Investigations into Lithium minerals processing

Spodumene is the primary Lithium mineral, however, other minerals like lepidolite, petalite, zinnwaldite, and Li-clays are gaining importance. Different processing approaches are needed to address different challenges. Dense Media Separation (DMS) can concentrate spodumene and petalite, but recoveries are often limited by grain size. Froth flotation is widely used to concentrate spodumene and is the main lepidolite beneficiation method, where spodumene is floated with anionic fatty acids and lepidolite with cationic amine collectors. Zinnwaldite, a high-iron lepidolite mineral, can utilize magnetic separation and to some extent, flotation, whereas and Li-clays (e.g., hectorite and illite) are primarily concentrated through size classification.