Gravity Separation of Zinc Mine Tailing Using Wilfley Shaking Table to Concentrate Hematite

The flotation process is used to concentrate the zinc ore known as willemite. The process generates a residue consisted of hematite and dolomite. The residue used in this work presents desegregated hematite and dolomite particles, previously identified by MEV. In such a way, this work aims through gravity separation to concentrate the mineral phase hematite. The Wilfley shaking table was used to process 500 g of the tailing. Three different materials were obtained after the separation process: hematite concentrate, middling, and gravity separation tailing (GST). The characterization was carried out in SEM-EDS, XRD, and ICP-OES. SEM-EDS presented for concentrate, an iron content increasing from 7 to 44.5%. In concentrate, the XRD showed hematite peak intensity greater than the initial sample, different from other fractions. Analyses in ICP-OES showed that the concentrate material had 40.4% of iron, while in raw material, it was 7%. Therefore, gravity separation using Wilfley shaking table is seen as an interesting alternative since it reduces the zinc mine tailing, requires less energy and makes possible the material return to process in the steel industry.