AN APPLICATION OF A MAGNETIC SEPARATION FOR LITHIC MICA EXTRACTION

References: 17th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2017, www.sgem.org, SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7105-98-8 / ISSN 1314-2704, 29 June - 5 July, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 11, 735-742 pp, DOI: 10.5593/sgem2017/11/S04.093

ABSTRACT

Lithium, the alkaline metal, causes a great excitement in scientific as well as in media scene. His lithic mineral zinnwaldite attracts great attention to a deposit in Cínovec in Ore Mountains. A lithic locality can be found in the Northern Bohemia and it is well-known due to its sources of ore raw material for years. Tin, silver and wolfram were extracted here. Lithium was not utilized in the past and that is why it sometimes happened that a greater part containing lithium was not used. However, this was changed by introduction of modern technologies and new deposits are being searched around the world. At present, it is most probably the only locality in the Czech Republic that could experience restoration of ore deposits mining. The aim of the thesis was to obtain the best quality of a concentrate with a profitable content of lithium. Another aim was to obtain suitable concentrates with high contents of rubidium and caesium as these two elements accompany lithium in crystal grids within mineral. Moreover, these elements are known among people for their utilization in industry. In order to reach the set goals, facilities utilizing magnetic field for capture of magnetic zinnwaldite parts from the entrance batch were tested within solution of tasks. The results approve possibilities for utilizing material coming from the locality Cínovec – south. The best concentrates containing 1.2597 % Li, 0.9544 % Rb and 0.0338 % Cs were registered by means of a wet magnetic separation.

Keywords: lithium, rubidium, Cínovec, zinnwaldite, magnetic separation.