| Summary: | Froth f1otation.is the most widely used mineral concentration process in the world. Experimental work has shown different gas distribution profiles to a bank of flotation cells elicit different metallurgical responses; with an increasing profile yielding the highest cumulative recovery. However, this same response has not been seen on flotation models, it is believed this· is due to a lack of a distinct, physics based, froth zone model these flotation models. Recent research work has focused upon developipg physics based computer simulations of flotation froths able to yield mineral grade and recovery results achieved experimentally. FrothSim, a physics based model of flotation froths, has been used to develop aJT10del of a bank of flotation cells from experimental results, the model is. a very good representation of the bank. Additional models have been developed to enable froth output parameters, such as the air recovery and overflowing bubble size, to be predicted after changes to operating variables, such as air rate, have been made. These models have been incorporated into the froth simulation package FrothSim and used to predict flotation performance for the bank of cells modelled, at different air distribution profiles. One of these profiles was predicted to improve the performance of the bank by ncreasing the grade of the valuable minerals at the head of the bank and increasing the cumulative recovery of the same minerals at the tail of the bank, maximising potential profit from the bank. The predicted improvement in performance was confirmed on a subsequent industrial sampling campaign, on the same bank,.with the same air distribution profile. A very good agreement between the predicted and experimental performance was obtained for all minerals in the model, both selectively floated valuable minerals and non-selec~ively entrained gangue minerals. Therefore, FrothSim is able to be used as a tool to optimise gas distribution off-line, reducing the requirement for costly, and time-consuming, on-plant experimentation.
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