Statistical applications in planning and analyzing plant flotation trials of evaluating a collector

The routine variations of metal flotation recovery always exist in every concentrator due to existing fluctuations in daily operations. It should be taken into consideration when conducting a plant trial of evaluating a reagent. The reference distribution was used in this paper to quantify these existing variations and to plan a plant trial. Finally, paired T-test was employed to analyze the trial results.The trial results showed that the average Cu recovery was increased by 3% for the tested collector or 1.8% after taking into consideration the routine Cu recovery variation of 1.2% during the trial.With the application of these statistical tools in planning a plant trial and analyzing the results, a more convincing and accurate conclusion about the real benefit of selecting a collector can be drawn.