Compounds of the 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 an aliphatic alkylene group containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms; Z is an aliphatic alkylene group containing 2 to 6 carbon atoms; Y.sup. is an anion; and R is an aliphatic iso C.sub.13H.sub.27-group with average branching degree ranging from 1.5 to 3.5. The compounds are particularly suitable as flotation collectors for enriching an iron mineral from a silicate-containing iron ore.

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for recovery of ancylite, a rare earth mineral comprising strontium carbonate, from rare earth ore. In many embodiments, the disclosed methods and systems provide for recovery of greater than 50% of the ancylite from an ancylite containing ore. In many embodiments, the ore is subjected to flotation in the presence of an acid, for example a hydroxamic acid, such as octanohydroxamic acid. The ore may also be subjected to magnetic separation, for example wet high intensity magnetic separation.

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a concentrate enriched in iron mineral content from an ore, which contains an iron mineral and silicate, by reverse flotation, which method comprises the step of (c) adding a compound of formula I wherein R.sup.1 is C.sub.9-C.sub.22 alkyl or alkenyl, which is linear or branched, R.sup.2 is H, C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkyl, which is linear or branched, R.sup.3 is XNH.sub.2, H or C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkyl, which is linear or branched, and X is C.sub.2-C.sub.4 alkylene, which is linear or branched, or a salt of a protonated compound of formula I and an anion, to a prepared aqueous pulp of the ore and optionally one or more flotation auxiliaries to obtain an aqueous mixture. Furthermore, a method for manufacturing a specific group of compounds of formula I, i.e. compounds of formula 1-X wherein R.sup.1 is C.sub.9-C.sub.15 alkyl, which is linear or branched, R.sup.2 is H, R.sup.3 is XNH.sub.2 and X is C.sub.2-C.sub.4 alkylene, which is linear or branched, is disclosed. ##STR00001##

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: 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. ##STR00001##

A collector 2-cyano-N-(substituted carbamoyl)acetamide compound in flotation of calcium-bearing minerals and a highly selective flotation reagent for the calcium-bearing minerals are provided. The highly selective flotation reagent includes the 2-cyano-N-(substituted carbamoyl)acetamide compound and an auxiliary collector. The 2-cyano-N-(substituted carbamoyl)acetamide compound has an excellent effect on flotation separation of the calcium-bearing minerals and a foaming performance. Dosage is further reduced and a flotation performance is improved by compounding the compound with the auxiliary collector. The flotation reagent can preferably separate fluorite from calcite by flotation, efficiently separates the fluorite and the calcite from scheelite under neutral condition (pH is about 7), effectively purifies rough scheelite concentrate and improves grade of scheelite concentrate. Meanwhile, the neutral flotation reduces influence on the environment.

A process for separating iron-bearing impurities from silica sand is described. The process comprises the steps of subjecting a silica sand slurry to froth flotation in the presence of a collector, frother and depressant selected to concentrate the iron-bearing impurities of the silica sand in a flotation froth, thereby producing a silica sand depleted in iron-bearing impurities in a tail product. The collector comprises 60 to 70 w/w % tall oil acids, 10 to 30 w/w % poly--hydroxyl alkyl ethers and up to 3 w/w % tall oil rosin. The frother comprises a non-ionic surfactant, in particular one or more alkyl polypropoxy C.sub.nP.sub.m and/or polyethoxy C.sub.nE.sub.m frothers, wherein n=0-6 and m=1-3. The depressant comprises sodium silicate.

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a concentrate enriched in iron mineral content from an ore, which contains an iron mineral and silicate, by reverse flotation, which method comprises the step of (c) adding a compound of formula I

##STR00001## wherein R.sup.1 is C.sub.9-C.sub.22 alkyl or alkenyl, which is linear or branched, R.sup.2 is H, C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkyl, which is linear or branched, R.sup.3 is XNH.sub.2, H or C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkyl, which is linear or branched, and X is C.sub.2-C.sub.4 alkylene, which is linear or branched, or a salt of a protonated compound of formula I and an anion, to a prepared aqueous pulp of the ore and optionally one or more flotation auxiliaries to obtain an aqueous mixture. Furthermore, a method for manufacturing a specific group of compounds of formula I, i.e. compounds of formula I-X

##STR00002## wherein R.sup.1 is C.sub.9-C.sub.15 alkyl, which is linear or branched, R.sup.2 is H, R.sup.3 is XNH.sub.2 and X is C.sub.2-C.sub.4 alkylene, which is linear or branched, is disclosed.

A method for the recovery of vanadium, the method including the steps of: (i) subjecting a vanadium-containing ore to a beneficiation step incorporating a sequence of medium-intensity magnetic separation, high-intensity magnetic separation and reverse silica flotation processes to form a vanadium-containing concentrate; (ii) roasting the vanadium-containing concentrate; (iii) leaching a product of the roasting step (ii) to extract vanadium into a pregnant leach liquor; (iv) passing the pregnant leach liquor of leaching step (iii) to a precipitation step; and (v) Treating a precipitate from step (iv) to obtain a vanadium product,
wherein an iron-titanium product from step (iii) is recovered.

An enhanced flotation method of lepidolite ore based on high-entropy collection is provided for mineral processing. Concerning problems of conventional lepidolite collectors, such as low collection ability, poor selectivity, and large consumption, based on thermodynamic theory of complex multiphase solid-liquid systems, by adjusting and controlling the adsorption equilibrium constant of collector(s) on a surface of lepidolite and gangue minerals and entropy change during adsorption process, a high-entropy collector suitable for efficient separation of lepidolite is developed. Without changing conventional flotation procedures, enhanced flotation of lepidolite could be achieved only by adding sodium carbonate as a modifying agent with a low amount of the high-entropy collector.

Disclosed is a sodium petroleum sulfonate collector for fluorite flotation, comprising sodium petroleum sulfonate and non-polar oil, wherein the molar ratio of the non-polar oil to the sodium petroleum sulfonate is 3.33-5.67, the sodium petroleum sulfonate comprises raw material oil and active substance, the molecular weight of the raw material oil is 350-450, the molecular weight of the sodium petroleum sulfonate is 500-750, the aromatic hydrocarbon comprises benzene ring hydrocarbon and naphthalene ring hydrocarbon, the content of the benzene ring hydrocarbon is 5% to 11%, and the content of the naphthalene ring hydrocarbon is 5% to 5.2%, the raw material oil needs to be sulfonated by sulfur trioxide, and the molar ratio of the aromatic hydrocarbon to the sulfur trioxide in the raw material oil is 2.4 to 5. The sodium petroleum sulfonate collector proposed by this disclosure is both efficient and low temperature resistant.