In recent years, guided by the “Two Mountains Theory,” China’s mineral industry has developed a profound understanding of the relationship between green waters and clear streams—and mountains of gold and silver. As national environmental standards continue to rise and relevant policies are introduced, mining enterprises are expected to shoulder greater social responsibility. While striving to enhance production efficiency, they must also ensure that leaked waste and wastewater generated during the production process are efficiently treated in an environmentally friendly manner.

The coagulant products for mining manufactured by the group are striving to provide enterprises with high-quality coagulants, helping them achieve efficient treatment and recycling of tailings and meet national requirements for tailings disposal.

Generally speaking, the equipment used by mining enterprises for tailings treatment is thickeners, which can be categorized—based on their performance—into conventional thickeners, high-efficiency thickeners, and deep-cone thickeners. Traditional thickeners are primarily used by enterprises that handle coarse-grained ores, have relatively easy-to-process ores, possess large tailings ponds, and do not require the addition of chemical reagents; they represent the oldest type of ore-thickening equipment. Currently, domestic mining enterprises mainly employ high-efficiency flocculants and deep-cone flocculants. High-efficiency thickeners occupy a small footprint, exhibit high settling efficiency, reduce the concentration of underflow discharge, and offer faster and more efficient reverse-water utilization. To meet the demand of certain enterprises for high concentrations at low flow rates and minimal light turbidity, deep-cone thickeners have been developed.

Currently, both the high-efficiency internal mixer and the deep-cone internal mixer—both of which are widely used—must be operated in conjunction with a coagulant. As an essential medium for achieving rapid solid-liquid separation, the coagulant plays a critically important role in tailings treatment. The effectiveness of flocculants is primarily influenced by two factors.

External conditions include thickener conditions and supply conditions.

Performance of flocculants.

1) External conditions include the densifier’s own conditions and supply conditions.

The key factors determining the performance of a thickener are its mechanical design and size. From a structural standpoint, it’s crucial to assess whether the rationality of the central well design in the thickener can facilitate rapid dispersion and induction of the pulp. Specifically, does the central well feature a pulp-dilution device? And is the pulp flow within the design specifications of the thickener? Regarding pulp supply conditions, factors such as pulp concentration, particle size distribution, pulp pH, ore composition, beneficiation process, and the enterprise’s requirements for low-flow concentrations all have a decisive impact on the settling behavior of the pulp.

2) Performance of flocculants

Coagulants are the media required in the high-shear separation process of internal mixers; their performance directly determines the operational parameters of the mixer and whether the selected plant can run smoothly. Given the diverse and challenging nature of various mines in mining enterprises, a series of spatially structured and networked coagulant products have been developed. Unlike conventional linear-structured coagulants, these new products better meet mining enterprises' requirements for dense sedimentation and underground flow.

In response to some customers’ concerns about the impact of coagulant dosage and coagulant residues on mineral processing operations, the group has developed detection equipment capable of accurately assessing the settling performance of water wells centered around internal mixers. Additionally, we can recommend to mining clients detection equipment and methods for monitoring residual coagulants in dense overflow streams. Through feedback from this equipment, customers can continuously monitor and control the use of coagulants at the site.