Recovery of bauxite ore particles -1mm from tailings of the Tan Rai bauxite processing plant by mechianical classifiers

Abstract

Tailings of the Tan Rai bauxite mineral processing plant contain a relatively high proportion of fine bauxite ore particles of less than 1mm. This amount of discarded fine bauxite particles necessarily leads to a high loss of valuable bauxite mineral and also require more tailings dam space. Recovery of such fine bauxite ore particles may produce certain economic and environmental effects to the current processing plant. The paper presents results of the study on recovery of fine bauxite ore particles -1 mm from tailings of the Tan Rai - Lam Dong bauxite mineral processing plant by the use of mechanical classifiers. The obtained +0.5 mm bauxite concentrate are suitable for blending with the +1 mm concentrate of the current plant. The study results showed that recovery of fine bauxite ore particles -1mm from the plant tailings may produce additional amount of valuable concentrate to ensure the supply requirements to the alumina plant and also add some values to the effective mineral resource utilization and bring some economic efficiency.