smelter.
  • grindingThe stage after crushing in which ore is ground into a fine powder in rotating mills so that the valuable mineral grains are freed from the waste rock.
  • recoveryThe percentage of the valuable metal in the ore that a processing plant actually manages to capture in its final product.
  • tailingsThe finely ground rock and water left over after the valuable minerals have been removed from ore in a processing plant.

More terms: Ore Processing

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