Controlling incipient oxidation of pyrite for improved rejection. Technical progress report for the ninth quarter, October 1--December 31, 1994

The major objectives of this work are (1) to determine the Eh-pH conditions under which pyrite is stable, (2) to determine the mechanism of the initial stages of pyrite oxidation, and (3) to determine if the semi-conducting properties of pyrite effects its oxidation behavior. It is known that moderate oxidation of pyrite produces a hydrophobic surface product. This hydrophobic product makes it extremely difficult to depress pyrite in coal flotation circuits. The eventual objective of this work is to prevent pyrite oxidation in order to better depress pyrite in coal flotation circuits. It has been shown that by holding the potential of pyrite at its stable potential during fracture, pyrite undergoes neither oxidation nor reduction. It has also been found that fresh pyrite surfaces created by fracture in an electrochemical begin to oxidize at potentials that are about 200 mV more negative than the potentials reported in the literature for pyrite oxidation. This report period, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies were continued. As discussed in the seventh quarterly progress report, the impedance of pyrite does not show the characteristics expected for either semi-conducting or metallic electrodes. Additional studies were conducted to confirm the anomalous impedance behavior. For this purpose, freshly fractured surfaces were progressively polished on 600 and 1,200 grit silicon carbide paper, and with 0.3 {micro} {alpha}-alumina and 0.05 {micro} {gamma}-alumina micropolish. Polishing is known to introduce defects in the lattice structure of semi-conducting electrodes and it was anticipated that the defects would effect the interfacial capacitance