Patent ID: 9718066
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: B03B,B03C,B03D

Claim:
1. A method for separating useful material from a ground ore having several chemical phases and heterogeneous grain sizes, the method comprising: classifying ore particles of the ground ore into one of two fractions, the ore particles in a first fraction having first particle diameters substantially larger than a defined particle diameter and the ore particles in a second fraction having particle diameters substantially smaller than the defined particle diameter, both the first and second fractions containing mineral particles of the useful material; subjecting the first fraction to a flotation process to produce a flotation concentrate including enriched particles of the useful material; mixing the second fraction with magnetizable particles; separating bonded particles of the useful material in the second fraction that have bonded with the magnetizable particles from unbonded magnetizable particles that have not bonded with the mineral particles of the useful material; and separating the mineral particles of the useful material in the second fraction, that have bonded with the magnetizable particles and have been separated from the unbonded magnetizable particles, from the magnetizable particles to produce a magnetic separation concentrate containing the particles of the useful material.