Niobium Recovery from Eschynite-Type Niobium Ore via Flotation

As a rare metal element, niobium is widely used in steel, electronics, aerospace and many other fields. Eschynite is one of the most important niobium-bearing minerals in Bayan Obo niobium ores. Investigating the beneficiation process and associated reagents is of great significance for improving niobium resource utilization. In this study, mixed ore with eschynite as the main niobium-bearing mineral was used as the research object. Under the condition that the Nb2O5 grade of the feed ore was 0.37%, a niobium concentrate with an Nb2O5 grade of 5.250% was obtained through one rougher stage and four cleaner stages, followed by magnetic separation. The content of eschynite in the niobium concentrate increased from 0.76% in the run-of-mine ore to 26.32%, with an enrichment ratio of 34.63 times, and the proportion of eschynite in all niobium-bearing minerals rose from 50.67% to 86.10%. Experimental results show that the combined flotation–magnetic separation process can realize the efficient concentration of niobium minerals dominated by eschynite, providing a technical reference for the subsequent development and utilization of eschynite-type niobium ore resources.