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6.2.2 Froth Flotation <br />The purpose of the froth flotation circuit is to separate the gold bearing rock material (the <br />gold tellurides, native gold, and iron sulfides) for further processing. The properly sized <br />ore from the hydrocyclones overflow will be sent to the flotation feed conditioner tank. <br />Reagents used in the flotation process will be added at this tank. As shown in Table 6 -1 <br />above, these reagents will include lime, flotation collectors (potassium amyl xanthate), <br />flotation modifiers (dithiophosphate), and a frother (a long chain alcohol). The slurry <br />mixture from the conditioner tank will flow to a series of tanks called flotation cells <br />where the slurry will be stirred while air bubbles are introduced. The collector and <br />modifiers will attach themselves to the gold bearing rock material. The collectors and <br />modifiers are also hydrophobic, meaning they would prefer to be in air, so they will <br />attach themselves to air bubbles and will "float" the gold bearing rock material to the <br />surface of the flotation cells. The frother helps to form stable air bubbles that will hold <br />the attached rock material particles. This froth containing the gold bearing rock material <br />will overflow from the top of the flotation cells and will be collected for transfer to the <br />leach circuit. Five flotation cells will be used in the flotation circuit. <br />6.2.3 Agglomeration <br />The amount of ground rock material expected to be floated will average less than 10 <br />percent of the total mass coming into flotation. The ground product that does not float <br />will be rejected from the flotation cells, but continues to have residual gold value. This <br />ground product will be sent to the agglomeration circuit where it will be dewatered, <br />thickened and filtered, and cement will be added as a binding agent. The ground product <br />with added cement will be sent to a drum agglomerator where the mixture will be <br />tumbled and water will be added to produce a cohesive pellet that will be resistant to <br />disintegration. The agglomerated ground product will be placed in a stockpile for <br />transport by haul trucks to one of the VLFs. <br />The ground product from the CIP circuit will also be sent to the agglomerator as <br />described below in Section 6.2.6. <br />Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company <br />Cresson Project Mine Life Extension 2 <br />6 -5 <br />