Falcon Centrifugal Concentrator for Gravity Upgrading of Taconite Concentrate

Abstract

The Falcon Centrifugal Concentrator, or Gravitational Concentrator, separates materials based on differentiation of specific gravity in the centrifugal field. The Falcon Concentrator has been successfully applied in recovering ultra-fine gold from tailings. Recent work on recovery of fine hematite in Quebec has shown limited success. This project was funded by the Permanent University Fund, Minnesota Technology Institute (MTI), and USX. The project was funded in two phases, first to study its feasibility; second to investigate its application in place of flotation process that could do away with flotation reagent. The first part of this report contains the initial operation data and analysis, and the second part was to report the tests on pre-classified material, which was parallel to the project of preclassification of flotation feed, also funded by MTI. As presented in Figure 1, Falcon Concentrator contains a rotor assembly which rotate up to 1800 rpm to create 300 G of force. The slurry fed through the tube to the bottom of the rotator where centrifugal force immediately separates solids and water. The solids are pinned to the cone wall forming a compact blanket. Because of the expanding configuration of the cone, the solids move progressively towards the large diameter and ultimately to discharge. During this upward and outward progression, the blanket of solids diminishes in thickness. Light particles are drawn into the pulp stream by the overlying layer of fastmoving water and pass out with the tailings. The heavy particles migrate underneath the layer will discharged by a pinch valve assembly at control interval. These setup allowed continues operation at through put of 30 L TPH with a C 1 0 model.