Post by
Wangotango67 on Aug 25, 2021 3:34pm
HUFF - SEPARATION
What if the mining industry ( applied to concentrate extraction ) took a left turn when a right should have been made ?
Kind of like the electriccar at the tuern of the century, yes, electric cars were on the scene and with a sudden shift, petro cars took over. And now, were right back where we started - electric vehicles.
Could we apply tihs to the mining industry ?
What if a junior brought forth the Huff separation ?
What if, a multi mineral concentrate could be achieved with numerous metal credits without the need for hydorcyclones, flotation cells with floculants, or the need of dissolving acids ?
Far less equiptment - no harsh chemicals - low run costs -
strictly relying on, electrostatic charge separation ?
Could it be done ?
Imagine a junior simply crushing all their ore to ( ultra fines ) and passing it over a charged wheel drum - where chargable oxide metals repel and low charge ores stick and complete a portion of a rotation before a brush cleans the unwanted mineralized ores. I would think the reverse method could also work whereas, valued oxide metals stick and low charge metals repel.
Just think of the start up cost savings a junior would avoid - and the benifits of capturing a multi metal concentrate.
Surely a multi mineral concentrate would command far more than a 3- 4 metal concentrate.
What a superb way to process all ores and capture as many minerals as possible.
Why ship 75% waste ores out the door - overseas - when the junior could process these ores themselves and earn far more profit.
Now, just ot convice Braveheart to take that leap of faith, and perform an ore analysis
on the bul lriver mine ores - all ores - every mineral credit would count. More the merrier.
Ya know..., the 2 open pit ( waste ores ) were back gilled into the - open pits.
Yet another source of host rock that can be easily tested for not only cobaltite but many other minerals .
I would think - ocean would have no issies if a junior could create a multi mineral concentrate - more profits for each.
The only hang up to a multi mineral concentrate would be evaluating how much mineral content would be in each tonne ?
Perhaps employing an electronic mineral assay ( optic eye ) with fittment on a conveyor assessing the mineral values would /could do the job ?
If Braveheart ever chose to do a pilot test using this method,
And if results were favorable, i would think this would be the dart that hits the - bullseye.
What would it take to incentivize a junior to do so ?
Looking north and seeing all those minerlas right at surface - 12 inch depth.
And imagining the same minerals are hosted in the bull river ores.
Here's a superb write up - origins of the - Huff separator. ( with diagrams )
I highly reccommend the read.
https://www.911metallurgist.com/electrostatic-concentration-ores-minerals/
And of course from a previous post -
another format of electrostatic separators.
STET triboelectrostatic belt separator
https://steqtech.com/dry-tribo-electrostatic-beneficiation-mineral-sands/
Itruly like this format of - mineral separation.
No fuss, no mess, no acids, just an eco clean separation.
Perhaps it would fair better for - tailings permitting ?
I could easily envison ultra fine ores - passing over a statically charge wheel, or using the STET separator ( belt drive )| and processing far more tonnage than using flotation.
Wango~