Development of a Sustainable Process for Complex Sulfide Ores Containing Anglesite: Effect of Anglesite on Sphalerite Floatability, Enhanced Depression of Sphalerite by Extracting Anglesite, and Recovery of Extracted Pb2+ as Zero-Valent Pb by Cementation Using Zero-Valent Fe

The presence of anglesite (PbSO4) in complex sulfide ores negatively affects the separation Cu-Pb sulfides and sphalerite (ZnS) due to lead activation, PbSO4 rejected tailings dams contaminates surrounding environment with lead. To address these problems, this study investigated application ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) pretreatment extracting ZnS flotation recovery extracted Pb2+ as zero-valent Pb by cementation using iron (ZVI). EDTA could extract ~99.8% PbSO4, thus depressing floatability from 82% 30%. In addition, ZVI recover ~99.7% leachate pretreatment.