Flotation studies of copper ore Majdanpek to enhance copper recovery and concentrate grade with different collectors

This paper presents the results of mineralogical and flotation studies on the copper ore from the deposit "North Revir" in the Copper Mine Majdanpek, using different collectors. XRD and ore mineralogical analysis showed that the most common minerals are pyrite and chalcopyrite. Chemical analysis confirm that it is a complex low-grade copper ore with average copper content of 0,273%. The content of precious metals (Au and Ag) was 0.2 g/t and 1.2 g/t, respectively. The main aim of flotation studies have been the effect of collector type on the recovery and concentrate grade in the copper flotation process. Various collectors and combinations of them were used in the rough flotation tests of copper ore. The copper recovery was in the range from 79.43% (test no. 4) to 84.96% (test no. 7). The best flotation results were obtained with mixture collectors of sodium isopropyl xanthate (Z11), dialkyl dithiophosphinates (Aerophine 3404) and SKIK BZ 2000. The collector's dosages of 20 g/t Z11, 8 g/t AP3404 and 8 g/t SKIK BZ 2000 produced the copper recovery (84.96 %) with copper concentrate grade of 1.52% .