Combination of gravity concentration variables toincrease the productivity of the Brucutu mineral processing plant.

Abstract

tThe jigging process is one of the oldest ways used to concentrate ores in the world, suitablefor small and medium-sized employability, and is composed of a pre-concentration stepas a way to reduce costs. Within this perspective, a test campaign for laboratorial mineralconcentration was set up, in order to determine the main variables (and their interactions)that may have an influence on the concentration of iron ore from the Quadrilátero Ferríferoby the jigging process. A factorial planning was prepared so that an accurate statisticalanalysis of experiments could be performed. A combination of the three variables werestudied (feed granulometry, background layer, and bed mass) promoted an iron recoveryequal to 73.14%, a distribution of silica of 89.05% on the tailing and a selectivity index of3.80. Thus, the methodology enabled a useful statistical evaluation and can contribute todecision-making regarding the parameters of interest in the jigging process.