Cassiterite beneficiation in China: A mini-review

Tin is indispensable for the development of advanced technology and cassiterite is the only mineral of commercial importance, from which tin can be extracted economically. In the past two decades, tin reserves in China have experienced a rapid decline because of active mining activities; simultaneously, cassiterite beneficiation has been facing with the many dilemmas like lower tin-grade, finer grain size, and more complicated mineralogy. Therefore, a review has been made here to summarize the development and progress on the recovery of tin from natural resources and secondary resources in China by demonstrating a series of breakthroughs made in process flowsheet, gravity separation equipment, innovative flotation theories, fine particles flotation, new cassiterite collectors, and tin recycling technologies in recent years, which will doubtlessly contribute to increasing tin resource utilization rate and promoting sustainable development of tin industry whether in China or the world. As for the future, the research and development of fine or ultra-fine cassiterite gravity separation equipment, green and low lost cassiterite flotation reagent, as well as the reusing and recycling of tin from tin-containing secondary resources deserve more attention, which will encourage researchers to move forward.