Métodos de flotação de minérios de ferro

Abstract

In Brazil, the mineral industries apply only the reverse cationic flotation as the flotation method in mineral processing for iron ore. The decreasing of iron content in the deposits besides the increasing in the amount of fines particles and presence of more contaminants in gangue, in addition to the quartz, has been shown that other process could be more efficient in the beneficiation of these ores. For this reason, the direct anionic flotation, the reverse anionic flotation are reviewed, as well as the reverse cationic flotation, in order to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each method searching for a possible alternative for low grade iron ore treatment. The conclusions show that the anionic direct flotation and anionic reverse flotation have good potential for Brazilian iron ore application.