Abstract

ZAMORA ECHENIQUE, Gerardo; HINOJOSA CARRASCO, Octavio; SALAS CASADO, Antonio  and  JULIANA KUTZ, Friderike. Study of desulphurization of tailings generating Acid Mine Drainage, before final disposal. Rev. Met. UTO [online]. 2014, n.35, pp. 30-36. ISSN 2078-5593.

It is known that the tailings from concentrator plants that process sulfide minerals are generators of Acid Mine Drainage, AMD. The mining industry hasdeveloped differentstrategiesto avoid the negative effectof AMD on theenvironment. One of thesestrategiesisthe "environmental desulphurization". It consists of separating sulfide minerals remaining in the tailings by a non selective sulfide flotation process. This process of desulphurization generates a product called "chemically stable- non-float", which requires no environmental measures after mine closure, while the sulfur float-product must be treated environmentally and requires special measures but at lower costs. A representative sample of tailings from a mining company that explode Pb-Ag and Zn-Ag complexes was considered for the study. At first, physical, chemical, mineralogical and biological characterizations were carried out. The sample was also subjected to geochemical static and dynamic AMD prediction tests before and after the desulfurization process. The results from the study revealed, that by adding an additional sulfide bulk flotation step to the studies tailings, it is possible to eliminate the sulfur fraction, thus generating a residue (non-float) NON AMD GENERATOR with about 85 wt%.

Keywords : Acid mine drainage; flotation; desulphurization.