Abstract
This paper investigated the performance of Sodium
Mercaptobenzothiazole (NMBT) as a collector in the flotation of
Black Mountain ore. The ore contains metals such as lead, copper
and zinc and the associated minerals of economic importance are
chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite respectively, with traces of silver.
The study evaluated the effectiveness of the collector and how pH
affects the recovery of minerals in particular copper. The
performance of the collector was influenced by mineral surface
chemistry. The experimental test work was conducted at varying pH
levels using Denver flotation cell in order to investigate the collector
performance in a basic medium. The experiments were conducted at
two different test runs of slightly basic solutions of pH 8.5 and 9.0.
The results of both fresh ore and floated ore samples were analysed
using XRF. Although Black mountain ore contains small quantities
of copper as compared to other ores, a significant amount w
recovered (±78% of the available copper in the ore), as an indication
of the performance of NMBT.