Performance evaluation of Falcon fluidized bowl and ultrafine (UF) bowl concentrators for the recovery of ultrafine scheelite particles.

[Display omitted] • Recovery of ultrafine scheelite particles from a gold mine waste is investigated. • The separation mechanism of particles in the Falcon concentrator is discussed. • Particle size separation limits of both fluidized and UF bowl is examined. • The fluidized bowl can efficiently reject coarse heavy (calcite) particles. • UF bowl can collect fine (10 µm) heavy particles effectively. The recent developments in enhanced gravity concentrators, such as Falcon centrifugal separators, are proven beneficial in treating fine and ultrafine mineral particles. This concentrator is classified into a fluidized bowl concentrator and an ultrafine (UF) bowl concentrator based on the bowl design, which has considerable significance in facilitating the separation process. The present investigation concerns the recovery of ultrafine scheelite particles present in the gold mine tailing with an average WO 3 content of 0.08%. The separation behaviour and application of different bowls concerning various particle sizes have been investigated. It is found that the Falcon UF concentrator can achieve a high recovery while the Falcon fluidized bowl can obtain a higher grade. Further, the fluidized bowl was found more effective at eliminating entrapped calcite mineral particles than the UF bowl. The effectiveness of both bowls is assessed in recovering heavy particles of various sizes, and the results show that the fluidized bowl performs better in recovering coarser heavy particles, while the UF bowl performs better in recovering fine heavy particles. Based on these findings, an integrated circuit (fluidized and UF bowls) has been designed, which resulted in achieving a higher (85%) recovery of WO 3 values compared to individual bowls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]