A study of the flotation behaviour of Pt and Pd tellurides and arsenides

The Platreef situatedin the Limpopo province of South Africa constitutes a significant source of PGEs in the world. Of the various PGE bearing minerals in the Platreef, PGE tellurides are the most abundant, occurring in excess of 30% in terms of PGM relative abundance, followed by PGE arsenides at 21%. As is well know, flotation is a key process in the upgrading and recovery of such minerals from the mined ores. The flotation response of these minerals can therefore have a significant bearing on the economics of the ore processing. It has been previously hypothesised that PGE tellurides exhibit significantly different flotation behaviour compared to PGE arsenides and thus the main focus of the present study has been to investigate this hypothesis and by so doing develop a better understanding of the flotation behaviour of these minerals.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Chemical Engineering

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Shamaila, Shamudulu

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• O'Connor, Cyril

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5402

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5402