Gravity separation by jiggering is one of the primary methods in mineral processing. This method is characterized by continuously feeding the selected ore onto the screen plate in the jigging chamber to form a thick material layer. The rising water flow periodically expands through the screen plate, causing the bed to rise, followed by the water flow descending (or stopping its rise). During this process, particles of different densities transfer relative to each other, with heavy minerals settling into the lower layer and light minerals moving to the upper layer, resulting in the separation of concentrates and tailings upon their respective discharge.

Ratchet Clamp

The jigging pulsating curve is in a sawtooth waveform, with fast ascending water flow, slow descending water flow, and a gradual rise and fall of the bed layer, resulting in longer loosening time, which can significantly enhance the processing capacity of the unit. The screen surface reduces the particle size recovery limit and increases the recovery significantly. Water is retained beneath the screen. Compared to industrial tests with sine wave fixtures, the sawtooth wave fixture has increased recovery rates by Sn: 3.01%, WO3: 5.5%, Pb: 1.63%, Zn: 2.04%, and reduced water consumption by 30% to 75%.

Selective mining can handle almost all types of mineral raw materials, except for extremely fine materials. The process is simple to operate, with high equipment processing capacity, allowing for a certain amount of product to be sorted in one go, and thus is widely used in production. For metallic ores, it is one of the main methods for processing coarse, medium, and fine iron and manganese ores, and is extensively applied in the separation of tin and tungsten ores; the jigging method is used for treating gold, tantalum, titanium, zirconium, and chromium. Selecting ore and gravel can also achieve good results.

During the jig sorting process, the kinetic properties of particles directly affect the stratification result of the jig. The particle motion equation is a differential equation related to the vertical displacement and settling velocity of particles, the high water level in the jig chamber, the upward water flow velocity of the screen, and the looseness of the bed. Indian scholars have studied the motion of particles in a jig bed using the discrete element method, investigated the impact of particle size on the jigging process, and proposed a particle size and density model. Although the historical background, conditions, methods, and means of studying the particle motion equation vary, most particle motion differential equations are in the form of second-order non-homogeneous differential equations. Based on the real-time collected particle motion curves, the particle motion equation during the jigging process under experimental conditions was derived, and an expression relationship between particle motion, jigging cycle, bed thickness, and bed loosening was established.