Flotation tests for a complex refractory copper molybdenum ore

In view of the poor quality of molybdenum concentrate from original copper suppression molybdenum float process in a Jiangxi copper molybdenum washery, mineralogical study on the copper molybdenum ore was conducted. It was found out that the ore was characterized by complex mineral dissemination and molybdenite was hard for monomer dissociation. So two kinds of test process were applied, which included mixture flotation of copper and molybdenum, then separation of copper and molybdenum after regrinding of mixed concentrate, as well as mixture flotation of copper and molybdenum, then separation of copper and molybdenum on mixed concentrate and regrinding of molybdenum rough concentrate. The results showed that the second process obtained molybdenum concentrate with 48.52% of molybdenum grade, 0.51% of copper grade and 88.95% of molybdenum recovery rate and copper concentrate with 19.66% of copper grade, 0.20% of molybdenum grade and 83.20% of copper recovery rate. Compared with the original process, the indexes of molybdenum concentrate enhanced greatly, which brought considerable economic benefits.