Preliminary study on collectorless flotation of chalcocite, bornite and copper-bearing shale in the presence of selected frothers

Flotation of carbonaceous copper-bearing shale and copper sulfide minerals such as chalcocite and bornite in the presence of only frother was investigated. It was determined that all investigated solids did not float in pure water in the absence of flotation reagents. However, an addition of a frother rendered both shale and bornite floatable, while the recovery of chalcocite was negligible. These findings suggest that removal of carbonaceous matter from the ore by the so-called pre-flotation process can be a suitable procedure to reduce the amount of organic carbon in the concentrates provided that the feed does not contain bornite. Otherwise, simple pre-flotation must be replaced with a more sophisticated process in which flotation of bornite is suppressed.