Processes for enriching a desired mineral from an ore comprising the desired mineral and gangue, are provided, wherein the process comprises carrying out a flotation process in the presence of one or more chelating agents, one or more collecting agents, one or more types of multivalent metal ions, and optionally, one or more depressants, in a solution, wherein the one or more chelating agents are capable, alone or as a group of compounds, of sequestering a metal or metal ion in the form of a metal-chelating agent complex that remains at least partially soluble in the solution.

The present disclosure relates to a collector composition containing (i) as a primary collector the compound of the formula (I) wherein R is an alkyl group containing between about 5 and about 16 carbon atoms that may be branched or linear, k is a value of about 1 to 3, m is an integer from about 0 to about 25, each A independently is CH2-CH2- or CH2CH(CH3)- or CH2-CH(CH2-CH3)-, n is an integer of at least about 3 and at most about 8, and wherein X is an anion derivable from deprotonating a Brnsted-Lowry acid, and (ii) a second compound selected from the group of other primary collectors, secondary collectors, depressants, frothers, and solvents. The disclosure also relates to a process to treat siliceous ore that contains a step of froth flotating in the presence of a collector composition that contains the primary collector compound.

The present invention relates to a method for the flotation of silicates from ores in the presence of a collecting agent and an effective amount of a froth modifier/collecting booster comprising at least one of the compounds of general formula I or mixtures thereof: ##STR00001##
wherein X is C1-C3 alkyl; R is straight or branched hydrocarbyl group containing 8 to 22 carbon atoms; n is integer from 2-4; m can vary from 0 to 2 and R is X or (CH2).sub.n-N(X).sub.2, with the proviso that when R is (CH2).sub.n-N(X).sub.2, then m is 1.

A flotation process for recovering feldspar from a feldspar containing feed material is disclosed. The process includes forming an aqueous suspension of a feldspar containing feed material, in the absence of hydrofluoric acid, wherein the suspension includes from 0.004 to 0.3% wt. of a flotation reagent including: (a) one or more amines, containing at least one aliphatic hydrocarbon chain, linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, including 8 to 50 carbon atoms, or a salt thereof; and (b) one or more primary, secondary or tertiary alcohols, containing at least one aliphatic hydrocarbon chain, linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, including 8 to 50 carbon atoms; the ratio of (a) to (b) ranging from 500:1 to 1:40 by weight. The process further includes agitating the obtained suspension to produce a feldspar containing fraction, and separating the feldspar containing fraction.

The present invention relates to a method for the flotation of silicates from ores in the presence of a collecting agent and an effective amount of a froth modifier/collecting booster comprising at least one of the compounds of general formula I or mixtures thereof:

##STR00001##

wherein X is C1-C3 alkyl; R is straight or branched hydrocarbyl group containing 8 to 22 carbon atoms; n is integer from 2-4; m can vary from 0 to 2 and R is X or (CH2).sub.nN(X).sub.2, with the proviso that when R is (CH2).sub.nN(X).sub.2, then m is 1.

A collector composition comprising (a) refined tall oil wherein the refined tall oil is any tall oil that has been subjected to one or more refining or processing steps that results in an increase in acid value; and (b) a fatty acid wherein the refined tall oil has an acid value of at least 90 mg KOH/g and a weight average molecular weight of at least 750 g/mol. A mineral slurry comprising (a) an ore comprising a mineral of interest; (b) a collector composition comprising (i) a refined tall oil; and (ii) a fatty acid; and (c) a liquid. A method for the beneficiation of an ore, the method comprising (a) preparing a slurry comprising the ore dispersed in a liquid; (b) contacting the slurry with a collector composition comprising a refined tall oil; and (c) recovering a beneficiated ore.

Cationic reverse flotation methods, systems, and processes for producing a marketable iron oxide concentrate from an iron oxide mineral slurry (treatment slurry), wherein the iron oxide content of the concentrate is greater than the iron oxide content of the treatment slurry, include introducing the treatment slurry into a flotation cell, together with a collector, a frother and optionally an iron oxide depressant, and recovering two flow streams from the flotation cell, namely a froth fraction (also referred to as a flotation tail fraction) and a sink material fraction (also referred to as the flotation concentrate), wherein the treatment slurry in the flotation cell is maintained at a Natural pH.

Depressants comprising a moderately oxidized polysaccharide having about 0.05 to about 4.5 mmol of anionic charge per gram at a pH of about 6 to about 7, or about 0.2 to about 5 mmol of anionic charge per gram at a pH of about 10 to about 11.2, are provided. Also disclosed are processes for enriching a desired mineral from an ore comprising the desired mineral and gangue, wherein the process comprises carrying out a flotation process in the presence of one or more of the depressants.

A depressor in iron ore flotation comprises sugar cane bagasse and caustic soda so as to assist in the iron ore flotation. Sugar cane bagasse is used as a depressor in iron ore flotation, and a process of preparing depressor comprising sugar cane bagasse is disclosed.

The invention relates to a process for enriching an iron mineral from a silicate containing iron ore by inverse flotation comprising the addition of a collector or collector composition comprising at least one of the compounds of formulae ROXNH.sub.2 (Ia); ROXNH.sub.3.sup.+Y.sup. (Ib); ROXNHZNH.sub.2 (IIa); and ROXNHZNH.sub.3.sup.+Y.sup. (IIb), in which X is a linear or branched aliphatic alkylene group containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms; Z is a linear or branched aliphatic alkylene group containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms; Y is an anion; and R is an aliphatic group of the formula (I) C.sub.5H.sub.11CH(C.sub.3H.sub.7)CH.sub.2 (I) wherein the C.sub.5H.sub.11 moeity of the aliphatic group of the formula (I) comprises 70 to 99% by weight n-C.sub.5H.sub.11, and 1 to 30% by weight C.sub.2H.sub.5CH(CH.sub.3)CH.sub.2 and/or CH.sub.3CH(CH.sub.3)CH.sub.2CH.sub.2.
ROXNH.sub.2(Ia)
ROXNH.sub.3.sup.+Y.sup.(Ib)
ROXNHZNH.sub.2(IIa)
ROXNHZNH.sub.3.sup.+Y.sup.(IIb)
C.sub.5H.sub.11CH(C.sub.3H.sub.7)CH.sub.2(I)