Minerals and ores
The Wark manages a full range of equipment and expertise relevant to the
minerals industry including a sophisticated Flotation Mini Pilot Plant (MPP). The collective expertise of research and technical
staff is coordinated and applied to short and medium term industrial
consulting, as well as strategic research.
Our personnel have comprehensive experience in mineral separation
including flotation of ores containing base and precious metals, coal,
oxide and industrial minerals, together with a wide range of plant
experience. Staff also have experience in physical (magnetic and
gravity) and chemical (leaching and recovery from solution) processing
of a wide range of materials.
Mineral Processing Equipment
• Sample preparation including crushing, grinding and screening,
riffling to sub-samples
• Classification including hydrocyclone separation to 5µm
• Grinding and flotation at batch and 5 kg/h pilot scale, with automated
reagent addition, regrind mill and column flotation
• Wet and dry magnetic separation
• Gravity separation using shaking table and centrifugal separators
Plant Diagnostics
• Many plant surveys conducted at flotation plants in Australia and
overseas since 1988
• Pulp and solution chemical analysis
• Flotation cell hydrodynamic analysis
• Modelling of plant circuits and individual cells
• Surface analysis of value and gangue minerals
Analytical Facilities
• Particle sizing
• Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis
• Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy
• FTIR, UV-Vis Spectroscopy
• X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)
• X-Ray Diffraction
• XRF Analysis
• Rheology determinations on slurries
• QEMSCAN