Present Situation and Research Progress of Comprehensive Utilization of Antimony Tailings and Smelting Slag
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
- The English of the paper needs significant improvement.
- Lines 82-83: The sentence "Antimony smelting is mainly divided into two methods, namely pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy." requires clarification.
- Lines 111-112: The sentence "Antimony oxide ore is mainly stibnite and stibnite (Sb2O3)" needs clarification.
- Line 125: The statement "The unit of Au and Ag is g/t." should be moved to line 122, just below Table 1.
- Lines 119-120: The conclusion that "Table 2 shows that the content of valuable metal gold in antimony tailings is high, and the metal can be recycled and reused." cannot be drawn from Table 2.
- The titles of Tables 1 to 3 should be reviewed and corrected.
- It appears that Figures 2-9 have been directly taken from the mentioned references. Therefore, permission is required to use these figures, and references should be added accordingly. Additionally, consider redrawing the figures if necessary.
- The meaning of "tailing throw rate" in line 136 needs clarification.
- Line 162: Does "carbon leaching" mean "carbon in leach"? If so, please correct it.
- Line 417: "4.1." should be changed to "4.2."
The paper's English requires substantial enhancement.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your suggestion on this article. We have revised the existing problems according to your suggestion.
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: The English of the paper needs significant improvement
Response 1: Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have revised the English part of the article.
Point 2: Lines 82-83: The sentence "Antimony smelting is mainly divided into two methods, namely pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy." requires clarification.
Response 2: Thank you for your comments.After "Antimony smelting is mainly divided into two methods, namely pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy", We add "Pyrometallurgy refers to the separation of metals and gangue or other impurities from the ore through a series of physical and chemical changes under high temperature conditions. Hydrometallurgy refers to the contact of ore with aqueous solution or other liquids. Through chemical reactions. The useful metals contained in the raw materials are trans-ferred into the liquid phase, and then various useful metals contained in the liquid phase are separated and enriched." As an explanation of pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy.
Point 3: Lines 111-112: The sentence "Antimony oxide ore is mainly stibnite and stibnite (Sb2O3)" needs clarification.
Response 3: Thank you very much for your suggestion. There is a wording error in this sentence. We have corrected it to "Antimony oxide ore is mainly senarmontitestibnite and valentinitestibnite ( Sb2O3 ) ."
Point 4: Line 125: The statement "The unit of Au and Ag is g/t." should be moved to line 122, just below Table 1.
Response 4: Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have corrected this problem.
Point 5: Lines 119-120: The conclusion that "Table 2 shows that the content of valuable metal gold in antimony tailings is high, and the metal can be recycled and reused." cannot be drawn from Table 2.
Response 5: Thank you very much for your suggestion. This sentence has been changed to "Table 1 shows that the content of precious metals such as gold and silver in antimony tailings is high and can be recycled."
Point 6: The titles of Tables 1 to 3 should be reviewed and corrected
Response 6: Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have modified the description of Table 1 and Table 2 in the article.
Point 7: It appears that Figures 2-9 have been directly taken from the mentioned references. Therefore, permission is required to use these figures, and references should be added accordingly. Additionally, consider redrawing the figures if necessary.
Response 7: Thank you very much for your suggestion. Figure 2 and Figure 7-9 in the original text need copyright. We have obtained the copyright of Figure 7-9 in the original text. The copyright of Figure 2 has not been obtained and has been deleted. The copyright I obtained will be uploaded as an attachment.
Point 8: The meaning of "tailing throw rate" in line 136 needs clarification.
Response 8: Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have changed 'tailing throw rate ' to its professional name 'degritting'.
Point 9: Line 162: Does "carbon leaching" mean "carbon in leach"? If so, please correct it.
Response 9: Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have corrected this problem.
Point 10: Line 417: "4.1." should be changed to "4.2."
Response 10: Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have corrected this problem.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Please find attached my comments!
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
There are some small English mistakes in the manuscript. I have listed some of them in the attached file of comments.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your suggestion on this article. We have revised the existing problems according to your suggestion.
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Point 1: Line 27-29: "Based on the excellent characteristics of antimony, antimony is widely used in many fields such as national defense, people's livelihood, economy and so on [1]." I would like to see more precise applications of antimony. It will show the readers a more urgent need for antimony.
Response 1: Thank you for your suggestion, We added ' such as the solar panels, semiconductors, fire-resistant materials, etc., ' to the original text to show more accurate application of antimony.
Point 2: Line 46-47: "Antimony and its compounds will seriously affect people's health[7]." I think it is a current problem. It affects our health now, and it will affect us more in the future.
Response 2: Thank you for your suggestion, We have changed this sentence to ' Antimony and its compounds will have a long-term seriously affect on people's health. '
Point 3: Figure 1: Please use "Myanmar" instead of "Burma" (the old name of this country)
Response 3: Thank you for your advice, We have changed this issue.
Point 4: Line 63: "the comprehensive utilization rate of China's tailings is only 34.05%" Indeed, China has the biggest resources of antimony; however, I expect to see more international statistics since it is an international journal.
Response 4: Thank you for your advice, This problem is also a point I was confused when writing. At present, there is no clear statistics on the use of antimony tailings in the world, and there is a lack of information on the reuse of antimony tailings. After this time of search, We added ' According to the data analysis results of OCED, more than 60 % of antimony in the waste needs to be recycled to alleviate the shortage of antimony resources, ' as a supplement.
Point 5: Table 1: Is data in weight percent? Please be precise.
Response 5: Thank you for your advice, We have modified the form.
Point 6: Figure 2: The resolution of this Figure could be improved.
Response 6: Thank you very much for your suggestion, because of the copyright issue of Figure 2, I can only delete it.
Point 7: Line 193-194: "the specimens had better tensile strength and compressive modulus of elasticity" You should provide some values to show that.
Response 7: Thank you for your advice, In order to provide a valid proof of the previous sentence, We added ' the cubic compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and prismatic compressive elas-tic modulus are 1.31, 2.22 and 1.40 times that of natural rock, respectively. '
Point 8: Line 230: "Gao et al[28]." I think it should always be "Gao et al. [28]"
Response 8: Thank you for your advice, We have modified the relevant issues in the original paper.
Point 9: Line 235: "0.6" Please change "0.60" to be consistent with the same number after the decimal.
Response 9: Thank you for your suggestion, We have corrected this problem in the paper.
Point 10: E.g., lines 288-289: Please be consistent with the tense you use: "Mo Wei[38] uses 288 the fuming volatilization method to treat the stored smelting slag." You should choose present or past tense for the whole manuscript.
Response 10: Thank you for your suggestion, We have corrected this problem in the paper.
Point 11: Line 233: "1050-1035℃."- is better to start with a lower temperature, so "1035-1050℃."
Response 11: Thank you for your suggestion, We have corrected this problem in the paper.
Thank you for your suggestions on the grammar questions in my article. For the questions you raised, We have made changes in the article.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Please see attached file
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 2: Lines 82-83: The sentence "Antimony smelting is mainly divided into two methods, namely pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy." requires clarification.
I am still not convinced by your response. I meant that the sentence 'Antimony smelting is mainly divided into two methods, namely pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy,' is incorrect. Smelting is a process specifically associated with pyrometallurgy, and hydrometallurgy is not categorized as a subcategory of smelting."
Response 2: Thank you for your comments. We have changed smelting to metallurgy. What we want to express is that metallurgy is mainly divided into hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy.
Point 6: The titles of Tables 1 to 3 should be reviewed and corrected.
I still need clarification about the title of Table 1, 'Compositions of for...'
The title of Table 3 could be revised to 'Table 3. Typical composition of melting slag (%) [32-33].' Additionally, if the tables are directly sourced from the references mentioned, obtaining permission to utilize these tables is necessary
Response 6: Thank you very much for your suggestion.Table 1 is used to demonstrate that antimony tailings also contain recyclable metals besides antimony, such as gold and silver. We are sorry for the ambiguity in expression, and the titles of Table 1-3 have been reviewed and corrected.
Point 7: It appears that Figures 2-9 have been directly taken from the mentioned references. Therefore, permission is required to use these figures, and references should be added accordingly. Additionally, consider redrawing the figures if necessary.
Kindly provide clarification regarding the permission and copyright status of Figures 3 to 6.
回应7： 非常感谢您的建议。我们附上了图片6，7和8的版权许可，而其余图片不需要版权，因为它们是我们自己绘制的。
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 3
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper could benefit from enhancements in the quality of its figures. The figures do not adhere to a consistent format and could be simplified to enhance comprehensibility. Some figures appear overly intricate (e.g., figures 2, 4 & 5), and the abundant information presented within them is not adequately expounded upon in the paper. For instance, in Figure 2, numerous numerical labels are employed to denote various unit operations or chemical reagents (e.g., "A83 120+4", "4+3", ...), without proper elucidation. I recommend achieving uniformity and simplicity in the figures to facilitate easier understanding.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: The paper could benefit from enhancements in the quality of its figures. The figures do not adhere to a consistent format and could be simplified to enhance comprehensibility. Some figures appear overly intricate (e.g., figures 2, 4 & 5), and the abundant information presented within them is not adequately expounded upon in the paper. For instance, in Figure 2, numerous numerical labels are employed to denote various unit operations or chemical reagents (e.g., "A83 120+4", "4+3", ...), without proper elucidation. I recommend achieving uniformity and simplicity in the figures to facilitate easier understanding.
Response 1: Thank you very much for your suggestion. We unified the format of the drawings. The words you put forward in the picture have been explained. For example, the A83 in Figure 2 refers to a new collector, which is not publicly disclosed by the original author. The number behind the reagents in the picture represents their dosage. whose unit is g / t, and the number of each stage represents the running time of the stage. For example, ' 4 + 3 ' means that the first rough election is 4 minutes, and the second rough election is 3 minutes. In mineral processing, many reagents may be replaced by codes, in order to protect its confidentiality. and the amount of agent is usually written after the agent. Besides that, the number under the certain flowsheet usually represents its running time.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
