A method for separating apatite from medium- and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ore

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for beneficiating apatite from medium- and low-grade rare-earth-containing phosphate ores, belonging to the technical field of ore dressing. The method mainly includes the following steps: A. Cutting: Selecting the original ore of medium- and low-grade rare-earth-containing phosphate ores with black banded structures, and cutting off the black banded parts on the ores; B. Crushing: Crushing the black banded parts separated by cutting in step A; C. Screening: Selecting a standard sieve to screen the ore particles obtained by crushing, and washing the ore particles with water during the screening process; D. Beneficiating: Conducting manual beneficiation to remove other colored ore particles except black ones; E. Grinding: Grinding the black ore particles obtained by beneficiation in step D; F. Screening and grading; G. Obtaining pure apatite minerals. This method can enrich apatite from medium- and low-grade rare-earth-containing phosphate ores, and the P2O5 content in the beneficiated apatite can be increased to about 30% - 38%, the MgO content can be reduced to less than 1%, and the rare-earth element content can be increased to about 1300 ppm - 2000 ppm.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for separating apatite from medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores, belonging to the technical field of mineral processing. Background Art

[0002] Phosphate ore is a very important non-metallic mineral resource. Medium and low-grade phosphate ores need to be beneficiated for further utilization. Rare earth-containing phosphate ores are one of the main types of phosphate ores, and medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores account for a large proportion of phosphate ores. The useful mineral in medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores is apatite, and the main gangue minerals are dolomite, calcite and a small amount of quartz, etc. Since there are many impurities and complex dissemination characteristics in medium and low-grade phosphate ores, concentrates must be obtained after beneficiation enrichment before they can be further utilized. When using flotation to enrich rare earth-containing phosphate ores, rare earth elements are also preliminarily enriched. In addition, the pure mineral of rare earth-containing apatite has relatively high contents of P2O5 and rare earth elements and relatively low contents of impurity elements.

[0003] The method for separating apatite from medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores mainly relies on the color difference between minerals such as apatite and dolomite in medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores. The mineral categories are preliminarily judged by the naked eye, and the separation of apatite from gangue minerals such as dolomite is realized through the different grindabilities and different dissemination particle sizes of apatite and dolomite, thus providing a relatively simple and feasible method for the separation of apatite in medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores, and also providing a new idea and method for the beneficiation of medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a method for separating apatite from medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores.

[0005] The present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions:

[0006] A method for separating apatite from medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores includes the following main steps:

[0007] A. Cutting: Selecting the original ore of medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores with banded structures, and cutting off the black banded parts on the ores;

[0008] B. Crushing: Crushing the black banded medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores separated in step A;

[0009] C. Screening: Selecting a standard sieve to screen the crushed ore particles, and rinsing the ore particles with water during the screening process;

[0010] D. Separating: After the coarse-grained ore particles obtained by screening are dried, putting them into a container and performing manual separation to remove other colored ore particles except black;

[0011] E. Grinding: Grinding the black ore particles selected and purified in step D;

[0012] F. Screening and classification: Using standard sieves to perform multi-stage screening on the ground ore particles to obtain ore particles of different particle size grades;

[0013] G. Selecting and purifying apatite pure minerals: Analyzing the P2O5 content of ore particles of each particle size, and then selecting the ore particles of the particle size grade with the highest P2O5 content as the selected and purified apatite pure minerals.

[0014] In the said step A, first wash the medium and low-grade rare earth-bearing phosphate rock with banded structure with water. After its surface is naturally dried, then use a hand-held cutting machine to cut the medium and low-grade rare earth-bearing phosphate rock.

[0015] In the said step B, use a jaw crusher to crush the cut phosphate rock.

[0016] In the said step B, control the crushing particle size to be below 3 mm.

[0017] In the said step C, use a standard sieve with a pore size of 1 mm to screen the crushed ore particles.

[0018] In the said step D, use tweezers to select and purify the ore particles.

[0019] The black ore particles left after preliminary selection and purification in the said step D are washed with deionized water, and then all the variegated particles are removed until the remaining ore particles have the same color.

[0020] In the said step E, use a three-head agate grinder to grind the black ore particles.

[0021] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: After the selection and purification treatment, apatite can be enriched from the medium and low-grade rare earth-bearing phosphate rock, and the P2O5 content in the selected and purified apatite can be increased to about 30% - 38%, and the MgO content is reduced to less than 1%. It provides an idea for using unconventional beneficiation methods in the future, such as color sorting method, optoelectronic sorting method, etc. to increase the P2O5 content in the rare earth-bearing phosphate rock. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0022] Figure 1 is the process flow chart of the present invention. Detailed Embodiments

[0023] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described below, but the scope of protection claimed is not limited thereto.

[0024] As Figure 1 shown, a method for selecting and purifying apatite from medium and low-grade rare earth-bearing phosphate rock according to the present invention includes the following main steps:

[0025] A. Cutting: Select medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores with banded structures from the raw ore, and cut off the black banded parts on the rare earth-containing phosphate ores;

[0026] B. Crushing: Crush the black banded medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores separated by cutting in step A;

[0027] C. Screening: Select a standard sieve to screen the crushed ore particles, and wash the ore particles with water during the screening process;

[0028] D. Purifying: After the coarse-grained ore particles obtained by screening are dried, put them into a container and manually purify them to remove other colored ore particles except black ones;

[0029] E. Grinding: Grind the black ore particles purified in step D;

[0030] F. Screening and grading: Use a standard sieve to perform multi-stage screening on the ground ore particles to obtain ore particles of different particle size grades;

[0031] G. Final apatite pure mineral: Analyze the P2O5 content of each particle size of ore particles, and then select the ore particles of the particle size grade with the highest P2O5 content as the purified apatite pure mineral.

[0032] In step A, first wash the medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores with banded structures with water. After their surfaces are naturally dried, then use a handheld cutting machine to cut the medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores. The purpose of washing is to remove the powder and debris on the surfaces of the medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores.

[0033] In step B, use a jaw crusher to crush the medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores.

[0034] In step B, control the crushing particle size below 3 mm. According to the particle size dissemination characteristics of various constituent minerals in the medium and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores, if the particle size is too large, it is not conducive to the dissociation of minerals. Therefore, control the crushing particle size below 3 mm.

[0035] In step C, use a standard sieve with a pore size of 1 mm to screen the crushed ore particles. Using a 1 mm standard sieve for screening is mainly considered that the particle size below 1 mm is relatively fine and not conducive to manual purification. If the pore size is too large or too small, it is not conducive to manual purification.

[0036] In step D, use tweezers to purify the ore particles.

[0037] The black ore particles left after preliminary purification in step D are washed with deionized water, and then all the colored particles are removed until the colors of the remaining ore particles are consistent. Washing with deionized water is used to remove the substances on the surfaces of the ore particles to facilitate further purification of the ore particles.

[0038] In step E, a three-head agate grinder is used to grind the black ore particles.

[0039] The method for beneficiating apatite from medium- and low-grade rare-earth-containing phosphate rock provided by the present invention can enrich apatite from medium- and low-grade rare-earth-containing phosphate rock after manual beneficiation treatment. The P2O5 content in medium- and low-grade rare-earth-containing phosphate rock is about 22% - 29%, the MgO content is above 7%, and the rare-earth element content is about 1000 ppm - 1200 ppm. After the above beneficiation method, the P2O5 content in the beneficiated apatite can be increased to about 30% - 38%, the MgO content is reduced to less than 1%, and the rare-earth element content can be increased to about 1300 ppm - 2000 ppm. Since the main useful mineral in rare-earth-containing phosphate rock is apatite and the main gangue minerals are dolomite and quartz, etc., there are differences in the color between dolomite and apatite, and there are also differences in the X-ray patterns between quartz and apatite. This provides an idea for improving the P2O5 content in rare-earth-containing phosphate rock by using unconventional beneficiation methods in the future, such as color sorting and optoelectronic separation.

Claims

1. A method for separating apatite from medium- and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ores, characterized in that: It includes the following main steps: A. Cutting: Select the raw phosphate ore containing banded structures, and cut off the black banded parts on the rare earth-containing phosphate ore; B. Crushing: Crush the low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ore in the black banded parts separated by cutting in step A; C. Screening: Select a standard sieve to screen the crushed ore particles, and wash the ore particles with water during the screening process; D. Purifying: After the coarse-grained ore particles obtained by screening are dried, put them into a container, and manually purify them to remove other colored ore particles except black; E. Grinding: Grind the black ore particles purified in step D; F. Screening and grading: Use a standard sieve to perform multi-stage screening on the ground ore particles to obtain ore particles of different particle size levels; G. Purifying apatite pure minerals: Analyze the P2O5 content of each particle size level of ore particles, and then select the particle size level with the highest P2O5 content as the purified apatite pure minerals; In step B, the crushing particle size is controlled below 3 mm; In step C, a standard sieve with a pore size of 1 mm is used to screen the crushed ore particles.

2. The method for separating apatite from medium- and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate rock according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step A, first wash the low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate ore with banded structures with water. After its surface is naturally dried, then use a handheld cutting machine to cut the rare earth-containing phosphate ore.

3. The method for purifying apatite from medium- and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate rock according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step B, a jaw crusher is used to crush the rare earth-containing phosphate ore.

4. The method for separating apatite from medium- and low-grade rare-earth-containing phosphate rock according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step D, tweezers are used to purify the ore particles.

5. The method for separating apatite from medium and low grade rare earth-containing phosphate rock according to claim 1, characterized in that: The black ore particles left after preliminary purification in step D are washed with deionized water, and then all other colored particles except black are removed until the remaining ore particles have the same color.

6. The method for separating apatite from medium- and low-grade rare earth-containing phosphate rock according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step E, a three-head agate grinder is used to grind the black ore particles.

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