Modularized beneficiation process for spodumene

Abstract

The invention relates to a modular beneficiation process for spodumene, and belongs to the technical field of mineral resource processing and utilization. The modular spodumene beneficiation process comprises the following steps: measuring crystal particle size distribution in spodumene ore, setting a target crystal particle size J, and obtaining a crystal parameter H; if H is less than YH, carrying out wet grinding on the spodumene ore to obtain overflow slurry; detecting the impurity content Z in the overflow slurry, and if Z is greater than or equal to FZ, sequentially performing impurity removal and flotation on the overflow slurry to obtain lithium concentrate I for subsequent lithium extraction; if Z is smaller than FZ, the overflow slurry is subjected to flotation to obtain lithium concentrate II; and if H is greater than or equal to YH, separating the spodumene ore to obtain lithium concentrate III. According to the modular spodumene beneficiation process, beneficiation is scientifically and reasonably decided, the purpose that coarse-grain-type spodumene can be collected early can be achieved, the aftertreatment pressure can be reduced, the overall recovery rate of valuable substances of the spodumene is increased, and the problem that a single beneficiation process cannot deal with beneficiation of spodumene with complex and changeable ore properties can be solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a modular spodumene beneficiation process, and belongs to the technical field of mineral resource processing and utilization. Background Art

[0002] Since the lithium content in spodumene ore is not high, it needs to be sorted to obtain qualified concentrate products that meet the downstream production of lithium salts. In view of the development of spodumene ore, a variety of mineral processing and enrichment process technologies have been studied. The methods that are widely used and relatively mature in technology include hand selection, flotation, magnetic separation, heavy medium separation, photoelectric separation, chemical treatment and related process combined mineral processing methods. Among them, the position of flotation in the field of mineral processing cannot be shaken.

[0003] Spodumene often coexists with minerals such as mica, feldspar, and quartz, which are easily weathered and cause serious mudification, which ultimately makes spodumene beneficiation difficult, as reflected in the high tailings content and low concentrate content. Mineral mudification is one of the main reasons for the poor separation effect of spodumene ore. The secondary mud produced by grinding will also absorb a large amount of reagents, which will not only increase the dosage of reagents, but also form a mud cover, hindering the reaction between the reagents and spodumene minerals, resulting in poor floatability of spodumene; the secondary mud produced by grinding will increase the viscosity of flotation foam, affect the floating performance of minerals, hinder the movement path of minerals, and cause poor foam fluidity, requiring the addition of a large amount of flushing water. Secondly, a large amount of mica will cause serious trough drop during the selection of spodumene ore, the concentrate content will not meet the design requirements, and the tailings content will be high, which will ultimately lead to a low spodumene recovery rate.

[0004] Spodumene is difficult to float in coarse particles. Spodumene has good crystallization and large particle size. Under coarse particle conditions, mineral dissociation can be achieved. The use of single flotation is likely to result in high tailings and low recovery rate. Existing technologies often use flotation to recover coarse-crystalline spodumene. If the grinding fineness is not enough, the coarse-crystalline spodumene is difficult to float; if the grinding is fine, the fine-grained spodumene is difficult to separate from the ore mud. Therefore, it is necessary to solve the problem of sorting different crystal forms of spodumene and practice the recovery principle of "early recovery when possible" to ultimately achieve efficient recovery of lithium resources.

[0005] Spodumene ore has more or less associated elements such as tantalum and niobium. The recovery of tantalum and niobium alone has no economic value. Existing spodumene concentrators often only focus on the recovery of spodumene and ignore the recovery of tantalum and niobium. The associated metals of spodumene are often enriched in the spodumene flotation concentrate. The recovery of tantalum and niobium from spodumene concentrate has great economic value for the comprehensive recycling and utilization of resources.

[0006] In the prior art, the spodumene beneficiation processes are mainly the following:

[0007] 1) Single flotation

[0008] Patents CN112742604A, CN115814956A, CN117019412A, CN116748018A, CN118635000A, CN118847374A, etc. disclose adding different reagents to flotation to improve the flotation effect; however, single flotation is difficult to adapt to the situation where the mica content in spodumene ore is high or the mud is serious;

[0009] 2) Desliming + flotation

[0010] Patents CN103977905A, CN102909136A, CN115999774A, CN115709128A, etc. disclose the removal of primary mud and easily floating gangue minerals (mica) in spodumene based on desludging + flotation to improve the accuracy of spodumene beneficiation; however, when the content of easily floating gangue minerals in spodumene ore is high, the phenomenon of selectively falling off the groove is easy to occur, which affects the recovery rate of spodumene;

[0011] 3) Magnetic separation + desliming + flotation

[0012] Patents CN109127117, CN111330743A, CN111570080A, CN109107754A, etc. disclose the use of magnetic separation to remove iron, mud, mica and other impurities in spodumene, desludging, and flotation of easily floatable gangue minerals. However, desludging is not performed before magnetic separation to affect the effect of magnetic separation. Magnetic separation to remove iron can also easily cause spodumene to enter the magnetic product, resulting in a low lithium recovery rate. The flotation process also causes the phenomenon of tank drop.

[0013] 4) Flotation + magnetic separation

[0014] Patents CN109174438A, CN118437498A, etc. disclose the spodumene ore dressing and comprehensive mineral recovery based on flotation + magnetic separation; however, the ore dressing process does not consider the removal of mud and floating gangue minerals, and the lithium recovery rate is low;

[0015] 5) Waste disposal + magnetic separation + pre-flotation + flotation

[0016] Patents CN113769883A and CN118751559A disclose mineral processing technology based on waste separation + magnetic separation + pre-flotation + flotation; however, photoelectric waste separation has strict requirements on ore particle size, and there is no desludging and removal of easily floating gangue minerals, the lithium recovery rate is low, and there are also strict requirements on mineral processing equipment.

[0017] 6) Gravity separation + flotation

[0018] Patents CN115999762A, CN116251665A, CN117443555A, CN117583118A, CN219850097U, etc. disclose mineral processing technology based on gravity separation + flotation; however, there is also no desludging and removal of easily floating gangue minerals, the lithium concentrate content is low, and the tailings content is high.

[0019] From the perspective of economy, the above existing technologies all have their own advantages and disadvantages in spodumene beneficiation. Of course, the inferior can be turned into the superior by optimizing or merging the existing technologies. However, in fact, the above existing technologies are often used for beneficiation of spodumene ores in the same region with unique or stable physical and chemical properties (spodumene crystal form, mudification (primary mud + secondary mud), content of mica and other floating gangue minerals, content of original ore, iron content of original ore, tantalum and niobium content of original ore, etc.). For spodumene ores with complex and changeable ore properties in different regions, the beneficiation process is prone to redundant processing problems, and it is more likely to encounter the problem of low recovery rate of valuable minerals in spodumene ores or low content of valuable minerals after beneficiation. Therefore, the decision on spodumene beneficiation should be determined through scientific and reasonable processes. Summary of the invention

[0020] The present invention provides a modular spodumene dressing process, which can solve the problem that the ore dressing index cannot reach the expected level due to the unstable physical and chemical properties of spodumene ore, and can provide technical support, guidance and decision-making for the efficient recovery of spodumene and the comprehensive utilization of associated valuable elements.

[0021] The modular spodumene beneficiation process includes the following steps:

[0022] S1: Determine the crystal particle size distribution in the spodumene ore, set the target crystal particle size J, and obtain the crystal parameter H of the spodumene ore; the crystal parameter H refers to the mass percentage of crystals with a particle size ≥ J in the crystal particle size distribution;

[0023] S2: If the crystal parameter H is less than the preset crystal parameter threshold Y H , then the spodumene ore is wet ground to obtain overflow slurry Ⅰ;

[0024] S3: Detect the impurity content Z in the overflow slurry I. If the impurity content Z ≥ the preset impurity content threshold F Z , then the overflow slurry I is successively subjected to impurity removal and flotation to obtain lithium concentrate I for subsequent lithium extraction;

[0025] S4: If the impurity content Z is less than the preset impurity content threshold F Z , then the overflow slurry Ⅰ is subjected to flotation to obtain lithium concentrate Ⅱ for subsequent lithium extraction;

[0026] S5: If the crystal parameter H ≥ the preset crystal parameter threshold F Z, the spodumene ore is sorted to obtain lithium concentrate III for subsequent lithium extraction.

[0027] In the present invention, the particle size distribution of spodumene crystals in spodumene ores mined from different origins is also different. When a spodumene ore whose particle size distribution has been clarified is subjected to beneficiation operation according to the aforementioned beneficiation process, it can be determined whether to directly perform sorting or direct wet grinding treatment, and only any one of lithium concentrate I, lithium concentrate II, and lithium concentrate III will be obtained.

[0028] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, J is 0.3 mm.

[0029] In one embodiment of the present invention, Y H 30wt%; Y H It is an empirical parameter obtained by the inventor through a large number of actual research activities. Since the spodumene content in spodumene ore is generally low, usually not exceeding 3wt%, if it is directly subjected to wet grinding, although spodumene crystals can be ground out, non-spodumene substances will also be ground out, which not only increases the cost of wet grinding, but also makes post-processing more difficult; through the setting of this empirical parameter, when the mass percentage of spodumene crystals with a particle size ≥0.3mm in the spodumene ore reaches or exceeds the empirical parameter, spodumene-rich crystal ore particles can be separated from the spodumene ore, namely lithium concentrate I; if it is directly subjected to wet grinding, its non-spodumene substances will be ground out, which will increase the cost of wet grinding and post-processing; of course, since the spodumene crystal particle size distribution in spodumene ores mined in different regions may also vary, it is necessary to make scientific and reasonable decisions on the spodumene ore dressing process based on the actual crystal particle size distribution of the spodumene ore.

[0030] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the spodumene ore is pre-treated by crushing and / or screening before S2 wet grinding or S5 sorting. Since the spodumene-containing ore often needs to be crushed and then transported for the convenience of ore transportation after mining, the spodumene ore that meets the feed requirements can be directly fed before sorting or wet grinding, otherwise it needs to be crushed and / or screened to meet the feed requirements.

[0031] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the crushed material after the spodumene ore is crushed at least once is screened to obtain the pretreated spodumene ore, and the screened residue is returned to the crushing step; preferably, the screened residue of the spodumene ore is crushed at least once; preferably, the crushed material after at least one crushing is returned to the screened pretreated spodumene ore.

[0032] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the crushing includes fine crushing and / or medium crushing; preferably, the medium crushed material is subjected to fine crushing.

[0033] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the feed particle size of the wet grinding in step S2 or the sorting in step S5 is 12 mm with a sieve residue of less than 5%; preferably, the feed particle size is 8 mm with a sieve residue of less than 3%.

[0034] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, in step 5, the spodumene ore is sorted and then subjected to gravity separation I, or the spodumene ore is classified I or screened and then subjected to gravity separation I.

[0035] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, step S5, the sorting comprises the following steps:

[0036] S31: Classifying or screening the spodumene ore to obtain coarse-grained material and fine-grained material;

[0037] S32: The coarse-grained material is subjected to gravity selection I to obtain lithium concentrate I for subsequent lithium extraction.

[0038] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the screened fine-grained material and the intermediate ore of gravity separation I are directly subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry II; the overflow slurry II is subjected to step S3 to obtain lithium concentrate III Ⅰ Or execute step S4 to obtain lithium concentrate III Ⅱ .

[0039] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, gravity separation I is heavy medium separation.

[0040] In one embodiment of the present invention, the feed density of the heavy medium separation is 2.5-3.0 g / cm 3 Preferably, the feed density is 2.6 to 2.95 g / cm 3 Preferably, the feed density is 2.7 to 2.95 g / cm 3 .

[0041] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the particle size of the fine-grained material is ≤0.6 mm; preferably, the particle size is ≤0.5 mm; preferably, the particle size is ≤0.3 mm.

[0042] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm in the overflow slurry account for 40-80wt%; preferably, the minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm account for 50-75wt%; more preferably, the minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm account for 65-70wt%.

[0043] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, if the proportion of minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm in the overflow slurry is greater than 80wt%, greater than 75wt% or greater than 70wt%, it indicates that the proportion of small-particle minerals in the overflow slurry is relatively high, and the proportion of "mud" in these small-particle minerals is relatively high, making post-treatment desludging more difficult; and when the proportion of minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm is less than 40wt%, less than 50wt% or less than 65wt%, the proportion of large-particle minerals is relatively high, the amount of reagents used in the flotation process increases, and the flotation cost also increases.

[0044] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the overflow of wet grinding is treated by classification II to obtain overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II; if the overflow of wet grinding treatment contains a high proportion of minerals with a particle size greater than 0.074 mm, it may be unfavorable for subsequent impurity removal or flotation treatment. Therefore, the minerals with a particle size greater than 0.074 mm are sorted and returned for re-wet grinding.

[0045] In one embodiment of the present invention, step S4, Z includes mud content Z N and floating gangue content Z Y ; F Z Including mud content threshold F N and the floating gangue content threshold F Y ; Among them, mud content Z N It refers to the percentage of minerals with particle size less than the target particle size L in the minerals of overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II; the content of floating gangue Z Y It refers to the mass percentage of easily floating gangue in overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II; preferably, the target particle size L is 10 μm; preferably, F N 10wt%; preferably, F Y It is 15wt%.

[0046] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, step S4, the step of removing impurities comprises:

[0047] A1: If the mud content is Z N > Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y ≤Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is deslimed to obtain the impurity-removed slurry I for subsequent flotation;

[0048] A2: If the mud content is Z N > Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y >Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is sequentially desludged and de-floating gangue to obtain impurity-removed slurry II for subsequent flotation;

[0049] A3: If the mud content is Z N ≤ Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y >Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is used to remove the easily floatable gangue to obtain the impurity-removed slurry III, which is directly used for subsequent flotation;

[0050] A4: If the mud content is Z N ≤ Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y ≤Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is directly used for subsequent flotation.

[0051] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the flotation method adopts "one coarse x fine y sweep selection"; wherein x refers to the selected foam Li represented by the xth selection 2 O content M 1 ≥Preset Li 2 O content target value P M1 The number of times of cleaning; y refers to the tailings Li of the yth cleaning 2 O content M 2 <Preset Li 2 O content target value P M2 Preferably, x is 1 to 3 times; Preferably, y is 1 to 3 times; Preferably, P M1 5.0 to 6.0 wt %; more preferably, P M1 is 5.0wt%; more preferably, P M1 is 5.5wt%; more preferably, P M1 6.0wt%; preferably, P M2 0.15 to 0.3 wt %; more preferably, P M2 is 0.15wt%; more preferably, P M2 2.0wt%; more preferably, P M2 It is 0.3wt%.

[0052] In the present invention, when the selected foam Li selected for the xth time 2 O content M 1 ≥Preset Li 2 O content threshold P M1 When the selected foam of the xth round of selection is mined as lithium concentrate, it will not enter the x+1th round of selection; when the scavenging tailings Li 2 O content M 2 <Preset Li 2 O content threshold P M2 At this time, the tailings from the yth sweeping and selection are mined as tailings and do not enter the y+1th sweeping and selection.

[0053] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, lithium concentrate III and lithium concentrate III Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅲ Ⅱ The mixed lithium concentrate X is combined; the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is treated to remove iron and recover tantalum and niobium.

[0054] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the step of removing iron and recovering tantalum and niobium comprises:

[0055] B1: Detection of Fe in mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅱ 2 O 3 Content C Fe and Ta 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content C Ta+Nb ;

[0056] B2: If 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content C Ta+Nb ≥Ta 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content threshold F Ta+Ta , the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅱ is subjected to weak magnetic separation to obtain strong magnetic material Ⅰ and non-strong magnetic material Ⅰ respectively; the non-strong magnetic material Ⅰ is subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain weak magnetic material and grade A lithium concentrate respectively; the weak magnetic material is subjected to gravity separation Ⅱ to obtain tantalum-niobium concentrate and grade C lithium concentrate;

[0057] B3: If Ta 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content C Ta+Nb < 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content threshold F Ta+Ta And Fe 2 O 3 Content C Fe ≥Fe 2 O 3 Content threshold F Fe , the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is subjected to weak magnetic separation to obtain strongly magnetic material II and non-strong magnetic material II; if the Fe 2 O 3 Content ≥Fe 2 O3 Content threshold F Fe , then the non-strong magnetic material II is subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain grade A lithium concentrate and grade C lithium concentrate respectively; if the Fe 2 O 3 Content>Fe 2 O 3 Content threshold F Fe , the non-strong magnetic material II is used as grade A lithium concentrate or grade B lithium concentrate for subsequent lithium extraction;

[0058] B4: If 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content C Ta+Nb < 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content threshold F Ta+Ta And Fe 2 O 3 Content C Fe <Fe 2 O 3 Content threshold F Fe , the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is directly used for subsequent lithium extraction;

[0059] Among them, Grade A lithium concentrate refers to Fe 2 O 3 Content ≤1.5wt% and Li 2 Lithium concentrate with O content ≥5wt%; Grade B lithium concentrate refers to 1.5wt% <Fe 2 O 3 Content ≤2.5wt% and Li 2 Lithium concentrate with O content ≥5wt%; Grade C lithium concentrate refers to Fe 2 O 3 Content>2.5wt% or Li 2 Lithium concentrate with an O content of less than 5wt%.

[0060] In a specific embodiment of the present invention,: F Fe 2.5 to 5 wt%; preferably, F Fe 2.5wt%; preferably, F Fe 3.0wt%; preferably, F Fe It is 5.0wt%.

[0061] In one embodiment of the present invention, F Ta+Ta 0.01 to 0.03 wt %; preferably, F Ta+Ta 0.01wt%; preferably, FTa+Ta 0.02wt%; preferably, F Ta+Ta It is 0.03wt%.

[0062] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0063] 1. The modular spodumene beneficiation process of the present invention fully considers the particle size distribution of spodumene crystals in the spodumene ore, and scientifically and reasonably decides the beneficiation process of the spodumene ore, which can not only achieve the purpose of "early collection of coarse-grained spodumene", but also reduce the subsequent processing pressure, improve the overall recovery rate of spodumene valuable substances, and can also cope with the problem that a single beneficiation process cannot cope with the beneficiation of spodumene with complex and changeable ore properties;

[0064] 2. The modular spodumene beneficiation process of the present invention has the advantages of improving the concentrate grade and recovery rate, reducing the beneficiation cost, improving the adaptability and stability of the process flow, simplifying the process flow, etc., and has good economic and social benefits;

[0065] 3. The modular spodumene beneficiation process of the present invention improves concentrate grade and recovery rate: The present invention comprehensively considers the influence of crystal particle size and content, mud content and impurity content such as mica on the spodumene beneficiation process during the beneficiation process of spodumene, and adopts different modular process combinations for spodumene ores with different particle sizes, different mud contents and impurity contents through modular processes. For example, for ores with fine-grained embedding and high mud content, a "demuding-flotation" module is adopted to effectively remove mud and impurities and improve the concentrate grade; for ores with coarse-grained embedding and high mica content, a "gravity selection-flotation" module is adopted to separate part of the mica in advance, improve the spodumene recovery rate, and finally achieve a double improvement in the spodumene concentrate grade and recovery rate;

[0066] 4. The modular spodumene beneficiation process of the present invention reduces beneficiation costs: The modular process of the present invention is flexible in design and can flexibly adjust the process flow according to the properties of the ore, avoiding unnecessary beneficiation links, reducing reagent consumption and equipment investment, and thus reducing beneficiation costs.

[0067] 5. The modular mineral processing technology of the present invention improves the adaptability and stability of the process flow: The present invention decomposes the complex mineral processing process into multiple relatively independent modules, each module is optimized for a specific mineral processing target, thereby improving the adaptability and stability of the process flow and being able to better cope with the impact of fluctuations in ore properties.

[0068] 6. The modular spodumene beneficiation process of the present invention, the pre-separation module treatment and the impurity removal module treatment provide a basis for scientific and reasonable decision-making on spodumene beneficiation, which can effectively avoid the redundancy of the spodumene beneficiation process, reduce the spodumene beneficiation cost, and improve the spodumene beneficiation efficiency;

[0069] 7. The modular spodumene beneficiation process of the present invention can pre-remove mud, floating gangue minerals and other impurities in the overflow slurry by impurity removal module treatment, which can reduce the consumption of reagents for the overflow slurry in the flotation module treatment, and can solve the problem of spodumene separation affected by the cover on the spodumene surface in magnetic separation; reduce the floating gangue minerals in the overflow slurry, and can also solve the problem of spodumene falling out of the tank (low content) and high tailings grade in the flotation module treatment;

[0070] 8. The modular spodumene beneficiation process of the present invention, in which the spodumene roughing foam, the beneficiation foam and the scavenging tailings in the flotation module are processed, is based on a modular design, which can effectively reduce the production cost while ensuring the concentrate quality and Li 2 O recovery rate; the extraction of lithium concentrate and tailings is based on Li 2 O grade can avoid redundant treatment of lithium concentrate and tailings during flotation, and improve the processing efficiency and processing capacity of flotation modules.

[0071] 9. The modular spodumene beneficiation process of the present invention can further remove iron from lithium concentrate through magnetic separation, and can recover tantalum and niobium valuable substances through tantalum-niobium gravity separation module processing, which has a positive effect on achieving the comprehensive recovery and utilization of key strategic associated element resources in spodumene mines. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0072] Figure 1 A process flow chart of a modular spodumene beneficiation process provided for a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0073] Figure 2 A flowchart of a modular spodumene beneficiation process provided for a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0074] Figure 3 A sorting flow chart provided for a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0075] Figure 4 A flowchart of impurity removal provided for a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0076] Figure 5 This is a flowchart of the process of removing iron and recovering tantalum and niobium in a specific implementation manner of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0077] To make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical solution of the present invention will be described in detail below. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other implementation methods obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0078] See attached Figure 1-2, the modular spodumene beneficiation process comprises the following steps:

[0079] S1: Determine the crystal particle size distribution in the spodumene ore, set the target crystal particle size J, and obtain the crystal parameter H of the spodumene ore; the crystal parameter H refers to the mass percentage of crystals with a particle size ≥ J in the crystal particle size distribution;

[0080] S2: If the crystal parameter H is less than the preset crystal parameter threshold Y H , then the spodumene ore is wet ground to obtain overflow slurry Ⅰ;

[0081] S3: Detect the impurity content Z in the overflow slurry I. If the impurity content Z ≥ the preset impurity content threshold F Z , then the overflow slurry I is successively subjected to impurity removal and flotation to obtain lithium concentrate I for subsequent lithium extraction;

[0082] S4: If the impurity content Z is less than the preset impurity content threshold F Z , then the overflow slurry Ⅰ is subjected to flotation to obtain lithium concentrate Ⅱ for subsequent lithium extraction;

[0083] S5: If the crystal parameter H ≥ the preset crystal parameter threshold Y H , the spodumene ore is sorted to obtain lithium concentrate III for subsequent lithium extraction.

[0084] In the present invention, the particle size distribution of spodumene crystals in spodumene ores mined from different origins is also different. When a spodumene ore whose particle size distribution has been clarified is subjected to beneficiation operation according to the aforementioned beneficiation process, it can be determined whether to directly perform sorting or direct wet grinding treatment, and only any one of lithium concentrate I, lithium concentrate II, and lithium concentrate III will be obtained.

[0085] In some examples, J is 0.3 mm; Y H It is 30wt%.

[0086] In some examples, the spodumene ore is pre-treated by crushing and / or screening before wet grinding in step S2 or sorting in step S5; since the spodumene-containing ore often needs to be crushed and then transported for the convenience of ore transportation after mining, the spodumene ore that meets the feed requirements can be directly fed before sorting or wet grinding, otherwise it needs to be crushed and / or screened to meet the feed requirements.

[0087] In some examples, the crushed material after the spodumene ore is crushed at least once is screened to obtain the pretreated spodumene ore, and the screened residue is returned to the crushing step; the purpose of screening is to ensure that the particle size of the spodumene ore after pretreatment meets the requirements of the feed particle size for sorting or wet grinding; of course, if the proportion of the screened residue after the spodumene ore is small after at least one crushing, it is only necessary to feed the crushed material obtained at least once into sorting or wet grinding; the screened residue is returned to the crushing step, and can be blended with the spodumene ore being crushed as feed in the crushing step for crushing treatment. The purpose of returning the screened residue is to obtain the pretreated spodumene ore that meets the feed sorting or wet grinding through cyclic crushing-screening.

[0088] In some examples, the screened residue of the spodumene ore is crushed at least once; preferably, the crushed material that has been crushed at least once is returned to the pre-treated spodumene ore that has been screened; when the spodumene ore contains a large amount of ore that meets the requirements of feed sorting or wet grinding, the spodumene ore can be screened first, and the screened residue can also be prioritized for sorting or wet grinding. The screened residue meets the requirements of feed sorting or wet grinding after at least one crushing and can be directly fed.

[0089] In some examples, crushing includes fine crushing and / or medium crushing; preferably, the medium crushed material after medium crushing is directly subjected to fine crushing; if the actual ore particle size is not much different from the feed sorting or wet grinding particle size, or the actual ore particle size is already smaller than the medium crushing particle size, the spodumene ore only needs to undergo a fine crushing process to meet the requirements of feed sorting or wet grinding, otherwise the spodumene ore can only be returned for re-crushing; the spodumene ore after medium crushing can also be directly fed if it meets the feed requirements; if it does not meet the feed requirements after medium crushing, it can be directly subjected to fine crushing or sieving, and the undersize material can be directly fed, while the oversize material can be returned to the medium crushing or subjected to fine crushing; when the actual ore particle size of the spodumene ore is greatly different from the feed sorting or wet grinding particle size, it needs to be subjected to medium crushing first and then fine crushing.

[0090] In some examples, the feed particle size of the wet grinding in step S2 or the sorting in step S5 is 12 mm with a sieve residue of less than 5%; preferably, the feed particle size is 8 mm with a sieve residue of less than 3%.

[0091] It should be noted that before feeding in step S2 or step S3, the spodumene ore is subjected to a particle size test to determine whether the feeding requirements are met based on the test results; if the feeding requirements are not met, it needs to be pre-treated again until the feeding requirements are met.

[0092] In some examples, step S5, the sorting includes the following steps: S31: classifying or screening the spodumene ore to obtain coarse-grained material and fine-grained material; S32: re-selecting the coarse-grained material to obtain lithium concentrate I for subsequent lithium extraction.

[0093] It should be noted that, since the spodumene ore may be pretreated and the screening process of the pretreatment can be a secondary screening, it is not difficult to obtain coarse-grained material for the gravity separation I feed in the pretreatment process, and the coarse-grained material obtained by the secondary screening of the pretreatment can directly enter the gravity separation I; if the spodumene ore has not been pretreated, or the spodumene ore is a mixture of coarse-grained material and fine-grained material after the pretreatment screening process, the feed needs to be graded or screened during the sorting process to obtain the coarse-grained material for gravity separation I.

[0094] In some examples, the screened fine-grained material and the middlings from gravity separation I are directly subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry II; the overflow slurry II is subjected to step S3 to obtain lithium concentrate III. Ⅰ Or execute step S4 to obtain lithium concentrate III Ⅱ ; When the lithium content in the fine-grained material and the re-selected intermediate ore is high, the lithium needs to be recovered; the fine-grained material and the re-selected intermediate ore are transferred to the wet grinding for wet grinding, which can further reduce the particle size of the ore particles and obtain small-sized ore containing spodumene crystals with a particle size of less than 0.3 mm, so as to facilitate subsequent recycling and treatment; in addition, it should be noted that since the overflow slurry obtained after wet grinding has discharge conditions, whether one spodumene ore directly enters the wet grinding, or another spodumene ore is sorted to obtain intermediate ore and fine-grained material and enters the wet grinding, the discharge conditions of the obtained overflow slurry are the same, so there is no difference between the two spodumenes. In fact, when the particle size distribution of spodumene crystals in a spodumene ore is determined, whether it is sorting or wet grinding has been determined, that is to say, when continuous beneficiation operations are carried out with this spodumene ore as raw material, no matter sorting or wet grinding, only one type of grinding overflow will be obtained in the end; only at the end of the continuous beneficiation operation of the first spodumene ore as raw material and the stage of production of the second spodumene ore as raw material, there is a situation where spodumene ore, fine-grained materials and gravity-selected spodumene are fed into wet grinding simultaneously, but since the discharge requirements of the overflow slurry of wet grinding are the same, it does not affect the decision of the subsequent S3 impurity removal or S4 flotation operation.

[0095] In some examples, gravity separation I is heavy medium separation; compared with the conventional gravity separation process using water as the medium, the heavy medium separation has a relatively low output of intermediate ore and a relatively high output of concentrate.

[0096] In some examples, the feed density of heavy medium separation is 2.5-3.0 g / cm 3 Preferably, the feed density is 2.6 to 2.95 g / cm 3 Preferably, the feed density is 2.7 to 2.95 g / cm 3 .

[0097] In some examples, the particle size of the fine particle size is ≤0.6 mm; preferably, the particle size is ≤0.5 mm; preferably, the particle size is ≤0.3 mm.

[0098] In some examples, the minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm in the minerals of overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II account for 40 to 80 wt%; preferably, the minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm account for 50 to 75 wt%; more preferably, the minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm account for 65 to 70 wt%.

[0099] It should be noted that if the proportion of minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm in the overflow slurry is greater than 80wt%, greater than 75wt% or 70wt%, it indicates that the proportion of small-sized minerals in the overflow slurry is relatively high. These small-sized minerals may be the wet grinding products of "mud". When the "mud" content is too high, the subsequent desludging treatment is of little value / meaning.

[0100] In some examples, the overflow of wet grinding is treated by classification II to obtain overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II; if the overflow of wet grinding treatment contains a high proportion of minerals with a particle size greater than 0.074 mm, it is not conducive to subsequent impurity removal or flotation treatment. Therefore, the minerals with a particle size greater than 0.074 mm are separated by classification II and returned to the wet grinding.

[0101] In some examples, step S4, Z includes a mud content Z N and floating gangue content Z Y ; F Z Including mud content threshold F N and the floating gangue content threshold F Y ; Among them, mud content Z N It refers to the percentage of minerals with particle size less than the target particle size L in the minerals of overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II; the content of floating gangue Z Y It refers to the mass percentage of easily floating gangue in overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II; preferably, the target particle size L is 10 μm; preferably, F N 10wt%; preferably, F Y It is 15wt%.

[0102] In some examples, step S4, the step of removing impurities includes:

[0103] A1: If the mud content is Z N > Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y ≤Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is deslimed to obtain the impurity-removed slurry I for subsequent flotation;

[0104] A2: If the mud content is Z N> Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y >Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is sequentially desludged and de-floating gangue to obtain impurity-removed slurry II for subsequent flotation;

[0105] A3: If the mud content is Z N ≤ Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y >Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is used to remove the easily floatable gangue to obtain the impurity-removed slurry III, which is directly used for subsequent flotation;

[0106] A4: If the mud content is Z N ≤ Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y ≤Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is directly used for subsequent flotation.

[0107] In some examples, in step S3 or step S4, the flotation method is "coarse x fine y sweep selection"; wherein x refers to the selected foam Li represented by the xth selection. 2 O content M 1 ≥Preset Li 2 O content target value P M1 The number of times of cleaning; y refers to the tailings Li of the yth cleaning 2 O content M 2 <Preset Li 2 O content target value P M2 Preferably, x is 1 to 3 times; Preferably, y is 1 to 3 times; Preferably, P M1 5.0 to 6.0 wt %; more preferably, P M1 is 5.0wt%; more preferably, P M1 is 5.5wt%; more preferably, P M1 6.0wt%; preferably, P M2 0.15 to 0.3 wt %; more preferably, P M2 is 0.15wt%; more preferably, P M2 2.0wt%; more preferably, P M2 It is 0.3wt%.

[0108] In the present invention, when the selected foam Li selected for the xth time 2 O content M 1 ≥Preset Li 2 O content threshold P M1When the selected foam of the xth round of selection is mined as lithium concentrate, it will not enter the x+1th round of selection; when the scavenging tailings Li 2 O content M 2 <Preset Li 2 O content threshold P M2 At the same time, the tailings of the yth scavenging are mined as tailings and do not enter the y+1th scavenging. In the present invention, in the process of continuous mineral processing operation, temporary sampling can be carried out to detect the impurity content of the overflow slurry, and determine whether to directly enter flotation. In this process, lithium concentrate II and lithium concentrate I (with different impurity contents) will be produced at the same time, which does not affect the use of lithium concentrate II and lithium concentrate III for subsequent lithium extraction or iron removal, and recovery of tantalum and niobium.

[0109] In some examples, lithium concentrate III and lithium concentrate III Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅲ Ⅱ The mixed lithium concentrate X is combined; the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is subjected to iron removal and tantalum-niobium recovery treatment; if the proportion of large-size spodumene crystals in the granular spodumene ore is less than 30wt%, overflow slurry I is obtained by wet grinding; if the overflow slurry I has high impurity content such as mud and easy-floating gangue, lithium concentrate I is obtained by impurity removal and flotation; if the impurity content of overflow slurry I is low, lithium concentrate II is obtained by wet grinding and flotation; if the proportion of large-size spodumene crystals in this spodumene ore is high, lithium concentrate III is obtained by sorting; after sorting, the fine-grained material and the medium ore of gravity separation I are subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry II; if the content of impurities such as mud and easy-floating gangue in overflow slurry II is high, lithium concentrate III is obtained by impurity removal and flotation Ⅰ If the impurity content of overflow slurry Ⅰ is low, lithium concentrate Ⅲ can be obtained through wet grinding and flotation. Ⅱ ; The above lithium concentrate Ⅰ, lithium concentrate Ⅱ, lithium concentrate Ⅲ, lithium concentrate Ⅲ Ⅰ 、Lithium Concentrate Ⅲ Ⅱ It can be directly used for subsequent lithium extraction or used for subsequent lithium extraction after iron removal and recovery of tantalum and niobium.

[0110] In some examples, the steps of removing iron and recovering tantalum and niobium include:

[0111] B1: Detection of Fe in mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅱ 2 O 3 Content C Fe and Ta 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content C Ta+Nb ;

[0112] B2: If 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O5 Content C Ta+Nb ≥Ta 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content threshold F Ta+Ta , the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅱ is subjected to weak magnetic separation to obtain strong magnetic material Ⅰ and non-strong magnetic material Ⅰ respectively; the non-strong magnetic material Ⅰ is subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain weak magnetic material and grade A lithium concentrate respectively; the weak magnetic material is subjected to gravity separation Ⅱ to obtain tantalum-niobium concentrate and grade C lithium concentrate;

[0113] B3: If Ta 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content C Ta+Nb < 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content threshold F Ta+Ta And Fe 2 O 3 Content C Fe ≥Fe 2 O 3 Content threshold F Fe , the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is subjected to weak magnetic separation to obtain strongly magnetic material II and non-strong magnetic material II; if the Fe 2 O 3 Content ≥Fe 2 O 3 Content threshold F Fe , then the non-strong magnetic material II is subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain grade A lithium concentrate and grade C lithium concentrate respectively; if the Fe 2 O 3 Content>Fe 2 O 3 Content threshold F Fe , the non-strong magnetic material II is used as grade A lithium concentrate or grade B lithium concentrate for subsequent lithium extraction;

[0114] B4: If 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content C Ta+Nb < 2 O 5 +Nb 2 O 5 Content threshold F Ta+Ta And Fe 2 O 3 Content C Fe <Fe2 O 3 Content threshold F Fe , the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is directly used for subsequent lithium extraction;

[0115] Among them, Grade A lithium concentrate refers to Fe 2 O 3 Content ≤1.5wt% and Li 2 Lithium concentrate with O content ≥5wt%; Grade B lithium concentrate refers to 1.5wt% <Fe 2 O 3 Content ≤2.5wt% and Li 2 Lithium concentrate with O content ≥5wt%; Grade C lithium concentrate refers to Fe 2 O 3 Content>2.5wt% or Li 2 Lithium concentrate with an O content of less than 5wt%.

[0116] It should be noted that the non-strong magnetic material I is the weakly magnetically separated ore pulp obtained after removing the strong magnetic material I; the non-strong magnetic material II is the weakly magnetically separated ore pulp obtained after removing the strong magnetic material II; and the strong magnetic material refers to strong magnetic minerals and / or mechanical iron.

[0117] In some instances, F Fe 2.5 to 5 wt%; preferably, F Fe 2.5wt%; preferably, F Fe 3.0wt%; preferably, F Fe It is 5.0wt%.

[0118] In some instances, F Ta+Ta 0.01 to 0.03 wt %; preferably, F Ta+Ta 0.01wt%; preferably, F Ta+Ta 0.02wt%; preferably, F Ta+Ta 0.03wt%

[0119] It should be noted that heavy medium beneficiation is carried out under wet conditions, so the coarse-grained materials of classification I or screening need to be pulped before heavy medium beneficiation to obtain lithium concentrate I, middlings and tailings; since heavy medium beneficiation is based on Stokes' law, the lithium concentrate, middlings and tailings in the coarse-grained materials can be efficiently separated according to the density or specific gravity difference in heavy medium beneficiation, while the middlings are easily retained in the middle area between the lithium concentrate and the tailings because their density is close to the medium density or their particle size is too small, resulting in the failure of dynamic separation; therefore, the middlings of heavy medium beneficiation need to be wet-ground, flotated or "impurity removal + flotation" with the fine-grained materials to obtain lithium concentrate III Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅲ Ⅱ , to recover lithium.

[0120] It should be noted that the desludging treatment mainly removes the mud in the overflow slurry, thereby reducing the mud content in the overflow slurry and reducing the amount of flotation reagents used; the removal of easily floating gangue mainly removes mica, hornblende and other easily floating gangue minerals in the overflow slurry, which is beneficial to obtaining lithium concentrate in flotation and avoiding interference of easily floating gangue minerals on the content of lithium concentrate obtained by flotation.

[0121] In some examples, the flotation uses spodumene flotation collectors, including anionic collectors, nonionic surfactants and amphoteric surfactants; wherein the anionic surfactant is preferably a C12-18 carboxylate (such as sodium / potassium / magnesium / calcium laurate soap, sodium / potassium / magnesium / calcium myristic acid soap, sodium / potassium / magnesium / calcium stearate soap, sodium / potassium / magnesium / calcium linoleate soap, sodium / potassium / magnesium / calcium oleate soap and sodium / potassium / magnesium / calcium ricinoleate soap, sodium / potassium / magnesium / calcium fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether carboxylate soap, alkylphenol polyoxyethylene ether carboxylate The preferred surfactants are sodium / potassium / magnesium / calcium soaps, etc.), the preferred non-ionic surfactants are alkyl glycosides (n-hexyl glucoside, octyl glucoside, octyl glucoside, decyl glucoside, lauryl glucoside, coconut glucoside, C10-16 alkyl glucoside, etc.), and the preferred amphoteric surfactants are amino acids (potassium / sodium cocoyl glycinate, potassium / sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, potassium / sodium lauroyl glutamate, potassium / sodium cocoyl sarcosinate, potassium / sodium coconut oil fatty acid alanine, and potassium / sodium cocoyl alanine, etc.).

[0122] In some examples, the spodumene collector is any one or any combination of anionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants and amphoteric surfactants; preferably, the mass ratio of anionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants and amphoteric surfactants is (60-90): (0.5-20): (0.5-20).

[0123] In some examples, the amount of spodumene collector used is 1000-3000 g / t of ore; preferably, the amount used is 1200-2500 g / t of ore; more preferably, the amount used is 1500-2000 g / t of ore.

[0124] In some examples, the magnetic field strength of the weak magnetic separation is 500-6000 Gauss; preferably, the magnetic field strength is 1000-4000 Gauss; more preferably, the magnetic field strength is 2000-3000 Gauss.

[0125] In some examples, the magnetic field strength of the strong magnetic separation is 8000-15000 Gauss; preferably, the magnetic field strength is 10000-14000 Gauss; more preferably, the magnetic field strength is 10000-12000 Gauss.

[0126] In some instances, the gravity separation equipment processed by the gravity separation tantalum niobium recovery module is any one or any combination of a chute, a shaking table, and a blanket machine; preferably, the gravity separation equipment processed by the gravity separation tantalum niobium recovery module is a shaking table; wherein, the number of grooves of the shaking table is greater than 110 grooves; preferably, the number of grooves of the shaking table is greater than 120 grooves; more preferably, the number of grooves of the shaking table is greater than 138 grooves.

[0127] It should be noted that in the present invention, “Ⅰ”, “Ⅱ”, “Ⅲ”, “Ⅲ Ⅰ "Ⅲ Ⅱ " is a distinguishing expression for different working steps and materials under different working conditions.

[0128] It should be noted that the Class A lithium concentrate or Class B lithium concentrate in the present invention are products obtained under wet conditions and need to be treated with existing de-medium (water) to obtain dry Class A lithium concentrate or Class B lithium concentrate solid products to facilitate product sales, transportation and lithium extraction; other non-product products after wet grinding or gravity separation I are transferred and processed in the form of slurry.

[0129] To further demonstrate the role of the modular spodumene dressing strategy of the present invention in improving the dressing of spodumene ores with unstable physicochemical properties, the following examples are provided:

[0130] Example 1

[0131] This example uses a spodumene mine in western Sichuan as a test sample. 2 O content is 1.19%, and its main minerals are spodumene (fine-crystalline), feldspar (albite, orthoclase, microcline, potassium feldspar), quartz, mica, etc., in addition there are trace amounts of niobium iron ore, tantalite, tantalite, titanite, ilmenite, pyrite, iron-manganese oxides, cassiterite, zircon and other minerals; based on 100% of the spodumene crystals, the number of spodumene crystals with a particle size of >0.3mm in the spodumene ore is less than 30%.

[0132] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0133] The spodumene ore is crushed and wet-ground to obtain an overflow slurry with a mineral particle size of ≤0.074 mm and a proportion of 65wt%; the overflow slurry is subjected to impurity removal (de-sludging and removal of easily floating gangue) and flotation (one roughing, three sweeping, and three refining) to obtain lithium concentrate I;

[0134] The slurry of lithium concentrate I is successively subjected to weak magnetic separation, strong magnetic separation and gravity separation II to recover tantalum and niobium; among them, grade A lithium concentrate is obtained from strong magnetic separation, and tantalum and niobium are recovered from gravity separation II to obtain tantalum and niobium concentrate and grade B lithium concentrate.

[0135] In this embodiment, Li of grade A lithium concentrate 2 O content 6.24%, Li2 O recovery rate is 77.65%; Li of B-grade lithium concentrate 2 O content 5.24%, Li 2 O recovery rate is 9.79%; Ta in tantalum-niobium concentrate products 2 O 5 The content is 23.54%, Ta 2 O 5 The recovery rate is 51.23%; the Nb content of tantalum-niobium concentrate products is 51.23%. 2 O 5 The content is 31.72%, Nb 2 O 5 The recovery rate is 36.31%.

[0136] Example 2

[0137] This example uses a spodumene mine in western Sichuan as a test sample. 2 O content is 1.06%. The lithium-containing minerals are mainly spodumene, with a small amount of lepidolite, lithium chlorite and petalite. The niobium-tantalum minerals are tantalite, columbite and tantalite-columbite. There are also trace metal minerals such as limonite, cassiterite, and pyrolusite. The non-metallic minerals are mainly feldspar (albite, potassium feldspar), quartz and mica (muscovite + biotite), etc., with trace amounts of calcite, cesium garnet, chlorite, diopside, etc.; based on the number of spodumene crystals as 100%, the number of spodumene crystals with a particle size of >0.3mm in the spodumene mine is >30%.

[0138] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0139] The spodumene ore is crushed into a crushed material with a particle size of 8 mm and a sieve residue of less than 3%; the crushed material is screened and subjected to heavy medium separation in sequence to obtain Li 2 Lithium concentrate III with an O content of 5.11%, fine-grained materials with a particle size of ≤0.6 mm and heavy medium beneficiation middlings; among which, the recovery rate of lithium concentrate III is 29.45%;

[0140] The fine-grained material and the heavy medium ore are subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry II with minerals ≤ 0.074 mm accounting for 75 wt%;

[0141] The overflow slurry II is sequentially subjected to impurity removal (removal of easily floating gangue after desludging) and flotation (one roughing, three sweeping, and three fines) to obtain lithium concentrate III Ⅰ ;

[0142] Lithium concentrate III and lithium concentrate III Ⅰ The mixed concentrates are combined into mixed lithium concentrate X, and the slurry of the mixed concentrate H is subjected to weak magnetic separation, strong magnetic separation and gravity separation in sequence to recover tantalum and niobium; wherein, the strong magnetic separation obtains grade A lithium concentrate, and the gravity separation recovers tantalum and niobium to obtain tantalum and niobium concentrate and grade C lithium concentrate.

[0143] In this embodiment, Li of A spodumene concentrate 2 O content is 5.18%, Li 2 O recovery rate is 86.08%; Ta in tantalum-niobium concentrate 2 O 5 The content is 3.54%, Ta 2 O 5 The recovery rate is 12.53%; the Nb content of tantalum-niobium concentrate products is 2 O 5 The content is 13.07%, Nb 2 O 5 The recovery rate was 28.57%.

[0144] Example 3

[0145] This example uses a spodumene mine in western Sichuan as a test sample. 2 The O content is 1.08%, the main lithium-containing mineral is spodumene, the main gangue minerals are quartz, feldspar, mica (mainly muscovite, trace biotite and lepidolite), in addition there are extremely trace apatite, pyrite, zircon and chlorite, etc.; based on the number of spodumene crystals as 100%, the number of spodumene crystals with a particle size of >0.3mm in the spodumene mine is >30%; the tantalum-niobium minerals in the spodumene mine are niobium iron ore-tantalum-niobium ore series, but the content is extremely small (<0.01%) and has no recovery value.

[0146] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0147] The spodumene ore is crushed to a particle size of 8 mm with a sieve residue of less than 3%, and after screening and heavy medium separation, lithium concentrate III, fine-grained materials with a particle size of ≤0.6 mm, and heavy medium separation middlings are obtained;

[0148] The fine-grained material and the medium ore of the heavy medium beneficiation are subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry II with minerals ≤ 0.074 mm accounting for 70 wt%;

[0149] The overflow slurry II is sequentially subjected to impurity removal (removal of easily floating gangue after desludging) and flotation (one roughing, two sweeping, three fines) to obtain lithium concentrate III Ⅰ .

[0150] In this embodiment, Li 2 O content 5.70%, Li 2 O recovery rate is 30.18%, which can be directly used for subsequent lithium extraction; lithium concentrate III Ⅰ Li 2 O content 5.59%, Li 2 The O recovery rate is 57.14%, and it can also be directly used for subsequent lithium extraction.

[0151] Example 4

[0152] This example uses a spodumene mine in Africa as a test sample. 2 The O content is 1.11%, the main lithium-containing minerals are spodumene and lepidolite (a small amount), the gangue minerals are mainly quartz, albite, potassium feldspar, microcline, muscovite, trace tourmaline, pyrite, beryl, biotite, and very trace apatite, magnetite and almandine; based on the number of spodumene crystals as 100%, the number of spodumene crystals with a particle size of >0.3mm in the spodumene ore is >30%; the content of tantalum-niobium minerals in the spodumene ore is extremely small (<0.01%) and has no recovery value.

[0153] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0154] The spodumene ore is crushed to -8mm sieve residue <3%, and after screening and heavy medium separation, lithium concentrate III, fine-grained materials with a particle size of ≤0.5mm and heavy medium separation middlings are obtained;

[0155] The fine-grained materials and the ore from the heavy medium beneficiation are subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry II with minerals ≤ 0.074 mm accounting for 82%;

[0156] The overflow slurry II is sequentially subjected to impurity removal (removal of easily floating gangue after desludging) and flotation (one roughing, two sweeping, three fines) to obtain lithium concentrate III. Ⅰ .

[0157] In this embodiment, Li 2 O content 5.28%, Li 2 O recovery rate is 32.15%, which can be directly used for subsequent lithium extraction; Li 2 O content 5.56%, Li 2 The O recovery rate is 53.92%, which can be directly used for subsequent lithium extraction.

[0158] Example 5

[0159] This example uses a spodumene mine in Africa as a test sample. 2 O content is 1.19%, the main lithium minerals in the ore are spodumene and lepidolite (a small amount), quartz, feldspar (albite and potassium feldspar) and mica (mainly muscovite, trace amount of ferro-lepidolite) are the main gangue minerals, and it contains trace to very trace amounts of apatite, zircon, iron-manganese minerals, pyrite, sphalerite, etc.; based on 100% of the spodumene crystal number, the number of spodumene crystals with a particle size of >0.3mm in the spodumene ore is >30%; the tantalum-niobium mineral type in the spodumene ore is the niobium iron ore-tantalite series, and the tantalum-niobium mineral is trace (about 0.02%).

[0160] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0161] The spodumene ore is crushed to a size of 6mm with a sieve residue of less than 3%, and after screening and heavy medium separation, lithium concentrate III, fine-grained materials with a particle size of ≤0.5mm, and heavy medium separation intermediates are obtained; among which, Li 2 O content 6.00%, Li 2 O recovery rate: 35.40%.

[0162] The fine-grained material and the pre-selected ore are subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry II with minerals ≤ 0.074 mm accounting for 70 wt%;

[0163] The overflow slurry II is sequentially subjected to impurity removal (removal of easily floating gangue after desludging) and flotation (one roughing, three sweeping, and three fines) to obtain lithium concentrate III. Ⅰ Among them, lithium concentrate III Ⅰ Li 2 O content 5.50%, Li 2 O recovery rate 46.90%;

[0164] Lithium concentrate III and lithium concentrate III Ⅰ The two ore concentrates are combined into mixed lithium concentrate X, and tantalum and niobium are recovered through weak magnetic separation, strong magnetic separation and gravity separation II in sequence; among them, grade A lithium concentrate is obtained from strong magnetic separation, and tantalum and niobium concentrate and grade C lithium concentrate are recovered from tantalum and niobium gravity separation.

[0165] In this embodiment, the Ta in the tantalum-niobium concentrate 2 O 5 Content 6.35%, Ta 2 O 5 The recovery rate is 15.23%; Nb in tantalum-niobium concentrate 2 O 5 The content is 27.20%, Nb 2 O 5 The recovery rate was 36.59%.

[0166] Example 6

[0167] This example uses a spodumene mine in Africa as a test sample. 2 O content is 1.30%, the main mineral components of the spodumene ore are spodumene, quartz, feldspar and mica, accompanied by trace amounts of rare minerals such as tantalum-niobate ore and cassiterite (the content is too low and has no recovery value); based on the number of spodumene crystals as 100%, the number of spodumene crystals with a particle size of >0.3mm in the spodumene ore is <30%.

[0168] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0169] The spodumene ore is conventionally crushed to a size of 12 mm and less than 5% of the sieve residue, and then wet-ground to obtain overflow slurry I, in which the minerals are less than or equal to 0.074 mm and account for 70%; the mud content (primary mud + secondary mud) in the overflow slurry I is less than 15 wt%;

[0170] The overflow slurry I is subjected to removal of easily floating gangue and flotation (one roughing, two sweeping, two refining) to obtain lithium concentrate I.

[0171] In this embodiment, the yield of lithium concentrate I is 18.52%, Li 2 O content is 5.94%, compared with Li 2 O recovery rate: 84.62%.

[0172] Example 7

[0173] This example uses a spodumene mine in Africa as a test sample. 2 O content is 1.5%, lithium is mainly present in the form of spodumene and lepidolite, and gangue minerals are mainly quartz, feldspar (albite + potassium feldspar), amphibole and other minerals; the iron content of the original ore is relatively high, mainly present in the form of hematite, magnetite and the like, the ore has the characteristics of weathered ore and is easy to become muddy; the spodumene crystal size in the spodumene ore is relatively coarse (the number of spodumene crystals in the spodumene ore is 100%, and the number of crystals with a crystal size of >0.3mm in the spodumene ore is less than 30%), the content of primary mud is relatively high, and the content of easy-to-float minerals such as ore mica is relatively low;

[0174] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0175] The spodumene ore is subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry I with a diameter of -0.074 mm and a proportion of 48 wt%;

[0176] The overflow slurry I is sequentially deslimed and flotated (one roughing, two sweeping, three concentrating) to obtain lithium concentrate I;

[0177] The lithium concentrate I is subjected to weak magnetic separation to obtain grade A lithium concentrate.

[0178] In this embodiment, the yield of grade A lithium concentrate is 23.82%, Li 2 O content is 5.50%, Li 2 The O recovery rate was 87.34%, which can be used for subsequent lithium extraction.

[0179] Example 8

[0180] This example uses a pegmatite-type spodumene ore from a mine in Australia as a test sample. 2O content is 1.61%. The main lithium-containing minerals are spodumene (mainly semi-hedral columnar), followed by lepidolite (semi-hedral flaky) and ferrolithium mica (semi-hedral flaky interlaced distribution). The ferrolithium mica of lepidolite is heavily weathered. Taking the number of spodumene crystals as 100%, the number of spodumene crystals with a particle size of >0.3mm in the spodumene mine is less than 30%.

[0181] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0182] The spodumene ore with 8mm sieve residue less than 3% is subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry I with minerals less than 0.074mm accounting for 55wt%;

[0183] The overflow slurry I is sequentially subjected to removal of easily floating gangue and flotation (one roughing, three sweeping and two fine separations) to obtain lithium concentrate I.

[0184] In this embodiment, the yield of lithium concentrate I is 24.81%, and its Li 2 O content 5.78%, Li 2 The O recovery rate was 89.07%, which can be used for subsequent lithium extraction.

[0185] Example 9

[0186] This example uses a spodumene mine in western Sichuan as a sample. 2 O content is 1.44%. The main lithium-containing minerals are spodumene, with trace amounts of lithium mica, lithium chlorite and petalite. The niobium-tantalum minerals are tantalite, columbite and tantalite-niobate. The tantalum-niobium content is relatively low and has no recovery value. There are also trace metal minerals such as limonite, cassiterite and pyrolusite. The main gangue minerals are quartz and feldspar, and the content of mica, hornblende and other floating gangue minerals is relatively low. Taking the number of spodumene crystals as 100%, the number of spodumene crystals with a particle size of >0.3mm in the spodumene mine is less than 30%.

[0187] This embodiment is directed to a modular spodumene beneficiation process for the spodumene mine, and includes the following steps:

[0188] The spodumene ore with 8mm sieve residue less than 3% is subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry I with minerals less than or equal to 0.074mm accounting for 69wt%;

[0189] The overflow slurry I is directly subjected to flotation (one roughing, three sweeping and one concentrating) to obtain lithium concentrate II.

[0190] In this embodiment, the yield of lithium concentrate II is 22%, and its Li 2 O content 5.61%, Li 2 The O recovery rate was 85.71%, which can be used for subsequent lithium extraction.

Claims

1. A modular ore dressing process for spodumene ore, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: S1: Determine the crystal particle size distribution in the spodumene ore, set the target crystal particle size J, and obtain the crystal parameter H of the spodumene ore; the crystal parameter H refers to the mass percentage of crystals with a particle size ≥ J in the crystal particle size distribution; S2: If the crystal parameter H is less than the preset crystal parameter threshold Y H , then the spodumene ore is wet ground to obtain overflow slurry Ⅰ; S3: Detect the impurity content Z in the overflow slurry I. If the impurity content Z ≥ the preset impurity content threshold F Z , then the overflow slurry I is successively subjected to impurity removal and flotation to obtain lithium concentrate I for subsequent lithium extraction; S4: If the impurity content Z is less than the preset impurity content threshold F Z , then the overflow slurry Ⅰ is subjected to flotation to obtain lithium concentrate Ⅱ for subsequent lithium extraction; S5: If the crystal parameter H ≥ the preset crystal parameter threshold Y H , the spodumene ore is sorted to obtain lithium concentrate III for subsequent lithium extraction.

2. The spodumene modular beneficiation process according to claim 1, characterized in that: J is 0.3mm.

3. The spodumene modular beneficiation process according to claim 1, characterized in that: Y H It is 30wt%.

4. The spodumene modular beneficiation process according to claim 1, characterized in that: Before S2 wet grinding or S5 sorting, the spodumene ore is pre-treated by crushing and / or screening; Preferably, the crushed material after the spodumene ore is crushed at least once is screened to obtain the pretreated spodumene ore, and the screened residue is returned to the crushing step; Preferably, the screened residue of the spodumene ore is crushed at least once; more preferably, the crushed material that has been crushed at least once is returned to the screened pretreated spodumene ore.

5. The modular spodumene dressing process according to claim 4, characterized in that: Crushing includes fine crushing and / or medium crushing; preferably, the medium crushed material after medium crushing is directly subjected to fine crushing.

6. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 1 or 4, characterized in that: The feed particle size of the wet grinding in step S2 or the sorting in step S5 is 12 mm with a sieve residue of less than 5%; preferably, the feed particle size is 8 mm with a sieve residue of less than 3%.

7. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 1, characterized in that: Step S5, the spodumene ore is sorted for gravity separation I, or the spodumene ore is classified I or screened before gravity separation I.

8. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 1, characterized in that: Step S5, the sorting includes the following steps: S31: Classifying or screening the spodumene ore to obtain coarse-grained material and fine-grained material; S32: The coarse-grained material is subjected to gravity selection I to obtain lithium concentrate I for subsequent lithium extraction.

9. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 8, characterized in that: The screened fine-grained materials and the middlings from gravity separation I are directly subjected to wet grinding to obtain overflow slurry II; The overflow slurry II performs step S3 to obtain lithium concentrate III Ⅰ Or execute step S4 to obtain lithium concentrate III Ⅱ .

10. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that: Gravity separation I is heavy medium separation.

11. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 10, characterized in that: The feed density of heavy medium separation is 2.5~3.0g / cm 3 Preferably, the feed density is 2.6 to 2.95 g / cm 3 More preferably, the feed density is 2.7 to 2.95 g / cm 3 .

12. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The particle size of the fine-grained material is ≤0.6 mm; preferably, the particle size is ≤0.5 mm; more preferably, the particle size is ≤0.3 mm.

13. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claims 1 and 9, characterized in that: Among the minerals in overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II, minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm account for 40 to 80 wt%; preferably, minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm account for 50 to 75 wt%; more preferably, minerals with a particle size of ≤0.074 mm account for 65 to 70 wt%.

14. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 1 or 9, characterized in that: The overflow of the wet grinding is treated by classification II to obtain overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II.

15. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 1 or 13, characterized in that: Step S4, Z includes mud content Z N and floating gangue content Z Y ; F Z Including mud content threshold F N and the floating gangue content threshold F Y ; Among them, mud content Z N It refers to the percentage of minerals with particle size less than the target particle size L in the minerals of overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II; the content of floating gangue Z Y It refers to the mass percentage of easily floating gangue in overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II; preferably, the target particle size L is 10 μm; preferably, F N 10wt%; preferably, F Y It is 15wt%.

16. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 15, characterized in that: Step S4, the step of removing impurities comprises: A1: If the mud content is Z N > Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y ≤Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is deslimed to obtain the impurity-removed slurry I for subsequent flotation; A2: If the mud content is Z N > Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y >Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is sequentially desludged and de-floating gangue to obtain impurity-removed slurry II for subsequent flotation; A3: If the mud content is Z N ≤ Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y >Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , then the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is used to remove the easily floatable gangue to obtain the impurity-removed slurry III, which is directly used for subsequent flotation; A4: If the mud content is Z N ≤ Mud content threshold F N And the content of floating gangue is Z Y ≤Threshold value of floating gangue content F Y , the overflow slurry I or overflow slurry II is directly used for subsequent flotation.

17. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 1 or 16, characterized in that: In step S3 or step S4, the flotation method is "coarse x fine y sweeping"; wherein x refers to the selected froth Li2O grade M1 represented by the xth selection ≥ the preset Li2O grade target value P M1 y refers to the Li2O grade M2 ​​of the tailings of the yth sweeping < the preset Li2O grade target value P M2 Preferably, x is 1 to 3 times; Preferably, y is 1 to 3 times; Preferably, P M1 5.0 to 6.0 wt %; more preferably, P M1 is 5.0wt%; more preferably, P M1 is 5.5wt%; more preferably, P M1 6.0wt%; preferably, P M2 0.15 to 0.3 wt %; more preferably, P M2 is 0.15wt%; more preferably, P M2 2.0wt%; more preferably, P M2 It is 0.3wt%.

18. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 1 or 9, characterized in that: Lithium concentrate III and lithium concentrate III Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅲ Ⅱ The mixed lithium concentrate X is combined; the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is treated to remove iron and recover tantalum and niobium.

19. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 18, characterized in that: The steps of iron removal and tantalum-niobium recovery include: B1: Detection of Fe2O3 content C in mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅱ Fe and Ta2O5+Nb2O5 content C Ta+Nb ; B2: If the content of Ta2O5+Nb2O5 is C Ta+Nb ≥Ta2O5+Nb2O5 content threshold F Ta+Ta , the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate Ⅰ or lithium concentrate Ⅱ is subjected to weak magnetic separation to obtain strong magnetic material Ⅰ and non-strong magnetic material Ⅰ respectively; the non-strong magnetic material Ⅰ is subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain weak magnetic material and grade A lithium concentrate respectively; the weak magnetic material is subjected to gravity separation Ⅱ to obtain tantalum-niobium concentrate and grade C lithium concentrate; B3: If the content of Ta2O5+Nb2O5 is C Ta+Nb <Ta2O5+Nb2O5 content threshold F Ta+Ta And Fe2O3 content C Fe ≥Fe2O3 content threshold F Fe , then the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is subjected to weak magnetic separation to obtain strong magnetic material II and non-strong magnetic material II; if the Fe2O3 content of non-strong magnetic material II is ≥ the Fe2O3 content threshold F Fe , then the non-strong magnetic material II is subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain grade A lithium concentrate and grade C lithium concentrate respectively; if the Fe2O3 content of the non-strong magnetic material II is greater than the Fe2O3 content threshold F Fe , then the non-strong magnetic material II is used as grade A lithium concentrate or grade B lithium concentrate for subsequent lithium extraction; B4: If the content of Ta2O5+Nb2O5 is C Ta+Nb <Ta2O5+Nb2O5 content threshold F Ta+Ta And Fe2O3 content C Fe <Fe2O3 content threshold F Fe , the mixed lithium concentrate X or lithium concentrate I or lithium concentrate II is directly used for subsequent lithium extraction; Among them, Grade A lithium concentrate refers to lithium concentrate with Fe2O3 content ≤1.5wt% and Li2O content ≥5wt%; Grade B lithium concentrate refers to lithium concentrate with Fe2O3 content 1.5wt%<Fe2O3 content ≤2.5wt% and Li2O content ≥5wt%; Grade C lithium concentrate refers to lithium concentrate with Fe2O3 content>2.5wt% or Li2O content<5wt%.

20. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 19, characterized in that: F Fe 2.5 to 5 wt%; preferably, F Fe 2.5wt%; preferably, F Fe 3.0wt%; preferably, F Fe It is 5.0wt%.

21. The modular spodumene beneficiation process according to claim 19, characterized in that: F Ta+Ta 0.01 to 0.03 wt %; preferably, F Ta+Ta 0.01wt%; preferably, F Ta+Ta 0.02wt%; preferably, F Ta+Ta It is 0.03wt%.

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