Study on secondary recovery of lead and zinc from a sulfur concentrate in Yunnan province

In order to realize the secondary recovery of lead and zinc metal resources in sulfur concentrate and improve its quality, process mineralogy was used to study the distribution characteristics and occurrence state of the target minerals, and then the principle flow of lead-zinc bulk flotation was determined. Copper sulfate was used as sphalerite activator, lime as pyrite depressant, and butyl xanthate, sodium diethyldithiocarbamate and ammonium dibutyl dithiophosphate as combined collectors. The reagent regime was determined through the condition test. A concentrate with lead grade of 5.49% and zinc grade of 38.11% was obtained by the closed-circuit test of coarse crushing, fine crushing, screening, grinding and classification. The lead and zinc recovery for the concentrate were 13.52% and 57.12%, respectively. After upgrading, the sum of lead-zinc grades of sulfur concentrate was reduced to 0.98%.