Investigation the effect of filling materials on chalcopyrite flotation

Abstract

Raw ores are mixed with filling materials during mining, which makes it difficult to sort copper‑sulfur resources. Inductively coupled plasma analysis revealed that the primary dissolved metal ions from the filling materials were Ca2+ and Fe3+. Flotation solution chemistry, flotation tests, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements confirmed that the dissolved calcium and iron materials were adsorbed onto the chalcopyrite surface in different component forms, which reduced chalcopyrite recovery. Moreover, zeta potential measurements, turbidity analysis, microscope observation, scanning electron microscopy detection, adsorption capacity measurements, and contact angle measurements revealed that the dissolved anions and cations from filling materials can change the surface zeta potential of chalcopyrite and filling materials, weaken the mutual repulsion energy, and strengthen the aggregation effect, thus reducing the adsorption of butyl xanthate on the chalcopyrite surface and its surface hydrophobics. The chalcopyrite recovery eventually decreased from 96.41% to 86.63%.