The Bushveld Complex in South Africa contains the largest reserves of platinum group elements (PGEs) in the world. It is composed of the Merensky reef, UG2 reef and the Platreef. Unlike the other reefs that have been largely exploited, the Platreef ores have proved to be difficult to process due to their low content of PGE sulphides and the low association of the PGM minerals with the base metal sulphides. Based on their high association with base metal sulphides in other ores in the Bushveld complex, thiol collectors are used to float PGM minerals. However, relatively high amounts of the PGE arsenide and telluride minerals have been found in the tailing streams of the Platreef concentrators despite being fully liberated. One of the major components in the Platreef ores is sperrylite (PtAs2), which has been found to be slow floating compared to the other PGMs. This study aimed at determining the reasons for the poor floatability of sperrylite with a view to improving its recovery. Tests were conducted to determine the interactions of the mineral with a range of standard and novel collectors. These included microflotation tests to determine the hydrophobicity of the minerals before and after the adsorption of collectors, calorimetric experiments to determine the enthalpy and extent of collector adsorption onto sperrylite, and electrochemical tests to examine charge transfer reactions between sperrylite and the selected standard collectors.

中文翻译：

---

研究 sperrylite 的可漂浮性及其与选定的标准和新型收集器的相互作用


南非的布什维尔德杂岩体拥有世界上最大的铂族元素 （PGE） 储量。它由 Merensky 礁、UG2 礁和 Platreef 组成。与其他大量开采的矿脉不同，普拉特瑞夫矿石的铂族元素硫化物含量低，而且铂族金属矿物与贱金属硫化物的结合度低，因此难以加工。由于硫醇捕收剂与 Bushveld 杂岩体中其他矿石中的贱金属硫化物高度结合，因此使用硫醇捕收剂来漂浮 PGM 矿物。然而，尽管 Platreef 选矿厂的尾矿流已完全释放，但在 PGE 砷化物和碲化物矿物中发现了相对大量的 PGE 砷化物和碲化物矿物。普拉特瑞夫矿石的主要成分之一是 Sperrylite （PtAs2），与其他 PGM 相比，它漂浮得较慢。本研究旨在确定 sperrylite 可浮性差的原因，以提高其回收率。进行了测试以确定矿物与一系列标准和新型收集剂的相互作用。这些测试包括微浮选测试，以确定捕收剂吸附前后矿物的疏水性，量热实验，以确定捕收剂吸附在斯佩里石上的焓和程度，以及电化学测试，以检查斯佩里石和选定的标准捕收剂之间的电荷转移反应。