Services

Flotation upgrades that enhance mineral recovery

If you’re looking for better and more reliable metallurgical performance, it’s time to think about upgrading your flotation equipment. Our upgrade packages for forced-air and self-aspirated flotation cells enable enhanced mineral recovery, greater process stability and reduced power consumption.

Key benefits of flotation upgrade

  • Increase grade and recovery

    All our flotation upgrades are engineered to improve material recovery and grade, so you can get more from your ore.

  • Reduce power requirements by up to 40%

    Our nextSTEP Rotor/Stator upgrade enables you to reduce the power requirement of your forced air flotation system by 15 – 40%, the lowest power energy flotation mechanism on the market. It can be retrofitted to any existing FLS forced air flotation systems and will provide longer wear life and up to 5% more material recovery alongside the energy benefits.

  • Maintain high availability

    With our exchange programme, you can exchange worn flotation mechanisms for as-new components with a very short turnaround, enabling you to resume normal operations quickly and easily. No waiting for repairs or long lead times for new components – simply plan the exchange into your maintenance programme and we’ll refurbish the old mechanism while you’re using the new one.

The process

Optimise flotation cells

Call in our process experts to inspect your flotation cells and we’ll provide an audit and study comparing current operating conditions with expected performance. This enables us to identify where the system is losing performance – the performance gap – and how this could be solved. 

Rebuild float cells to reduce waste 

While upgrades improve operational efficiency, enabling you to save power and reduce emissions, rebuilding worn components and participating in the FLS exchange programme provide other environmental benefits. By prolonging equipment life, we’re able to reduce raw material consumption and prevent waste, building a circular approach to equipment maintenance that contributes to a more sustainable mine. 

Want to talk? Reach out to our experts

Frequently asked questions

FAQs for flotation upgrades

Flotation can be optimized by increasing bubble particle interaction.  This is most easily achieved with more efficient mixing within the cell.  The shape and position of flotation cell wetted parts is critical. 

Low froth depths can cause unstable froth, resulting ins recovered particles falling back into the tank.  High froth depths can cause excess entrainment of non-value mineral in the froth, reducing froth grade.