Recovery of Cobalt and Copper from Iron Creek Ore of Idaho
摘要
Cobalt is a critical material as designated by the United States Department of Energy. It is used in electric vehicles as a cathode material and in high-strength steels as an alloying addition. The United States currently relies nearly 100% on imports and secondary scrap materials for refined cobalt consumption. A flotation study was carried out to determine the viability of two-product flotation on cobalt and copper-bearing material from the Iron Creek deposit in Idaho. Rougher flotation testing was used to ascertain the most appropriate conditions for collector type and collector dosage. The as-received material had grades of 0.265% Co and 0.24% Cu. Out of several rougher flotation tests, a cobalt grade of 1.85% with a recovery of nearly 94.1% along with a copper grade of 1.37% with a recovery of 90% appears to be optimal. Differential flotation testing was undertaken to obtain separate copper and cobalt concentrates by depressing the copper bearing pyrite at a pH of 11.5. Cleaner flotation at a higher pH was attempted to further recovery of cobalt from the differential flotation copper concentrate. Regrinding to a particle size P80 of 80 μm aided in the recovery of cobalt to the cobalt concentrate. Locked cycle testing was also conducted to simulate an industrial flotation operation with results supporting the implementation of an industrial flotation circuit for the recovery of cobalt and copper as separate products.