Recovery of Talc Mineral from the Tailings of Golgohar Iron Processing Plant

In the iron ore mines of Gol-Gohar, talc presents along with magnetite mineral, which goes to waste thickeners after recovery of magnetite. Considering that talc constitutes more than 20% of waste, it can be sold as a by-product with a high added value, if it is recovered and purified. In this study, the extraction of talc from the tailings of the Gol-Gohar complex has been investigated. Sampling was done from the central thickener underflow, which contained 65% of dust factory tailings and 35% of concentrate factory tailings. Based on characteristic studies, the tailings from the central thickener had about 23% talc. Flotation tests were performed using different chemicals, such as pine oil and polypropylene glycol as frothers, oleic acid as collector, Armac C and Armac T, and pH 7 and 11. In the best condition, pH=11, polypropylene glycol as a frother, and not using a collector, a talc concentrate with a purity of more than 95%, a weight recovery of 10.4%, and a talc recovery of 42% was produced. Also, flotation kinetic tests were performed under optimal conditions, and it was shown that most of the first-order kinetic models and the second-order kinetic model excellently match the talc flotation recovery over the time.