Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 735–738

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Technical note

Industrial use of nitrogen in flotation of molybdenite

at the Sarcheshmeh copper complex
M. Poorkani a, S. Banisi b,*

a
R&D Center, National Iranian Copper Industries Company, P.O. Box 15115-416, Rafsanjan, Iran
b
Mining Engineering Group, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, P.O. Box 76175-133, Kerman, Iran

Received 27 August 2004; accepted 29 October 2004

Abstract

The Sarcheshmeh copper deposit contains 1 billion tonnes of ore averaging 0.7% copper and 0.025% molybdenum. It is located
southeast of Iran and currently processes 41,000 t/d. Molybdenite as a by-product is recovered in two separate stages. First, a bulk
copper–molybdenum concentrate is produced and in the second stage these two are separated. The recovery of molybdenite in the
first and second stages is 65% and 85–90%, respectively. The yearly production of molybdenite concentrate varies between 3500 and
4000 t. Sodium sulphide is used as the depressant of the copper and iron bearing minerals which due to a rather high consumption
(17.7 kg/t) constitutes one of the major cost items of the plant (i.e., 58% of total reagents cost). Nitrogen for the plant was supplied
from an oxygen plant used for the smelter through a 1400 m long pipeline. After using nitrogen in the plant for a period of 21
months, the consumption of sodium sulphide was reduced from 17.7 to 14.2 kg/t at constant metallurgy. The reduction was lower
than expected which was mainly due to the type of sodium sulphide used and the lack of any automatic instrument to control the
depressant (sodium sulphide) dosage.
Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sulphide ores; Flotation depressants; Oxidation

1. Introduction sodium hydrosulphide (Na2S(H2O)n) a depressing agent

The Sarcheshmeh copper deposit contains 1 billion
tonnes of ore averaging 0.7% copper and 0.025% molyb-
denum. It is located southeast of Iran in Kerman prov-
ince and currently processes 41,000 t/d. Molybdenum in
the form of Molybdenite (MoS2) is recovered from cop-
per concentrate as a by-product in two stages. First, a
bulk flotation concentrate of copper and molybdenite
is produced and in the second stage these two are sepa-
rated. In order to separate molybdenite minerals from
the copper concentrate, copper and iron sulphide miner-
als are depressed by means of sodium sulphide or
*
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +98 341 2112764.
E-mail addresses: poorkani@nicico.com (M. Poorkani), banisi@
mail.uk.ac.ir (S. Banisi).
which is commonly used in the minerals industry (Wills,
1997). At the Sarcheshmeh copper complex, the molyb-
denite separation is carried out in eight flotation stages
along with two stages of grinding by ball mills. Depend-
ing on the ore type and the mode of operation a molyb-
denite concentrate with the grade between 53% and 55%
Mo is produced. The consumption of sodium sulphide is
rather high (17.7 kg/t) and among the reagents used in
the plant including collectors, frothers, anti-scale, and
flocculent comprises 58% of the total reagents cost.
2. The use of nitrogen in flotation—theoretical
considerations
Use of gases other than air in industrial froth flota-
tion has been reported in the literature (Podobnik and

0892-6875/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2004.10.013
736 M. Poorkani, S. Banisi / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 735–738

Shirley, 1982; Redfearn, 1983; Berglund and Forssberg,
1989; Kydros et al., 1995). Of all the gases, nitrogen ap-
pears to have the greatest practical promise because of
its ready availability and chemical inertness. It is used
in chalcopyrite–molybdenite separation (Wills, 1997).
The use of nitrogen in this case is mainly to reduce the
oxidation of a polysulphide compound (Nokes reagent)
used as a depressant for chalcopyrite.
From processing viewpoint nitrogen has two effects
of interest. Firstly, it lowers the activity of oxygen in
the pulp and, as a consequence, reduces the pulp poten-
tial. Both effects should influence the selective flotation
of sulphides. The depression of pyrite with nitrogen
has been demonstrated with complex ores (Martin
et al., 1989).
One of the major collectors used in industrial flota-
tion circuits to produce a bulk copper–molybdenum
concentrate is sodium isopropyl xanthate. The adsorp-
tion of xanthate on the copper sulphide minerals which
renders hydrophobicity to the surface is as follows
NaX þ Cuþþ ! CuX þ Naþ
CuX which is formed on the copper sulphide minerals
makes them to float (i.e., adherence to air bubbles due to
hydrophobicity). When sodium sulphide is added to the
flotation cell, at the pH of about 12 it hydrolyses and
then dissociates and HS
ions are formed and then be-
come the predominant ions in the environment. The
HS
ions have more surface activating properties than
the xanthate ions therefore they could remove the collec-
tors from the surfaces of the copper and iron sulphide
minerals. This phenomenon prevents flotation of copper
and iron minerals. This could be chemically shown as
2CuX þ HS
þ OH
! Cu2 S # þH2 O þ 2X
:
The consumption of sodium sulphide in this process
is about 300 times higher than the amount calculated
from the stoichiometry of the reaction (Redfearn,
1983). This large difference is due to the instability of
sulphide depressants in presence of oxygen content of
air and dissolved oxygen in water and also adsorption
of depressant by fine content of solid phase. The use
of a neutral gas such as nitrogen instead of air could
reduce the undesirable oxidation of sodium sulphide
which in turn lowers its consumption in the process
(Selyutina et al., 1988).
In this research air was replaced with nitrogen in the
flotation of molybdenite from the bulk copper–molyb-
denite concentrate of the Sarcheshmeh copper complex.
3. Experimental
In the plant, the hourly composite samples of the
feed, concentrate, and tailings for every shift were taken
and the monthly averages for the study period were re-
ported. Since an oxygen plant in order to enrich the
air supply to the smelting furnaces was available and
nitrogen was the by-product of the plant, it was decided
to transfer the nitrogen to the molybdenite processing
plant. This was accomplished by a 160 kW blower and
a 40 cm diameter pipeline with the length of 1400 m.
ðX ¼ xanthateÞ:
4. Results and discussion
In the plant, the nitrogen line worked for 9 months
and due to a technical problem in the blower the line
was stopped for 6 months and in this period only air
was used in the flotation of molybdenite. Fig. 1 shows
the consumption of sodium sulphide for a period of 42
months, 21 months with air (in two periods of 15 and
6 months) and 21 months (in two periods of 9 and 12
months) with nitrogen.
The change in the trend of sodium sulphide consump-
tion toward lower values when nitrogen was used is evi-
dent. When the nitrogen for the first time was used the
consumption decreased to values below 10 kg/t (i.e., a
reduction of almost 49%) but it gradually increased
and reached 17 kg/t just before the mechanical problem
forced to stop the nitrogen delivery line. In the second
period when air was used the consumption increased
and reached 21.5 kg/t. After 6 months when the system
started again to use nitrogen the consumption decreased
to 14.6 kg/t. On average for every ton of the feed the so-

25
sodium sulphide( kg/t)

20

15

10

5
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

time (mont hs )

Fig. 1. Comparison of sodium sulphide consumption with and without nitrogen for a period of 42 months in the plant. ((j) air, (m) nitrogen).
 M. Poorkani, S. Banisi / Minerals Engineering 18 (2005) 735–738 737

100

Separation Efficiency (%)

95

90

85

80

75

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Time (months)

Fig. 2. Comparison of the separation efficiency of the molybdenite separation with and without nitrogen for a period of 42 months. ((j) air, (m)
nitrogen).

dium sulphide consumption was reduced by 19.7% when When the nitrogen was used the effect of reduction of
the nitrogen replaced the air in flotation cells. The de- sodium sulphide for every ton of molybdenite concen-
crease in the consumption was lower than the values ob- trate produced was significantly (28.5%) higher than
tained in the laboratory tests this was attributed to the the amount used for every ton of feed (19.7%). The
lower quality of sodium sulphide supplied and the lack pay back time for the cost related to production and
of any automatic controlling instrument to adjust the transportation facilities of nitrogen to the molybdenite
amount of sodium sulphide used. plant was determined to be one year.
The paired two-sample studentÕs test was used to
analysis the data to determine the significance level of
the sodium sulphide consumption deference between
two cases. This test was deemed appropriate since the 5. Conclusions
flotation cells for with and without nitrogen cases were
the same; in other words two samples were dependent. 1. Nitrogen which is a by-product of the oxygen plant
It was found that the t critical (2.08) was lower than was transferred to the molybdenite plant of the Sar-
the t of the test (3.51), hence; it could be concluded with cheshmeh copper complex through a 40 cm diameter
the confidence level of 99.8% that when the nitrogen was pipeline with the length of 1400.
used the sodium sulphide consumption decreased. 2. The use of nitrogen in the molybdenite plant during a
The comparison of the separation efficiency (defined 42-months period resulted in an average reduction of
as the difference between the recovery of molybdenite 19.7% (from 17.7 to 14.2 kg/t) sodium sulphide
and gangue minerals to the concentrate) of the molybde- consumption.
nite with and without nitrogen for the same period is 3. The lower reduction of the sodium sulphide con-
shown in Fig. 2. The average separation efficiencies with sumption in the plant compared to the laboratory
air and with nitrogen were found to be 86.5% and tests was attributed to the lower quality of sodium
87.5%, respectively. sulphide supplied and the lack of any controlling
The relative changes of sodium sulphide consumption instrument to adjust the amount of sodium sulphide
for every ton of feed and concentrate along with the sep- used.
aration efficiency when the nitrogen was used is shown
in Fig. 3.

Acknowledgments
1
10
The authors would like to thank National Iranian
0 Copper Industries Company (N.I.C.I.Co.) for support-
Relative change (%)

-10 ing this research. Special appreciation is also extended

-20
to the operating, maintenance, metallurgy and R&D
-19.7
personnel for their continued help. N.I.C.I.Co.Õs permis-
-30 -28.5 sion to publish this article is greatly appreciated.
-40

-50
sodium sulphide sodium sulphide separation
(per feed) (per concentrate) efficiency
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