Zircon is a silicate mineral, which is the main ore for refining metallic zirconium. Pure zircon sand is a colourless transparent crystal, often dyed yellow, orange, red, brown and other colours due to different origins and different types and quantities of impurities, with a hardness of 7.8, specific gravity of 4.6-4.71, refractive index of 1.93-2.01, and a melting point of 2,550°C. The mineral is generally well formed into square short columnar crystals, a few long columnar crystals, bipyramidal crystals, and also simple crystals. This mineral generally good crystal shape, into a square short column, a few long columnar crystals, biconical crystals, but also simple columnar and complex columnar and irregular grains.

Zircon is the main mineral raw material for extracting Zr and Hf, and it is very resistant to high temperature, its melting point reaches 2750, and it is resistant to acid corrosion. In the world, 80% of zircon is directly used in foundry industry, ceramics, glass industry and the manufacture of refractory materials; a small amount of zircon is used in ferroalloys, pharmaceuticals, paints, tanning, abrasives, chemical and nuclear industries; a very small amount of zircon is used in smelting zirconium metal.

Zircon beneficiation process

Zircon beneficiation refers to the process of removing impurities in zircon ore and increasing the zircon content, often using re-election, magnetic separation, electrostatic separation and flotation method, due to the large number of accompanying minerals in zircon ore, need re-election, magnetic separation, flotation, electrowinning, and other methods are used jointly.

1, re-election. In the primary stage is often used re-election method, such as the use of shaking table will be heavy minerals and veins (quartz, feldspar, black mica) and other separation, and then other means of beneficiation to make it with other heavy minerals separation.

2, flotation. Adoption of chemicals, etc., the use of flotation machines and other flotation.

3、Electrowinning. Electrowinning should be pre-sludge grading, drying and drug treatment, the use of mineral conductivity differences will be separated from different minerals.

4, magnetic separation. Magnetic separation is divided into dry and wet dry magnetic separation needs to be selected into the material heating and drying, grading and other pre-treatment before sorting. Wet strong magnetic field magnetic separator sorting particle size is wider, so when the zircon particle size is fine when using wet magnetic separator is more appropriate.

Related equipment

Shaking table

Flotation machine

Dryer

Magnetic separator