A review of phyllosilicate minerals in flotation: Mechanisms of deleterious effect and mitigation method

Abstract

High content of phyllosilicate minerals has a deleterious effect on the mineral flotation process. In clay science, with increasing the solid concentration, phyllosilicate mineral particles associate into different network structures, according to the relative potentials and positions of basal faces and edge faces, which plays a dominant role in the flow behaviour of pulp. In this paper, the effect of phyllosilicate minerals on flotation is reviewed through entrainment, slime coating and pulp rheology. The methods for mitigating the deleterious effect of phyllosilicate minerals in flotation are also discussed microscopically and macroscopically. However, merging phyllosilicate mineralogy to their metallurgical effects is an area with even less conclusive outcomes to date. Based on this, understanding the phyllosilicate mineralogy would fortifying the research from phyllosilicate mineralogy to the network structure, rheology and flotation. Thus, selective altering the network structure of phyllosilicate minerals would be a promising method in enhancing the overall flotation performance with high content of phyllosilicate minerals, since the network structures could be able to combine the microscopic surface potentials with macroscopic pulp rheology together.