Patent ID: 11931747
Assignee: FINETECH MINERALS PROPRIETARY LIMITED
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 11:
12. A process for the separation and recovery of target minerals from a feed including particulate matter which comprises target mineral particles and gangue particles, the process comprising:
(a) liberating target minerals from run of mine ore to produce an intermediate product of particulate matter including liberated target mineral particles and gangue particles;
(b) separating and recovering the liberated target mineral particles from the gangue particles of the intermediate product through at least one spiral separator wherein at least some of the smaller sized target mineral particles and gangue particles are not fully recovered by the separation and are sacrificed to tailings;
(c) classifying the tailings of smaller sized target mineral particles into particle size bands using at least one screen and panel to obtain a first recovered product of classified particulate matter including target mineral particles and gangue particles, wherein at least some of the smaller sized target minerals and gangue particles are not fully recovered in the first recovered product; and
(d) separating the target mineral particles from the gangue particles in the first recovered product using a separator according to claim 1 to obtain a second recovered product including a higher concentration of target mineral particles to gangue particles.