Abstract: The effect of reagent dosage and aeration rate on the total recovery and the recovery of size fractions in treating 86.88% -19 μm micro-fine pyrite ore by swirl injection flotation column was studied, and the recovery effects of the swirl injection flotation column and conventional flotation machine for this micro-fine pyrite were compared. The results show that when the swirl injection flotation column is used, there is a compromise between the frother dosage and aeration rate while the collector dosage should be larger than the maximum value used in this test, so as to make up for the insufficient collector amount due to the strong consumption of collector by extremely fine particles. In terms of pyrite recovery, the flotation column is evidently superior to the flotation machine for -19 μm size fraction, and basically the same with the latter for 19~30 μm size fraction and however, both are not ideal for -3 μm size fraction.

Key words: Swirl injection flotation column, Micro-fine pyrite particles, Flotation, Recovery