minerals primarily found in the sink product may be albite and quartz. In contrast, the floated product may have recovered microcline mineral particles. Based on the sink-float results, the separability curves were elaborated and are shown in Figures 5–8. By analysing the cumulative sink mass curve (densimetric curve) and the Li2O cumulative recovery curve (Figures 5 and 6, respectively) in the S.G. 2.90–2.80 range, it is possible to observe that sink mass recovery increases only slightly, from 31.31% to 36.79%. In contrast, there was a large increase in Li2O recovery, from 13.21% to 54.04%, over the same S.G. range. As shown in S.G. 2.70, metallurgical recovery increases with mass recovery (between S.G. 2.70 and 2.60, it increases from 44% to 98%); however, there is no proportional increase in Li2O grade. Figure 5 – Densimetric curve 148
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