Washability

a technical estimate of the potential extent of extraction of valuable components from ores and coals by concentration of the useful minerals. The property depends on the mineralogic-petrologic and structural composition of the useful mineral and on the method of extraction. Studies of washability are performed to develop the technology of processing of a mineral for the purpose of designing a concentration plant; to improve industrial processes, equipment, and concentration conditions; to evaluate new flotation reagents; and to study the mechanisms of concentration.

Washability studies are performed on material obtained as a result of sampling of the mineral deposit. Studies of the material composition of the sample by mineralogic-petrologic granulometric, phase, and chemical analysis are followed by the plotting of washability curves in coordinates of the yield of the product being concentrated versus the content and extraction of a component. The sample is then concentrated according to the method selected, and the results are evaluated by means of technical and economic analysis. In some cases the electrical, magnetic, and adsorption properties of minerals are determined at the same time.