Patent ID: 8753593

Claim:
A method of separating nickel bearing sulphides from mined ores or concentrates of mined ores that contain talc, the method comprising: treating a slurry of mined ores or concentrates of mined ores with an initial grinding step, separating the treated slurry on the basis of particle size into a coarse particles stream and a fines particles stream to be further processed in a separate coarse particles flotation stage and a fines particles flotation stage, respectively; processing the coarse particles stream in coarse rougher flotation cells to produce a coarse particles concentrate stream and tailings with no recycling of the coarse particles concentrate stream or the tailings to the coarse rougher cells; processing the fines particles stream in fines rougher flotation cells to produce a fines particles concentrate stream and tailings with no recycling of the fines particles concentrate stream or the tailings to the fines rougher cells; the method including a series of regrinding steps whereby particles in the coarse particles concentrate stream and the fines particle concentrate stream are subjected to at least one regrinding operation, wherein at least one regrinding step involves regrinding at least part of the coarse particles concentrate stream and the fines particles concentrate stream to improve separation of talc and nickel sulphides.