JIGGING

Govardhana | Dept of MME | NIT Warangal

Jigging

Jigging is a ore concentration carried out in any

fluid and depending for its effectiveness on
differences in specific gravity of granular mineral
practice

Jigging is one of the oldest methods for

concentrating minerals (3-10 mm) based on
differences in the density of the particles by the
pulsation of a stream of liquid (water), flowing
through the bed of materials

Jigging

The liquid pulsation causes stratification i.e. the

heavy particles to migrate through the bed to the
bottom of the bed and the light particles to rise to
the top

It consists of stratification of the particles into

layers of different specific gravities followed by
removal of the stratified layers
Application- recovery of gold, tin, tungsten and iron ore industries

Jigging

Each fraction can then be separately taken out

The main phenomenon of the particle separation in
jigging is by hindered settling

Mechanical device used for separating the materials using the jigging principle JIG

1.
2.
3.

Three effects can be distinguished as contributing to

the stratification in jigs they are
Hindered settling classification
Differential acceleration at beginning of fall
Consolidation trickling at end of fall

Contd...

On the pulsion stroke the bed is normally lifted as a mass,

then as the velocity decreases it tends to dilate
The bottom particles falling first until the whole bed is
loosened
On the suction stroke it then closes slowly again. The
frequency usually varying between 55 and 330 c/m
Fine particles tend to pass through the interstices after the
large ones have become immobile
The motion can be obtained either by using a fixed sieve jig,
and pulsating the water, or by employing a moving sieve, as in
the simple hand-jig

Contd...

Jigging process

Jigging process

Hindered settling

The essential difference in hindered settling

between jigs and classifiers is that in jigging the
solid-fluid mixture is so thick as to approximate a
loosely packed bed of solids with interstitial fluid
instead if a fluid carrying a great number of
suspended solid particles

Contd...

The thick solid-fluid mixture used in jigging cannot

be maintained for any length of time
It does not allow sufficient play for complete
rearrangement of the solids
After a longer time particles attain their terminal
velocities and will be moving at a rate dependent
on their specific gravity and size

Contd...

The material bed is a loosely packed mass with

interstitial water providing a very thick suspension
of high density , hindered-settling conditions
prevail, i.e. settling ratio of heavy to light minerals
is higher than that for free settling

The upward flow can be adjusted so that it overcomes

the downward velocity of the fine light particles and
carries them away, thus achieving separation

Contd...

The upward flow can be increased further so that only

large heavy particles settle
But it will not be possible to separate the small heavy
and large light particles of similar terminal velocity

Hindered settling has a marked effect on the separation

of coarse minerals, for which longer, slower strokes
should be used

Differential acceleration

During the accelerating period, the heavy particles have a

greater initial acceleration and speed than the lighter particles
The initial acceleration of the mineral grains is independent of
size and dependent only on the densities of the solid and the
fluid
It follows that if the duration of fall is short enough and the
repetition of fall frequent enough, the total distance travelled
by the particles will be affected more by the differential initial
acceleration than to their terminal velocity, means
stratification would take place on the basis of density alone

Contd...

In other words, to separate small heavy mineral

particles from large light particles a short jigging
cycle is necessary

Consolidation trickling

At the end of a pulsion stroke, as the bed begins to

compact, the larger particles interlock, allowing the
smaller grains to move downwards through the
interstices under the influence of gravity
The fine grains may not settle as rapidly during this
consolidation trickling phase as during the initial
acceleration or suspension
But if consolidation trickling can be made to last
long enough, the effect, especially in the recovery
of the fine heavy minerals, can be considerable

Contd...

Ideal Jigging process

In the jig the pulsating water currents are caused by

a piston having a movement which is a harmonic
waveform
The vertical speed of flow through the bed is
proportional to the speed of the piston
When this speed is greatest, the speed of flow
through the bed is also greatest

The upward speed of flow increases after point A, the beginning of

the cycle

As the speed increases, the grains will be loosened and the bed will
be forced open, or dilated

At, say, point B, the grains are in the phase of hindered settling in
an upward flow, and since the speed of flow from B to C still
increases, the fine grains are pushed upwards by the flow

The chance of them being carried along with the top flow into the
tailings is then at its greatest

In the vicinity of D, first the coarser grains and later on the

remaining fine grains will fall back

Due to the combination of initial acceleration and hindered settling,

it is mainly the coarser grains that will lie at the bottom of the bed

At the point of transition between the pulsion and the suction

stroke, at point E, the bed will be compacted
Consolidation trickling can now occur to a limited extent
In a closely sized ore the heavy grains can now penetrate only
with difficulty through the bed and may be lost to the tailings
Severe compaction of the bed can be reduced by the addition
of hutch water, a constant volume of water, which creates a
constant upward flow through the bed
This flow, coupled with the varying flow caused by the piston,
is shown in Figure

Effect of hutch water on flow through bed

Thus suction is reduced by hutch-water addition, and is

reduced in duration; by adding a large quantity of water, the
suction may be entirely eliminated
The coarse ore then penetrates the bed more easily and the
horizontal transport of the feed over the jig is also improved
However, fines losses will increase, partly because of the
longer duration of the pulsion stroke, and partly because the
added water increases the speed of the top flow

TYPICAL HYDRAULIC JIGS

Fixed sieve Plunger Jigs [ Harz jig ]

It has fixed sieve

Jigging motion is obtained by a plunger P reciprocating in a
compartment C adjoining the sieve compartment
The bottom layer is removed through the gate A after passage
into the well or draw B

The upper layer (usually the tailing) is discharged at the end

away from the feed

Harz jigs are usually built of wood, but construction of

concrete has been reported
They are built of several compartments in series the tailing
from one compartment passing as feed into the next
compartments
The amplitude of jigging is greatest in the first cell and least in
the last
Rising water is added to compensate for excessive suction
either above or below the plunger
Variations in the relative use of pulsion and suction are
obtained by varying the amount of rising water

The length of stroke usually ranges from 0.5 to 8 cm

depending upon the fineness of the feed, long strokes being
used for coarse feed
Jigging cycles range form 0.2 to 0.6 sec (100 to 300 strokes
per minute )

Fixed-sieve Pulsator Jigs (Richards pulsator jig)

This jig has arated capacity 90 tons per day

Each of four compartments having a screen surface only 4 by
4 inch
Water is admitted through a rotating valve V at 150 to 200
strokes per minute
Water requirement is relatively large, power consumption is
low
Clean concentrates are easily obtained but clean tailings are
not the rule

Richards pulsator jig

Fixed-sieved, Air-pulse Jigs (Simon-Carves jig)

By this jigs and by using jigging principles to clean the coal

The jig is shaped like U tube with one side sealed and the
other opened
The sealed side alternately receives and exhausts compressed
air through a piston valve
This communicates pulsion and suction respectively to the
other side of U tube in which perforated plates carry the coal
and refuse
The complete machine consists of five cells

Feed enters at the right end of the machine at A

The clean coal leaves at the other end of the machine
at B
Tailings discharges by a gate under the feed chute to
the right of the machine at C

PNEUMATIC JIGS

Pneumatic jigs utilize stratification of particles in

air instead of in water
30 to 40 million tons coal was annually treated
Current models of pneumatic jigs use a shallow bed
of mineral and are surfaced with riffles in the
manner of shaking table (Pneumatic tables)
It uses art of wet gravity concentration
All pneumatic jigs or tables produce first a vertical
stratification of the particles in order of decreasing
specific gravity more or less modified by size

Pneumatic Jigs using no Horizontal Stratification

(Plumb jig)
It is a pulsator jig controlled by a rotary value and
using 400 to 500 pulsations per min of 10 to 30 lb
air
Capacity is 0.5 ton per sq.ft. per hour for the
coarsest feed down to a small fraction of this for
fine feed
This jig was used for concentration of sulphides