Due to environmental reasons and water shortage, concentrators have to increase water recirculation in the plant. The water originates from different sources, and depending on their origins, the water chemistry varies from stream to stream. Water chemistry has many significant impacts on flotation, beneficial or non-beneficial. Water is an essential component in mineral processing. Water is used as a method of transporting the mineral solids in grinding, flotation, and thickening. Managing water resources is essential because it affects the environment. In some countries, water is recycled due to water scarcity, and in other countries to prevent environmental pollution.

Before water at a mine site is recycled, a strategy should be put in place. To establish this strategy, a study that includes samples taken over a long period has to be conducted to understand the chemistry of the streams (pH, ORP, ions in solution, etc.). Equally, flotation testing to understand the impact of recycled water on metallurgy must be undertaken and replicated flotation tests for a rigorous statistical analysis. Surface analysis, for example, ToF-SIMS and/or XPS, should explain the causes of paymetal recovery loss and accidental activation, if any, of gangue minerals. All this test work is to be compared to flotation tests done with clean water. If there is an improvement using clean water, then using water treatment technologies should be considered. In this case, an economic study has to be performed to determine if it is economically feasible to implement water treatment technology. One of the advantages of water treatment technology is that it will provide consistent water chemistry to avoid complicating operating conditions and compromise flotation performance.

Ionic species in solution have an impact on flotation performance. The effect of recycled water will be different for every concentrator. The reason is that not all recycled water is the same, and concentrators treat different ore types. Depending on the ions in solution, these will have different impacts on flotation.

The articles should focus on the effects of recycled water on the flotation of paymetal, for example, nickel, rare earth elements, surface analysis of the minerals for both paymetals and gangue minerals, stream chemistry and the effects of recycled water on bubble size, bubble surface area flux and machine hydrodynamics.