The Challenge to Scavenge IRON from Tailings Produced By FLOTATION A New Approach: The Super-WHIMS & the BigFLUX Magnetic Matrix

Abstract Tailings recovery has been a constant challenge for most engineers. Along more than five years, GAUSTEC joined major players in the mining Industry to scavenge Iron from tailings produced by flotation making use of WHIMS (Wet High Intensity Magnetic Separation). In the early 1980s, in USA, the US 4,192,738 patent was granted with promising results. Despite this, thirty years have passed with no significant application worldwide. One main reason is reported: the market missed a really high feed capacity WHIMS in order to avoid the huge number of the WHIMS that were available at that time (such projects would typically require more than 20 WHIMS to scavenge iron from tailings produced by flotation plants). Such a huge asset to scavenge low grade iron tailings would not payback. The Mega sized WHIMS launched by GAUSTEC in 2014, the GHX-1400, improved by the Super-WHIMS Technology (18.000 Gauss) and BigFlow Magnetic Matrixes (Gaps smaller than 1.5 mm), faced this challenge. Specially designed ancillary equipment described here also played a decisive role in the scene.