Separation Technology of a Spodumene Ore in Africa

This is an essay in the field of mineral processing engineering. The useful mineral of a pegmatite lithium deposit in Africa is spodumene, and the raw ore contains 0.87% Li₂O. It belongs to low-grade lithium ore, which is relatively difficult to develop and use. In this study, a spodumene concentrate with a yield of 10.15%, containing 6.03% Li₂O and lithium recovery of 70.14% was obtained through detailed flotation tests and the flotation process of "one roughing, two scavengings and three cleanings". The magnetic separation test results show that chemical grade -1 spodumene concentrate can be obtained by 0.2 T magnetic separation of lithium flotation concentrate, and ceramic grade spodumene concentrate can be obtained by 0.6 T magnetic separation of lithium flotation concentrate, which realizes the high-quality utilization of this low-grade lithium ore.