Beneficiation and smelting process of tungsten
At present, tungsten is the main mineral in China, followed by scheelite. Although the reserves of scheelite are large, the rich ore is small, the grade is low, and the refractory ore is large, so the mining volume only accounts for about 10% of the output of scheelite. Although the reserves of wolframite is less than that of scheelite, it is rich in many minerals and easy to be mined and screened. Therefore, the total amount of tungsten mined accounts for more than 90% of the total output of tungsten. The beneficiation methods of tungsten are as follows:
Gravity separation: in a certain medium or medium flow (mainly water), the method of ore separation according to the mineral density difference. The advantages of this method are simple equipment structure, convenient operation and low production cost. Common gravity separation processes include heavy medium separation, jigging separation, shaking table separation, chute separation, centrifugal separation, etc.
Flotation: it is the most widely used method in mineral processing. It is a method to separate useful minerals from ores according to the different physical and chemical properties of mineral particles. The flotation method is suitable for fine and fine particle materials and fine ore particles which are difficult to recover less than 10 μ m by other beneficiation methods. The United carbide company of the United States has developed a "lime method" for the flotation of scheelite. Shear flocculation flotation has also been used in some factories for the flotation of scheelite.
