Claims
- 1. A process for separating minerals from a mixture of minerals having different densities which comprises comminuting the mixture of minerals to liberate the minerals; slurrying comminuted minerals with an aqueous solution of lithium metatungstate, the concentration of lithium tungstate in said aqueous solution being selected to provide a density between the densities of the minerals being separated so that minerals having a density greater than said solution will sink and minerals having a density less than said solution will float; and separately recovering minerals which float and which sink.
- 2. The process as described in claim 1 wherein one of the minerals to be separated is coal.
- 3. The process as described in claim 2 wherein the coal is washed from associated rock minerals.
- 4. The process as described in claim 1 wherein one of the minerals to be separated is diamond.
- 5. The process as described in claim 1 wherein one of the minerals is apatite.
- 6. The process as described in claim 1 wherein the mixture of minerals is heavy mineral sand.
- 7. The process as described in claim 1 wherein the density of the lithium metatungstate solution is greater than about 3.2 g/cc.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of copending application Ser. No. 720,915, filed Jun. 25, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,848.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
720915 |
Jun 1991 |
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