Tin Ore Processing

Tin circuits must manage both liberation and fragility

Cassiterite is dense and often suitable for gravity concentration, but density alone does not guarantee a simple plant. The valuable mineral can occur across a broad size range and may break into difficult fine particles during unnecessary crushing or aggressive recycling.

The flowsheet should recover coarse liberated tin as early as practical, then classify and treat the remaining fractions with equipment suited to their size and expected grade.

Classification is part of the separation

A gravity separator is sensitive to particle size because settling behavior changes rapidly as particles become finer. Sending a broad mixture of coarse sand, fine sand and slime to one machine makes it difficult to maintain a useful operating condition.

Classification also makes losses easier to diagnose. If the tailings are sampled by size fraction, the process team can see whether the problem is incomplete liberation, poor washing, overloaded roughing or ineffective fine recovery.

Cleaning depends on the concentrate mineralogy

Gravity roughing may produce a mixed heavy-mineral concentrate. Shaking tables, magnetic separation or sulphide removal may be considered depending on the minerals present and the final product requirement.

The correct sequence should be tested. Adding every available separator increases cost and recirculating load without guaranteeing a better saleable concentrate.