FLOTATION CIRCUIT PERFORMANCE DETERMINATION USING SIZE BY SIZE RECOVERY €“ CASE OF BULYANHULU GOLD MINE

Abstract

The Bulyanhulu rougher flotation circuit performance has been determined by establishing
the performance of individual cells. Direct sampling was done on all the rougher cell
input, output and size analysis was performed on the samples with material in each size
fraction assayed for copper and gold to determine their recoveries. It was observed that the
performance of rougher cell number 3 and 4 was poor compared to other cells especially
for finer particles below 53 μm where the recoveries were below 60%. In the last two
flotation cells recoveries of both metals was very good (above 90%) in all particle sizes.
The comminution circuit designated of 80% passing of 75 μm is still valid since in the last
three cells, a good recovery of between 72 and 97% was obtained for both gold and copper
in the +53-106 μm size range. Over grinding of the ore to below 53 μm should be
minimized since the very fine sizes yield poor recovery of both gold and copper in all cells