Impurity removal from tin concentrate of Lao-Korea tin mine, Khammuan province, Lao PDR

Abstract

A process for the removal of impurities from tin concentrate of Lao-Korea tin mine has been developed. Wet Scrubbing of tin concentrate grading 23.23% Sn followed by wet high-intensity magnetic separation is a successful method of separation. The scrubbed and non-magnetic fraction obtained has been upgraded to be 60.00-61.51% Sn with 89.97-93.38% recovery. Weak acid scrubbing has also been tried and this can help reducing the scrubbing time. Screening of the scrubbed and non-magnetic fraction grading 60.90% Sn using 212 micron screen to classify this fraction into 2 size fractions (+212 micron and -212 micron size fractions) has been done. It has been found that the +212 micron size fraction has a higher grade of 70.32% Sn which can be a saleable tin concentrate. Whereas the -212 micron size fraction having a lower grade of 50.87% Sn needs to be further upgraded. Higher-tension separation is recommended to treat this -212 micron size fraction hoping to separate the non-conductor impurities of zircon and quartz from the conductor cassiterite with the saleable grade of about 70% Sn.