TABLE OF CONTENTS The industrial application of the flotation process has been practised for 100 years. Although the process is effective, industrial flotation practice often requires several stages to produce the product quality desired by the market. These stages are combined in various methods and are referred to as "flotation circuits". In this section, the stages required in developing a flotation circuit including laboratory and pilot plant flotation testing, the types of circuits currently in practice and the types of flotation cells used are described. Lane et al. (2005) present a useful review of the logical approach to the design of a flotation flowsheet.
In order to develop a flotation circuit for a specific ore, preliminary laboratory testwork must be undertaken in order to determine the choice of reagents and the size of plant for a given throughput as well as the flowsheet and peripheral data. Flotation testing is also carried out on ores in existing plants to improve procedures and for development of new reagents.
It is essential that testwork is carried out on ore which is representative of that treated in the commercial plant. Samples for testwork must be representative, not only in chemical composition but also relative to mineralogical composition and degree of dissemination. A mineralogical examination of drill cores or other individual samples should therefore be made before a representative sample is selected. Composite drill core samples are ideal for testing if drilling in the deposit has been extensive; the cores generally...
