The present invention provides new techniques related to magnetically controllable and/or steerable froth for use in separation processes of mineral-bearing ore and bitumen. Apparatus is provided featuring a processor configured to contain a fluidic medium having a material-of-interest and also having a surfactant with magnetic properties so as to cause the formation of a froth layer that contains at least some of the material-of-interest and is magnetically responsive; and a magnetic field generator configured to generate a magnetic field and provide non-mechanical mixing and steering/driving of the froth layer in the processor. The material-of-interest may be mineral-bearing ore particles or bitumen. The processor includes a flotation tank, a primary separation vessel (PSV), or a pipe, including a tailings pipeline. The pipe has a non-magnetic pipe section, and the magnetic field generator includes a magnetic coil arranged in relation to non-magnetic pipe section to generate the magnetic field and provide the non-mechanical mixing and steering/driving of the froth layer in the pipe.

An apparatus for removing mineral particles from loaded engineered collection media includes one or more solvents with sufficiently low surface tension. The engineered collection media are made of a synthetic material and have a surface coated with a hydrophobic material to provide a chemical bond between the mineral particles and the surface. The solvents together with a releasing mechanism are arranged to disrupt the chemical bond. Preferably, a surfactant or a nonionic surfactant is also added to the solvents.

Apparatus uses engineered collection media to recover mineral particles in a mineral extraction process, e.g., for processing a tailings stream at the end of a flotation separation process. The engineered collection media are added to slurry/tailings containing the mineral particles. The engineered collection media have collection surfaces coated with a chemical selected for attracting the mineral particles to the collection surfaces so the engineered collection media becomes mineral laden media in the slurry/tailings in a loading stage. The apparatus include three stages: removing unwanted material from mineral laden media; using a stripping agent to strip the mineral particles from the mineral laden media; and separating the engineered collection media from the mineral particles and the stripping agent. The stripping agent is reused for stripping, and the engineered collection media are returned to the loading stage. The engineered collection media can have a smooth or foam-like surface.

A composite medium for collecting mineral particles in an aqueous slurry has a polymer substrate deposited or penetrated with an inorganic material and further coated with a hydrophobic material. The hydrophobic material can be a hydrophobic silane or a hydrophobic polymer such as polysiloxane. Alternatively, the inorganic material deposited substrate is first reacted with a reactive silane and then coated with a hydrophobic polymer. The polymer substrate can be in the form of a spherical bead, a small cube, a filter or a conveyor.

According to the invention there is provided a method of processing a mixture of minerals including the steps of: (a) providing a mixture of minerals which includes a metal containing mineral and one or more unwanted gangue minerals; (b) achieving a contact between the mixture of minerals and polymeric material that includes a mineral binding moiety which selectively binds to the metal containing mineral; and (c) separating the gangue minerals and the polymeric material which has the metal containing mineral bound thereto.

A system includes a collection processor configured to receive tailings of a flotation process, the tailings having mineral particles of interest; and at least one collection apparatus located in the collection processor. The collection apparatus has a collection surface configured with a functionalized polymer having molecules with a functional group that attract the mineral particles of interest to the collection surface. The flotation process has scavenger circuits that provide scavenger circuit feeds having scavenger tails. The system features enhanced scavenger circuits having the collection apparatus located in the collection processor and configured to receive the scavenger circuit feeds and provide enhanced scavenger circuit feeds having enhanced scavenger tails and enhanced scavenger concentrate for further processing by the system.

Apparatus is providing featuring a synthetic bead having a solid-phase body with a surface, and being configured with a predetermined electric charge so as to respond to a corresponding predetermined electric field; and a plurality of molecules attached to at least part of the surface, the molecules comprising a functional group selected for attracting and attaching one or more mineral particles of interest to the molecules. Some combination of the solid-phase body or the surface may be configured from a polymer. The polymer may be polyethylenimine. The polyethylenimine may be engineered or configured to be highly charged so as to be used to collect the mineral particles of interest and then manipulated through and by the corresponding predetermined electric field.

Apparatus for use in, or forming part of, a separation process to be implemented in separation processor technology, the apparatus comprising synthetic bubbles or beads configured with a polymer or polymer-based material functionalized to attach to a valuable material in a mixture so as to form an enriched synthetic bubbles or beads having the valuable material attached thereto, and also configured to be separated from the mixture based at least partly on a difference in a physical property between the enriched synthetic bubbles or beads having the valuable material attached thereto and the mixture.

Providing a method for selecting minerals containing arsenic. A peptide comprising an amino acids sequence according to the following formula: (T, S, N, or Q)-(H, P, or W)-(E, or D)-(H, P, W, R, or K)-(L, I, V, F, or A)-(L, I, V, F, or A)-(L, I, V, F, or A)-(T, S, N, or Q)-(H, P, or W)-(L, I, V, F, or A)-(T, S, N, or Q)-(L, I, V, F, or A) wherein one amino acid is respectively selected from each group defined by paired parentheses.

Apparatus uses hydrophobic synthetic beads to recover mineral particles in a slurry. The synthetic beads and the slurry are mixed into a mixture for processing. The apparatus has an interaction vessel installed in a section of pipeline. The interaction vessel is made from a pipeline folded or coiled into a compact struction having a continuous flow path. The interaction vessel has an input to receive the mixture of slurry and synthetic beads. The folded or coiled structure is used to increase the residence time of the mixture in the flow path, allowing more time for the mineral particles in the slurry to attach to the surface of the synthetic bead, while maintaining a small footprint. The interaction vessel may be formed from a number of loops of pipe section. The interaction vessel may be formed from one or more folded structures.