Investigation into flotation properties of new collectors when concentrating scheelite–sulfide ores

Flotation properties of dialkyl dithiophosphates of alkali metals BTF-1552, IMA-206, and IMA-I413 are investigated. Concentration characteristics using the M-TF reactant and its mixture with IMA-I413 and xanthate are evaluated. Based on these investigations, it is established that the application of the mixture of collectors IMA-I413 and butyl xanthate in the ratio 5: 1 with the consumption of 20 + 5 g/t makes it possible to increase the recovery into the copper concentrate by 0.79% for Cu, by 4.1% for Au, and by 2.4% for Ag with a twofold decrease in the yield of the sulfide concentrate. The disadvantage of this composition of reactants is an increase in the As content in the copper concentrate by 0.67%. The better characteristics by an increment of recovery of copper and precious metals among the tested samples are observed for the BTF-1552 collector. The recovery into the copper concentrate increased by 1.9% for Cu, by 3.2% for Au, and by 1.8% for Ag with a decrease in the yield of the sulfide concentrate by a factor of 1.4. An increase in the As content in the copper concentrate is 0.34%.