Process for producing high purity sodium chloride from potassium mineral flotation tailings

摘要

The invention relates to a process for recovering from potassium mineral flotation tailings sodium chloride of sufficiently high purity to make it suitable for industrial use, characterized by comprising the following stages: (a) washing said flotation tailings with water and with the mother liquor from one or more successive stages of the process, said mother liquor containing sodium chloride as undissolved bottoms, to give a mixture of a solid phase comprising nearly all the sodium chloride contained in said fed tailings, and a liquid phase (b) separating said mixture into a first turbid portion enriched in said solid phase, and a second turbid portion enriched in said liquid phase (c) separating the solid phase from the liquid phase of said first turbid portion, this latter separated phase constituting at least part of said mother liquor for use in stage (a), and possibly (d) drying the solid phase separated in stage (c) to produce high purity sodium chloride.