Effect of ore dressing on flotation of copper and arsenic minerals in sulphide ore processing

Monomineral flotation results showed that the use of a new reagent S-cyanoethyl N, N-diethyldithiocarbamate enhances the flotation activity of chalcopyrite, in contrast to flotation with butyl xanthate, and reduced the flotation ability of arsenopyrite, which makes this reagent promising for its use in the selective flotation of complex sulfide ores.

Effects of Galvanic Interaction between Chalcopyrite and Monoclinic Pyrrhotite on Their Flotation Separation

The galvanic interaction between chalcopyrite and monoclinic pyrrhotite and its effect on flotation separation were studied using monomineral flotation tests, adsorption capacity tests, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterization, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test. These results showed that the interaction promoted the reduction of O2 on the cathodic chalcopyrite surface and accelerated the generation of Fe(OH)3, which was not conducive to collector adsorption; hence, the flotation recovery decreased by 10–16%. On the other hand, galvanic interaction accelerated the oxidation of S on the anodic monoclinic pyrrhotite surface to S0 or SO42− and produced a large amount of H+, thus preventing the formation of Fe(OH)3. Meanwhile, the Cu2+ eluted from chalcopyrite surface activated monoclinic pyrrhotite; hence, the flotation recovery increased by 3–10%. Galvanic interaction reduced the floatability difference between the two minerals, and the separation difficulty was significantly increased. Even with an increase in the amount of lime, the separation could not be improved.