How will the metallic minerals be separated?
At Crandon, the company has elected to utilize a process called froth flotation in order to separate the metallic minerals from the nondesirable minerals contained in the ore. Ore would be extracted at depth and crushed and hoisted to the surface for further grinding. The resultant material would then be mixed with water to produce a slurry. Inside the mill/concentrator, small quantities of various chemicals would be added to the slurry to create conditions under which certain minerals would be attracted to the surface of air bubbles, created by agitating the slurry and introducing air. The air bubbles, with the valuable mineral particles attached, are skimmed off the top of the flotation tank and processed further, resulting in separate zinc, copper, and lead concentrates. Other reagents, termed depressants, would also be added to the slurry to induce specific minerals to stay in the solution and not be attracted to the air bubble. This process is repeated and different chemicals are
