An Experimental Study of New Depressants to Upgrade Fluorite Ore for Hydrofluoric Acid Production

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-928-5_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Fluorite flotation; High-purity CaF2; Hydrofluoric acid; Depressant optimization

Abstract

Mongolia possesses substantial fluorspar (CaF₂) resources, with over 224 licensed deposits covering more than 61,000 hectares. The country holds strong potential to expand its export capacity by producing value-added products such as hydrofluoric acid (HF) and its downstream derivatives. This study explores the potential to process fluorite feed ore from one of Mongolia’s major mining regions into a high-purity concentrate suitable for HF production. Laboratory-scale flotation tests were conducted to establish effective processing conditions. The sample was composed primarily of quartz, fluorite, and calcite, minerals with similar surface properties that pose challenges for selective separation. To improve flotation performance, the study introduced newly tested depressants, used on this ore type for the first time, to increase selectivity and enhance concentrate purity. The flotation process was optimized for grinding fineness, pH, and reagent combinations. The best results were obtained at 60% passing 74 µm, with flotation at pH 10 using fatty acid-based collectors and depressants dosed at 100–250 g/t. Open-circuit flotation produced a concentrate with 96.1% CaF₂ and 58% recovery. A closed-circuit configuration with multiple cleaning stages improved the final product to 96.03% CaF₂ and 68.8% recovery. XRD analysis confirmed a final CaF₂ purity of 97.2%, meeting the specifications for HF production. These results demonstrate that high-grade fluorite concentrate can be produced from Mongolian ore using optimized flotation conditions and new reagent strategies, supporting the country’s ambitions to grow its chemical manufacturing capabilities through resource-based industrial development.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Narangarav Terbish
AU  - Purev-Ochir Togtokhbaatar
AU  - Bayardulam Jamiyansuren
AU  - Baasandorj Myagmarsuren
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/25
TI  - An Experimental Study of New Depressants to Upgrade Fluorite Ore for Hydrofluoric Acid Production
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference Resources and Technology (RESAT 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 36
EP  - 51
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-928-5_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-928-5_4
ID  - Terbish2025
ER  -