In anticipation of future demands, a comprehensive understanding of the chemical and mineralogical characteristics of nickel-bearing minerals is a prerequisite to devising effective nickel beneficiation methods. Of particular importance are markers in the mineralogy of the flotation concentrate that inform beneficiation strategies to improve concentrate grades, increasing both the marketability and cost of refining. In this work, a detailed characterization of a complex nickel sulfide flotation concentrate from a Western Australian deposit was carried out to determine the mode of occurrence and distribution of nickel and the associated gangue minerals, with the view of identifying prudent beneficiation strategies to improve concentrate grades. The concentrate was characterized via particle, chemical, and mineralogical techniques. Particle size analysis of the concentrate showed that it consisted predominantly of fine and ultra-fine particles (<20 μm), with the nickel value concentrated in the finer size fractions. Nickel mineralization in the ore (by quantitative X-ray diffraction) was found to be within pentlandite, violarite, millerite, and gersdorffite. The sulfide gangue was predominantly pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, and galena. Quantitative evaluation of minerals by scanning microscopy (QEMSCAN) analysis revealed that nickel minerals are at least 91% liberated, and the remaining portion (around 7%) is locked within binary iron (Fe) sulfides and 2% within complex minerals. Based on these findings, potential processing options, such as magnetic separation, gravity separation, and froth flotation, for recovering and upgrading nickel from this concentrate are discussed. Notably, with the significant presence of ultrafine/fine pyrrhotite content, averaging around 52% in the minus 38 µm fraction, novel flotation cells, including the Jameson cell, column flotation cells, and Reflux flotation cell (RFC), have been identified as potential candidates for fine/ultrafine pentlandite recovery. Overall, the characterization study conducted suggests that acquiring knowledge about the mineralogical characteristics of existing mineral concentrates can serve as a pathway to improving future concentrate grades.

中文翻译：

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硫化镍精矿的表征及其对镍黄铁矿选矿的影响

考虑到未来的需求，全面了解含镍矿物的化学和矿物学特征是设计有效的镍选矿方法的先决条件。特别重要的是浮选精矿的矿物学标记，它可以为选矿策略提供信息，以提高精矿品位，从而提高适销性和精炼成本。在这项工作中，对西澳大利亚矿床的复杂硫化镍浮选精矿进行了详细表征，以确定镍和相关脉石矿物的赋存和分布模式，以期确定审慎的选矿策略以提高精矿品位。通过颗粒、化学和矿物学技术对精矿进行了表征。精矿的粒度分析表明，其主要由细颗粒和超细颗粒（<20 μm）组成，镍值集中在更细的尺寸部分。矿石中的镍矿化（通过定量 X 射线衍射）被发现位于镍黄铁矿、紫罗兰铁矿、针铁矿和黄铁矿中。硫化物脉石主要为磁黄铁矿、黄铁矿、黄铜矿、闪锌矿、毒砂和方铅矿。通过扫描显微镜 (QEMSCAN) 分析对矿物进行定量评估表明，至少 91% 的镍矿物被释放，其余部分（约 7%）被锁定在二元铁 (Fe) 硫化物中，2% 被锁定在复杂矿物中。基于这些发现，讨论了从该精矿中回收和升级镍的潜在加工方案，例如磁选、重力分离和泡沫浮选。值得注意的是，由于超细/细磁黄铁矿含量显着存在，在负 38 µm 级分中平均含量约为 52%，新型浮选槽，包括 Jameson 槽、柱式浮选槽和回流浮选槽 (RFC)，已被确定为具有潜力的浮选槽。细/超细镍黄铁矿回收的候选者。总体而言，进行的表征研究表明，获取有关现有精矿矿物学特征的知识可以作为提高未来精矿品位的途径。