Flotation Separation of Quartz and Feldspar from a Tungsten Gravity Tailings

The tungsten gravity tailings are rich in non-metallic mineral resources such as quartz (content: 52.69%), feldspar (content: 31.84%) and mica (content: 10.00%), with K₂O, Na₂O and SiO₂ contents of 5.22%, 1.45% and 75.41%, respectively. In order to fully and efficiently recover the feldspar and quartz resources from the tungsten gravity tailings, a experimental study of flotation separation was conducted. A fluoride-free and acid-free flotation method was used, and the mica was removed by pre-flotation with the combined anionic and cationic collectors TB−1 and TB−2, quartz and feldspar were further separated by flotation using TY−1 as depressant, TH−1 as activator and TB−1 as collector. As a result, the yield of feldspar products was 25.43%, of which the grades of K₂O, Na₂O, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ were 10.51%, 3.11%, 17.02%, 0.14%, respectively, and the yield of quartz products was 27.74%, of which the grade of SiO₂, Fe₂O₃ was 98.51% and 0.09% respectively.