Lead Zinc Mining Process
Lead Zinc Ore
Description
Lead and zinc are widely used in electrical industry, machinery industry, military industry, metallurgical industry, chemical industry, light industry, pharmaceutical industry, nuclear industry, petroleum industry, etc.
More than 80% of the world's lead is used in the production of lead-acid batteries. Zinc is an important non-ferrous metal raw material, it is second only to copper and aluminum in the consumption of non-ferrous metals. It has good calendering, wear resistance and corrosion resistance.
Relation to Mining
Zinc is recovered from a number of different zinc minerals. The most significant of these is sphalerite. Other minerals, such as smithsonite (ZnCO3, zinc carbonate), and zincite (ZnO, zinc oxide) are also zinc ores.
Zinc is also recycled from scrap.
The U.S. is the world’s largest producer and consumer of refined lead metal. Major mine producers other than the U.S. include Australia, Canada, China, Peru, and Kazakhstan.
In the U.S., six lead mines in Missouri, plus lead-producing mines in Alaska and Idaho, accounted for all domestic mine production. Significant amounts of lead are recovered as a by-product or co-product from zinc mines, and silver-copper deposits. Primary refined lead was produced at one smelter-refinery in Missouri. Of the plants that produced secondary lead at year end 2013, 12 had capacities of 30,000 tons per year of refined lead or greater and accounted for more than 95% of secondary production.
Lead Zinc Flotation
Lead Zinc Mining Equipment
According to the degree of oxidation, lead-zinc ore divide into lead-zinc sulfide mine (oxidation rate <10%), lead-zinc oxide ore (oxidation rate >75%) and mixed lead-zinc ore (oxidation rate is 10%~75%) ).
1 Lead-zinc sulfide ore
1. Beneficiation process of lead-zinc sulfide ore:
The main constituent minerals of lead sulphide ore are galena and sphalerite, all of which are primary ore. Galena has good floatability. In most lead-zinc mines, zinc is higher than lead. Most of the lead-zinc sulfide mine uses preferential flotation technology, “floating lead and zinc-suppressing”, which is often reasonable both technically and economically.
2 Lead-zinc oxide ore
In the lead-zinc oxide ore, lead is mainly present in the state of leucite and lead bismuth, and zinc is mostly present in the state of smithsonite and willemite. Oxidized ore is gradually formed by the action of long-term weathering and groundwater containing carbonate. Regarding the flotation of lead-zinc ore, the lead oxide ore is generally applied by the flotation of xanthate, and the zinc oxide ore is generally applied by the method of flotation of ammonium sulfide.
3 Mixed lead-zinc ore
The flotation of mixed lead-zinc ore can be carried out in lead sulfide → lead oxide → zinc sulfide → zinc oxide → lead sulfide → Zinc sulfide → lead oxide.
Jaw Crusher, Cone Crusher: crush ore to a smaller size, make the target minerals and gangue minerals dissociated.
Vibrating screen: The mixture material is divided into different grades according to the particle size, and the qualified particle size products are sorted to avoid excessive pulverization of the ore and improve the productivity of the crusher.
Ball mill: grind ore to a finer particle size.
Hydrocyclone: Distribute qualified products in time to avoid over-grinding, and at the same time, separate unqualified coarse sand and return to grinding.
Flotation machine: The slurry is aerated and agitated, so that the ore particles whose surface has been subjected to the collector are attached to the bubbles, scraped off with a scraper to obtain a concentrate.
Thickener: The process of precipitating and concentrating the slurry to separate the thinner slurry from the clarified liquid and the slurry.
Filter: Remove most of the capillary water from the material.
In addition, there are some auxiliary equipment, such as electric vibration feeder, belt conveyor, mixing tank, mine bin, sand pump, pump pool, motor and so on.
Cases Study - Lead Zinc Mining
15TPH Tailings Lead & Barite Extraction Plant in Iran
Material: tailings contain lead 2% and barite 20%
Capacity: 15TPH
Country: Iran
Feeding size: 1mm
Raw Mineral Description
Mineral composition: 12,000 tons of tailings which contain lead 2% and barite 20%
Customers Requirements
Increase the lead and barite grade as much as possible Read More >>>
30TPH Rock Lead Zinc Process Plant in Morocco
Material: rock type lead zinc ore
Capacity: 30TPH
Country: Morocco
Feeding size: 0-400mm
Raw Mineral Description
Mineral composition: lead 6%, zinc 5%
Customers Requirements
1. Target concentrate: lead >45%, zinc >45%
2. Gravity separator to process 0-2mm ore Read More >>>
