Silver Ore and Floatation Products from the Bupyeong Mine

부평광산(富平鑛山)의 금광석(金鑛石)과 선광산물(選鑛産物)

The Bupyeong Silver mine which is located approximately 35km west of Seoul is currently the leading silver producer in Korea. The deposits occur as stockwork deposits hosted in Jurassic pyroclastic rocks. Occurrences of ore deposits and mineral paragenesis suggest a division of mineralization into four stages: Stage I, deposition of iron oxide and base metal sulfides; Stage II, deposition of tin oxide and silverm inerals; stage III, deposition of native silver and other silver minerals; Stage IV, formation of pyrite bearing siderite veinlets, Silver minerals in ore are native silver, argentite, freibergite, pyrargyrite, canfieldite, polybasite, dyscrasite and Ag-Fe-S mineral. The most important silver mineral is native silver among them. Chemical composition of important silver minerals were determined by electron probe microanalyser. Assay, size and modal analyses for floatation products were carried out. In floatation products, relative proportion of native silver for total important silver minerals have following ranges: feed, 64.7 to 74.74 wt.%; A-cleaner concentrate, 80.58 to 98.79 wt.%; and final tailing, 28.12 to 72. 57 wt. %. Average degree of liberation for native silver in feed and A-cleaner concentrate are 60.49% and 77.57% respectively. Negative relationship can be recognized between native silver and argentite in their abundance and behavior in floatation precesses.