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Towards an Understanding of the Use of Disodium Carboxymethyl Trithiocarbonate (DCMT) as an Alternative Depressant in Cu/Mo Sulfide Flotation

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Abstract

The use of sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) in most of the operations in by-product molybdenum flotation comes with safety concerns and, in some instances, a high reagent cost. Engineered solutions at the various operations where NaHS is used have reduced the possibility of H2S gas evolution immensely. However, the threat of exposure remains, and this, coupled with the high dosages of NaHS consumed, supports the continued search for alternative depressants. This paper focuses on efforts to study the applicability of disodium carboxymethyl trithiocarbonate (DCMT), an organic depressant, as an alternative to NaHS. Bench-scale rougher flotation results for samples from the Sierrita Cu–Mo plant showed the best DCMT performance at 8 kg/t of DCMT and pH=10.5 with 30 min of shear conditioning and 10 min of flotation conditioning time. The Aminpro plant model simulation confirmed that DCMT with 4–8 kg/t under certain shearing and conditioning times achieved superior or equivalent Mo–Cu separation efficiencies when compared to NaHS.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Freeport-McMoRan Technology Center, Tucson, for their support in this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. Sierrita Operations, Green Valley, AZ, USA

    Simon Timbillah & Bernard Fosu

  2. Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. Technology Center, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Peilin Lan & Cesar Sosa-Blanco

  3. Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. Phoenix Corporate Office, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Leonard Hill

Authors
  1. Simon Timbillah
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  2. Bernard Fosu
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  3. Peilin Lan
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  4. Cesar Sosa-Blanco
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  5. Leonard Hill
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Contributions

Conceptualization, S. T., L. H., P. L., and C. S.; methodology, S. T., P. L., and C. S.; software, P. L.; validation, P. L.; formal analysis, P. L., and S. T.; investigation, T. F.; resources, B. F.; data curation, P. L.; writing—original draft preparation, S. T. and P. L.; writing—review and editing, S. T., B. F., P. L., and L. H.; visualization, P. L.; supervision, L. H.; project administration, L. H.; C. S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Simon Timbillah.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors. They should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. or Chevron Philips Chemicals.

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Timbillah, S., Fosu, B., Lan, P. et al. Towards an Understanding of the Use of Disodium Carboxymethyl Trithiocarbonate (DCMT) as an Alternative Depressant in Cu/Mo Sulfide Flotation. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 38, 1463–1476 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-021-00423-w

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