collector concentrations. The results show that the flotation recovery
of the spodumene mineral increases with increasing pH until
pH 7.0 and then decreases rapidly. A maximum recovery of
approximately 70% of the spodumene mineral was obtained at
pH 7.0. The albite and quartz minerals also exhibited significant
floatability with the maximum recovery of approximately 30%
and 45%, respectively.
Fig. 3 shows the effect of different Fe(III) concentrations on the
floatation recovery of spodumene, albite, and quartz minerals with
2.0 104 M NaOL at pH = 6–7. The result shows that the flotation
recoveries of spodumene and quartz minerals increased with
increasing Fe(III) concentration, while it had no influence on the
recovery of albite (Karaguzed et al., 2006).
The flotation results for the three minerals with increasing
NaOL concentration at pH 6–7 are shown in Fig. 4. The flotation
recovery of the spodumene mineral increased with increasing
NaOL concentration until 6.0 104 M NaOL, and above that the
recovery was not affected. The maximum flotation recovery of
approximately 90% of spodumene was obtained at 6 104 M
NaOL concentration. At a lower concentration of NaOL, the flotation
recovery of albite enhanced from approximately 5–30% until
4.0 104 M NaOL concentration, and above that, the flotation
recovery of the mineral decreased. The flotation recovery of quartz
increased with increasing NaOL concentration, and the maximum
flotation recovery of 70% of quartz was obtained at 2.0 103 M
NaOL concentration.