Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and

Environmental Effects

ISSN: 1556-7036 (Print) 1556-7230 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ueso20

Copper recovery improvement in an industrial

flotation circuit: A case study of Sarcheshmeh
copper mine

Mehrshad Asghari, Fardis Nakhaei & Omid VandGhorbany

To cite this article: Mehrshad Asghari, Fardis Nakhaei & Omid VandGhorbany (2018):
Copper recovery improvement in an industrial flotation circuit: A case study of Sarcheshmeh
copper mine, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, DOI:
10.1080/15567036.2018.1520356

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2018.1520356

Published online: 21 Sep 2018.

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ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2018.1520356

Copper recovery improvement in an industrial flotation circuit: A

case study of Sarcheshmeh copper mine
Mehrshad Asgharia, Fardis Nakhaeib, and Omid VandGhorbanyc
a
School of Mining, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; bDepartment of Mining & Metallurgical
Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran; cDepartment of Mining Engineering, Shahid Bahonar
Kerman University, Kerman, Iran

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Obtaining high recovery in copper flotation plants has been always under Received 7 July 2018
investigation in recent years. Misreported copper into tailing dramatically Revised 15 August 2018
declines copper recovery. This study aims to find the possible reasons of Accepted 22 August 2018
copper loss to tailing and present the methods to improve the performance KEYWORDS
of the Sarcheshmeh copper plant flotation circuit. This work was performed Copper; flotation; industrial
in two phases. In the first stage, two surveys were carried out in an plant; mixed copper ore;
industrial plant for evaluation of floatability of two different types of copper recovery; sulfidisation
ore (sulfide and mixed copper ores comprising sulfide and oxide minerals)
and investigation of misreported copper into tailing. In the second stage,
influence of particle size distribution in different levels, the collector (Z11
+ R407), and sulfidisation agent (NaHS) dosages were investigated on the
floatability of mixed copper ore, and possible improvement of copper
recovery ores was evaluated by a series of batch flotation experiments.
Almost 95% of overall copper loss in final tailing took place in the rougher
circuit. The overall recovery of mixed copper ores was obtained 8% less than
the other survey. It was found that an important factor of recovery reduction
was due to increasing oxide copper proportion in rougher feed. Results of
size-by-size recovery analysis showed that the highest sulfide copper loss
occurred in coarse particles (>74 µm) and the highest oxide copper loss
happened in fine particles (<9 µm). From batch flotation experiments, it
was found that the ultimate recovery increased to a certain value with
increasing the collector dosage (50 g/t) and thereafter reduced. Increasing
the NaHS dosage to 800 g/t resulted in 4.5% increase in recovery from 79.3%
to 83.8% with a significant increase in grade. It is observed that size reduction
of coarse particles (>74 μm) of rougher tailing and then their flotation have
significant effect on increasing overall recovery from 79.3% to 82.2%.
Experimental studies showed that the use of the proposed methods with
considering the optimized conditions in the plant can be led to an increase in
copper recovery from 79% to 87% without any decrease in grade.

Introduction
Flotation is a remarkable mineral processing method employed for selective separation of valuables
from gangue minerals. Industrial practice of froth flotation is widely recognized to be a complex
process. The efficiency of a flotation circuit operation relies on several factors pertinent to minerals’
nature and structure (particle size, mineralogy, and morphology) as well as kind of instrumentation
and operational parameters (reagent type and dosage, air flow rate, and solid content) which have
been extensively investigated both theoretically and practically (Girgin et al. 2006; Shahbazi, Rezai,
and Koleini 2010).

CONTACT Omid VandGhorbany omid.vand.ghorbani@gmail.com

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/ueso.
© 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 M. ASGHARI ET AL.

In copper flotation plants, the general strategy is to maximize the copper minerals recovery at the
rougher stage which is followed by further rejection of iron sulfides at the cleaner stage after
regrinding. The beneficiation by flotation of copper minerals faces many challenges such as sudden
decrease in flotation recovery and requires advanced studies. To keep the recovery of plant stabilized
and control the effects of likelihood changes which may happen during production, study of
mineralogy, particle size distribution (PSD), and liberation statement are highly required to audit
the plant performance in a long term. Metallurgical performance of a plant can easily be changed
owing to the mineralogy and texture changes of the copper ore in time. Young et al. (1997) gave a
good example of using size-by-size mineralogical approach to identify and work out the problems in
ore quality and metallurgical performance in long term.
Many of the copper mines around the world contain significant copper sulfide ore (chalcopyrite,
covellite, and chalcocite) associated with oxide ore reserves. Copper oxide reserves consist of
economic quantities of copper in the form of secondary copper minerals such as malachite (Cu2
(OH)2CO3), azurite (Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2), cuprite (Cu2O), and tenorite (CuO). Large amounts of
copper oxides go unrecovered because of a focus on sulfide recovery and problematic oxide
processing (Zhou and Chander 1993).
These oxide minerals play a significant role especially in porphyry copper flotation concerning
their effect on quality of product (concentrate grade) and efficiency of the process (mineral
recovery). Despite an increase in feed Cu grade, recovery of copper by flotation can be difficult if
fresh feed becomes mixed copper sulfide/oxide. These contain varieties of both sulfide and oxide
minerals and are the most complex copper-bearing ores from a beneficiation point of view. Copper
sulfides behave differently in flotation cells than copper oxides. These minerals often go unrecovered
because they are not easily amenable to conventional thiol collection methods effective for sulfide
minerals.
An important factor in the problematic recovery of copper oxides is their surface features
(Marabini, Barbaro, and Aless 1991). Oxides are prone to dissolution, lack mechanical strength
and possess strongly hydrophilic surfaces that cannot be transformed into hydrophobic ones
(Barbaro, Cozza, and Fuerstanau 1997). Conventional sulfide copper collectors fail to adhere to
the oxide, leading to excessive collector consumption, limited selectivity, and poor recovery.
Aplan and Fuerstenau (1984) and Zhou and Chander (1993) outlined some general techniques for
recovering oxidized minerals: sulfidization-flotation, soap flotation, leaching, carboxylic acid pro-
cesses, chelating agents, and mercaptans. The first three approaches have been employed commer-
cially. The use of carboxylic acids is not suitable in the case of carbonaceous copper oxides and
leaching processes are not effective due to important losses of sulfide components. The application of
chelating agents is a laboratory curiosity which leaves the sulfidization-flotation as the most applied
industrial method.
In 1905, sulfidization was patented as a method of promoting the recovery of oxidized ores and
has since been developed and adapted as the preferred pre-treatment method prior to the flotation of
oxide and mixed copper ores consisting of both oxides and sulfides (Schwarz 1905). The reagents
employed in this method of activating base metal oxides are alkali sulfides such as sodium sulfide
(Na2S), and sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) or ammonium sulfide ((NH4)2S).
The main drawback of this approach is that the optimum dose of the sulfidisation agent is highly
dependent on the time of conditioning, procedures of mixing and other variables, leading usually to
poor reproducibility in a plant situation (Castro, Goldfarb, and Laskowski 1974). Insufficient
addition of the sulfidisation reagent will cause poor recoveries and an excess will cause the depres-
sion of oxide copper minerals (Corin et al. 2017; Lee, Nagaraj, and Coe 1998).
A number of different collectors have been assessed for oxide copper flotation without sulfidisa-
tion. They include organic complexing agents, fatty acids, fatty amines, and petroleum sulfonates
(Deng and Chen 1991; Nagaraj 1987). All of these collectors revealed promise in the laboratory tests,
but they had limited success when applied to a plant situation (Lee, Nagaraj, and Coe 1998). The
limitation of some of these collectors is their lack of selectivity over carbonate gangue minerals, such
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 3

as dolomite and calcite. It has been reported that the gangue minerals even float preferentially over
the copper oxides (Deng and Chen 1991).
Aside from copper oxide recovery, there are also sulfide ores with poor conventional recovery. These
are ores with very coarse and fine-grained economic minerals or ones that are finely intergrown with
gangue minerals. The froth flotation process efficiency has long been known to be strongly dependent on
particle size. Unsatisfied PSD of flotation feed not only leads to decline of grade and recovery but also
costing a great deal of energy consumption in grinding circuit. It is obviously shown that, the behavior of
coarse and fine particles in flotation process follows different trends. They are more difficult to be
recovered by the flotation compare to intermediate size particles (Hassanzadeh and Karakas 2017). It is
eminent that ultrafine and coarse particles float more slowly than particles in a mid-size range. These
particles are typically lost in industrial operations and rejected to tailings streams owing to inherent
constraints associated with the physical interactions that happen in the pulp and froth phases of
conventional flotation equipment (Hassanzadeh and Azizi 2015; Trahar 1981). The poor flotation
recoveries of fine and ultrafine mineral particles are very well known and many studies, projects, and
processes have been proposed, but this major technical and economic problem still goes on (Ata and
Jameson 2013; Miettinen, Ralston, and Fornasiero 2010; Trahar and Warren 1976).
The decrease of recovery in the fine particle size range is attributed to a low probability of
collision of these particles with the air bubbles, slime coating, higher flotation reagent adsorption,
formation of dense froths, low process kinetics, and increasing surface oxidation of the particles. For
the coarse particles, the decrease of recovery is explained by low minerals liberation degree and the
rupture of the particle–bubble aggregates due to insufficient hydrophobic coverage of the particles
surface or reducing ability of bubbles to lift the coarse particles (Hassanzadeh and Karakas 2017;
Qaredaqi, Haji Amin Shirazi, and Abdollahi 2012).
The use of small bubbles is the most effective method to increase the particle–bubble collision
efficiency for fine particles. On the contrary, for completing flotation process, a substantial residence
time with regard to low rising velocity of small bubbles with attached particles is required.
Furthermore, lifting force of small bubbles might be notably low to ensure process selectivity
(Miettinen, Ralston, and Fornasiero 2010).
Increasing coarse particle recovery in a flotation process provides not only an improvement in
overall recovery but also enables the flotation to be conducted at a coarser feed size. It was found that
the coarse particles are vulnerable to detachment at the pulp–froth interface during their transfer
from the collection zone to the froth zone (Ata and Jameson 2013). Recovery of coarse particles can
be improved by either modifying design cell properties (replacement reaction cell system (RCS)
rather than mechanical flotation cell), employing different patterns for addition of chemical reagents
in flotation plant, or using alternative technologies such as fluidized bed type flotation cell
(Hassanzadeh and Karakas 2017; Kohmuench et al. 2010).
It is reported that a significant proportion of copper losses in the tailings of flotation plants. The
value of these metal losses would readily justify the application of a process capable of improving
their recovery.
Celik, Can, and Sherazadishvili (2011) reported that 18.2% of total copper was lost from tailing
particularly from finest size as chalcocite in JSC Madneuli copper flotation plant in Georgia. They
illustrated that increasing the residence time and addition of extra collector will decrease the loss of
copper remarkably.
Lee et al. (2009) examined the flotation of a blend of 70% sulfide ore (bornite and chalcopyrite) and 30%
oxide ore (malachite and azurite) from Sherwood Copper’s Minto Mine in Yukon, Canada. They described
that hydroxamate collector such as AM28 in conjunction with traditional sulfide collectors (xanthate) can
successfully simultaneously recover copper sulfides and oxides from blended ore minerals. Lutandula and
Maloba (2013) reported the copper and cobalt recovery through reprocessing of tailings from flotation of
oxidized ores in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The highest recovery of the
metals of interest (45% Cu and 83% Co) was obtained at consumption of 0.6 kg/t potassium amyl xanthate
(KAX) and 6 kg/t NaHS. The floatability of a Kansanshi mixed copper ore in the northwestern province of
4 M. ASGHARI ET AL.

Zambia with sodium isobutyl xanthate (SIBX) was studied by Corin et al. (2017). The main focus of the
mentioned research was on the use of two different approaches of sulfidisation, viz. slug sulfidisation with
NaHS and controlled potential sulfidisation (CPS) using variable NaHS:SIBX ratios. In both cases, the
average Cu recovery was about 30%. Chen, Gu, and Zhu (2017) synthesized a novel collector 3-hydroxy
butyrate-carboxy methyl cellulose xanthate to increase the flotation efficiency of fine copper oxide ore from
Dongchuan Copper Mine, Yunnan, China. This collector achieved an excellent concentration comprising
20.19% copper grade and 88.39% recovery (the recovery enhanced by 5.69% compared to that of amyl
xanthate).
The goal of this study is to find the reasons of copper loss to tailing as a support to improve the
metallurgical performance of the industrial flotation circuit in Sarcheshmeh copper concentrator
plant. The motivation of the current work is to understand floatation response of sulfide and mixed
sulfide/oxide copper ores types as well as a detailed industrial study in a variety of size fractions
considering liberation factors with a view to obtain an optimal flotation performance. This required
an in-depth analysis of the mineralogy, PSD, and the amounts of main minerals in size-by-size.
Likewise, batch flotation tests in lab scale are carried out to investigate the influence of sulfidization,
particle size reduction, and extra collector addition on flotation performance of mixed copper ores.
These experiments are conducted to determine whether particles previously lost as tailings could be
economically recovered using a suite of flotation technologies in the industrial minerals industry.

Sarcheshmeh porphyry copper deposit

The most common source of mixed sulfide-oxide copper ores is from porphyry deposits. The
Sarcheshmeh porphyry copper deposit, which is the most significant copper mine in Iran and is
one of the largest deposits in the world, is located in the central Iranian volcano–plutonic copper belt
(Shahabpour and Doorandish 2008). Reserve consists of one billion tons of 0.70% copper and 0.03%
molybdenum in average. The ore deposit includes both primary and secondary copper minerals and
is therefore categorized into three distinct types: sulfide, oxide, and mixed. The mixed ore comprises
oxide, supergene oxide, and hypogene sulfide copper species and the greater part of the deposit is
made up of sulfide and mixed ores.
Copper oxide minerals are formed as a result of supergene processes that take place when copper
sulfide minerals are exposed to the effects of weathering and encompass a series of defined assemblages
that reflect a variable pH, oxidizing geochemical environment, known as the oxide zone, in which the
source rock, host rock mineralogy, and iron-copper sulfide mineral abundance, among other factors,
specified which oxide minerals are formed (Chavez 2000; Reich et al. 2009). The mixed ore is contact
zones between sulfide and oxide ore and shows difficulty in liberation of chalcopyrite, chalcocite, and
covellite. Oxide ore is dominated by cuprite, tenorite, chrysocolla, malachite, and azurite set in a matrix
of quartz, iron oxides, and iron hydroxides. The major gangue minerals in the deposit are dolomite,
calcite, quartz, pyrite, and pyrrhotite. Sulfide ore is dominated by coarsely grained pyrite with the
chalcopyrite set in a matrix of quartz, hematite, magnetite, feldspar, and muscovite mica.
Malachite and azurite are formed in weathering zones where carbonate is available, but malachite
displays a wider distribution because it is the more stable of the two. In more geochemically mature
environments, near-neutral to alkaline, malachite, and chrysocolla are formed with lower volumes of
tenorite, cuprite, and native copper (Chavez 2000). Research in this area has to focus on the need for a
better understanding of the sulfide and mixed ores being treated, as this gives an indication of mineral
associations, inclusions, liberation, as well as gangue mineralogy, all of which have great influences on
flotation.

Sarcheshmeh copper concentrator

Sarcheshmeh concentration plant is the largest copper concentrator in Iran which is located in
Kerman province. In the concentrator plant, after three stages of crushing, the ore feeds to ball mills
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 5

in a closed circuit with cyclones to generate 75% of the product finer than 74 μm. Its flotation circuit
is making 50,000 tons copper concentrate per month with an average grade of 28–32% of copper in
final re-cleaner banks (Hassanzadeh 2017). A schematic diagram of flotation circuit of Sarcheshmeh
concentrator is presented in Figure 1.
Sarcheshmeh copper concentration plant is divided into two complete similar sections. Each
division comprises four ball mills with 8-hydrocyclones in a closed circuit. Hydrocyclone overflows
from four grinding units as 28% solids are combined and delivered to the corresponding rougher
distributor. Rougher flotation cells of each division consist of four rows of mechanical flotation cells.
The volume of each flotation cell is 8.5 m3. The combined rougher flotation circuits are designed to
process ground ore feed at a rate of 43,000 dry metric tons per day.
Subsequently, each row comprises fourteen cells stepped in three units (4 cells- 5 cells-5 cells)
gravitationally. Rougher flotation cells have designed for the sake of producing a copper concentrate
assaying 7–8% with 96% recovery. The concentrate of the first stage of flotation is reground and its
tailing constitutes the main portion of the plant’s final tailing. After cleaning and recleaning stages, a
concentrate with an average grade of 30% Cu is obtained. The collectors of R407 (Isobutyl
dithiophosphate + mercaptobenzothiazole), Z11 (sodium isopropyl xanthate), frothers of Dowfroth
250 (polypropylene glycol methyl ether), and MIBC (methyl isobutyl carbonyl) are the reagents used
in the flotation circuit. Depending on the operating conditions and the feed ore type, total recovery
of the plant varies between 75% and 90%.
In recent years, regarding the increase of open pit depth, content and proportions of associated
copper minerals were changed in mine products and consequently in flotation feed. It resulted in
some problems such as declination of ultimate copper recovery. Investigation of recovery improve-
ment and avoiding loss of valuable copper minerals to tailing stream in industrial flotation circuits
are remarkable issues. Typically, in copper concentration plants, an increase of 1–2% in recovery
and/or grade is economically noticeable. The recovery at the rougher stage has a crucial effect on the
overall copper recovery so that rougher circuit tailing consist of 80% of final tailing of the flotation
plant. Therefore, reaching a maximum possible recovery in rougher banks is very important in order
to avoid misreporting of valuable copper minerals to tailing stream.

Figure 1. Flotation circuit of the Sarcheshmeh concentrator plant.

6 M. ASGHARI ET AL.

In this plant, recovery of rougher cells has been declined to 78%, due to some reasons, whilst the
layout is designed to meet a recovery of 96%. As a matter of fact, performance of the rougher
flotation circuit has not been satisfied due to the variability of the processing plant feed material.
Figure 2 shows that in a one-year period (based on average monthly copper recovery), the presence
of copper oxide minerals in the plant feed has resulted in decreasing the final copper recovery in
the flotation circuit. Therefore, preventing losses of values through this stream is crucial to keep the
copper grade of the tailings as low as possible.

Experimental methods
Data collection and sampling in industrial plant
As mentioned before, the evaluation of the Sarcheshmeh copper concentrate indicated that in some
cases the recovery is lower than the permitted limit. To solve this problem, the characterization of
sulfide and oxide copper minerals and distribution of copper content for different particle size
fractions in flotation feed, tailing, and concentrate streams which are the subjects of the current work
are necessary. To obtain data for performance evaluation of the existing circuit and identify copper
losses in the plant, a comprehensive study was carried out on the flotation circuit.
Two sampling surveys were performed when rougher flotation feed included sulfide and mixed
copper ore. Previous night shift data were used to determine the stability of the circuit and type of
feed before the commencement of the survey. Cell-by-cell sampling was performed in the plant in
two different days, but only some selected results from the main streams will be given in this paper.
Sulfide feed was composed of sulfide copper minerals and the mixed feed consisted of sulfide and
oxide copper minerals at a ratio of 80:20. Hereafter, the samples will be denoted by 1 and 2
corresponding to surveying numbers 1 and 2, respectively. The chemical composition of the feed
samples analyzed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is presented in Table 1.
Separate samples in each survey were taken under completely the same operating condition such as
throughput, solid content, pH, and chemical reagents. Prior to and during sampling, target points were
checked for the steady-state operation conditions. A sampling period of 5 h was chosen, and one
increment was taken for every 30 min. The samples taken from flotation circuit were dried, weighed,

Figure 2. Variations of copper recovery, sulfide, and oxide copper grades (in the rougher feed) in a one-year period.

Table 1. Chemical composition of two different feed samples.

Survey Oxide copper Sulfide copper Total copper Fe Mo SiO2 Al2O3
1 0.05 0.79 0.84 3.51 0.03 54.21 15.70
2 0.21 0.90 1.11 3.69 0.03 55.33 14.81
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 7

and kept for further analysis. All samples were wet screened with a 400 mesh (38 mm) sieve. The under-
sieve sizing analysis was carried out using cyclosizer developed by CSIRO Company. PSD of each sample
was determined and size fraction was assayed for copper content using XRF technique. It should be
noted that during sampling, Z11 (20 g/t) along with R407 (10 g/t) was used as collectors, as well as MIBC
(15 g/t) and A65 (15 g/t) as frothers. The variations in the pulp pH were measured continuously in the
feed of rougher to ensure the stability of the chemistry of flotation and kept in the range of 11.5–12.
It should be noted that the feed size distributions of rougher flotation cells are almost similar (65% <
74 µm) in both surveys. Mineralogy analysis showed that chalcopyrite is the major phase of the copper
sulfide mineral (1.7%) and chalcocite (0.3%) and covellite (0.08%) are the minor phases. Oxide minerals
were cuprite, tenorite, chrysocolla, malachite, and azurite. Also, other minerals such as pyrite (6.6%),
limonite (0.02%), and molibdenite (0.05%) were distinguished in the representative sample. Total
mineral non-metals such as quartz, illite, chlorite, orthoclase, albeit, and muscovite were equal to 92%.

Batch flotation tests

In order to improve copper recovery from a mixed sulfide-oxide copper ore, batch flotation tests
were performed by taking samples from plant fresh feed in the survey 2. The goal of these tests is to
investigate the probable conditions for the sake of increasing copper recovery in the plant. The initial
flotation experiment was conducted in the same industrial plant conditions.
The sample with 65% passing 74 µm was prepared after two stages of laboratory crushing,
including jaw and roll crushers and ball mill grinding. The PSD for ground sample were the same
rougher feed in survey 2.
The bench-scale flotation tests were performed in a Denver flotation machine (self-aeration). The
ground sample was mixed with water to adjust the solid concentration to 28% and conditioned in a
3 L flotation cell at an impeller speed of 1400 r/min. The pH value was then adjusted to 11.8 using
lime before adding the reagent. The reagents were added, according to predetermined quantities. At
the end of the 3-minute conditioning (2 min for the collectors and 1 min for the frothers), air was
fed and the froth flotation was continued for about eight minutes. The froth and tailing were
collected separately, filtered, and analyzed for copper grade and recovery calculations. The focus
on the study of tailing rather than concentrate is to specify those minerals that did not respond
favorably to the various flotation procedures employed.
The recovery and selectivity of the flotation process are dependent on operation conditions
parameters. In the present study, the effects of particle size, collector, and NaHS dosages were
investigated. Initial conditions of batch flotation process are given in Table 2.
The focus on the study of tailings rather than concentrate was to identify those minerals that did not
respond favorably to the various flotation procedures used. QEMSCAN was used to quantitatively
determine the mineral abundance, elemental deportment of copper, and liberation characteristics on
tailing sample. The sample was split into five sized fractions, −9, −20 + 9, −38 + 20, −53 + 38 and
−74 + 53, −105 + 74 and + 105 µm and each fraction was mounted into a polished block.
QEMSCAN can determine liberation characteristics based on the area of the target particle
compared to the perimeter of the particle and where it is associated with secondary minerals or
touching other particles. Therefore, where the ratio of a copper particle area to perimeter is high, this
represents a completely liberated mineral grain and the locking-liberation characteristics of the
minerals are quantified, according to the criteria shown in Table 3.

Results and discussion

Industrial plant performance
The overall performance of the flotation circuit in surveys 1 and 2 are summarized in Figure 3.
Almost 95% of overall loss in final tailing was due to copper lose in the rougher circuit. The overall
8 M. ASGHARI ET AL.

Table 2. Initial conditions of flotation.

R407 dosage (g/t) 20
Z11 dosage (g/t) 10
NaHS dosage (g/t) 0
MIBC dosage (g/t) 15
Dowfroth 250 dosage (g/t) 15
Lime dosage (g/t) ~ 2000
pH 11.80
Solid (%) 28
Rotor speed (rpm) 1400
Temperature (º C) 25
Conditioning time (minute) 3

Table 3. Detailed locking liberation characteristics criteria.

Liberated Area percent >80%
Middling Area percent 30–80%
Locked Area percent <30%

Figure 3. Copper recovery of flotation circuit in surveys 1 and 2.

copper recovery in survey 2 was 8% less than survey 1. The sulfide copper recoveries were almost the
same during both surveys. The results showed that the concentrate of about 7.2% Cu grade is
obtained in both surveys. Comparison of Table 1 and Figure 3 revealed that the reason for recovery
reduction in survey 2 is increasing oxide copper proportion in rougher feed. Generally, copper oxide
minerals do not respond well to traditional sulfide copper collectors and require alternative flotation
techniques (Lee et al. 2009).
In addition, the hydrocyclone overflow (rougher feed) grind size declined from 75% passing
74 μm (Hassanzadeh 2018) to 65% due to poor efficiency of primary grinding in both surveys
(Figure 4). As a matter of fact, under these circumstances, a significant decrease in grinding
efficiency might be the reason of copper distribution in the coarse particle size fractions.
Therefore, another possible reason for observing copper particles in rougher tailing might be
relevant to the distribution of copper content in different particle size fractions. Figures 5 and 6
display the copper content distribution of feed, tailing and concentrate, as well as performance of the
rougher flotation circuit for different particle size fractions in surveys 1 and 2. A similar trend in the
feed Cu % distribution is observed in surveys 1 and 2. These figures display that the highest copper
loss in the rougher cells in surveys 1 and 2 takes place in too coarse (+105 µm) and too fine (−9 µm)
particles, respectively.
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 9

Figure 4. Particle size distributions of the rougher feeds in surveys 1 and 2.

Figure 5. Distribution of copper content and recovery of rougher circuit for different particle size fractions in survey 1.

Figure 6. Distribution of copper content and recovery of rougher circuit for different particle size fractions in survey 2.
10 M. ASGHARI ET AL.

Improving the recovery of coarse and fine particles in flotation has been a long-standing goal
within the minerals processing industry. Research on the relationship between particle size and
floatability began in the early 1930s in work presented by Gaudin, Groh, and Henderson (1931)
which showed that coarse and fine particles are more difficult to recover than intermediate size
particles. This issue is true for most minerals, although the optimum size range may change
depending on the ore being processed.
According to the PSD of the feed in both surveys, it can be seen that nearly half of the Cu content
is accumulated in −38 µm, 25% in −74 + 38 µm, and 16% in + 74 µm fractions. The amount of
copper in −53 + 20 particle size range, which could be considered as the most suitable size range for
copper flotation, is about 30%. The copper recovery for particles −53 + 20 µm increased up to 96%,
whereas it reduced in coarser and finer particles.
It can be seen that the main part of copper content is spread in −9μm. This particle size fraction is
identified as very fine particle regions. The intermediate particles (−74 + 20 μm) consist of usually
the most floatable particles which have the highest collision probability. The coarse fraction sizes
(+74 μm) are represented as the lowest floatable particles which their floatability varies depending on
surface properties of minerals and hydrodynamic conditions involving bubble–particle interactions.
In conclusion, the valuable copper particles which are misreported to flotation tailing are mainly
divided into two parts. First part is particles finer than 9 μm and the second is particles coarser than
+74μm.
Mineral liberation plays an important role in floatability of coarse particles as demonstrated by
studies on detachment of particles from bubbles during coalescence, or by comparing flotation
kinetic constants of liberated and locked particles (Chen et al. 2017). In practice, with regard to
dealing with a relatively coarser grind size, 65% passing 74 μm, a grinding of coarse particles must be
taken into account. Sudden decrease in flotation recovery above the optimum particle size is
suggested to be due to either lack of liberation of valuable minerals or reduction in the ability of
bubbles to lift up the heavy coarse particles. In a similar study on the flotation circuit, Banisi et al.
(2001) showed that 17% of copper was lost in tailings and the lowest copper recovery was
corresponding with the particles coarser than 105 μm. Hassanzadeh and Karakas (2017) reported
that the maximum recovery of copper was observed in 25–74 μm size fraction, while the major
copper loss was recognized for coarser particles (>100 μm). However, no attempt has not been
reported for improving copper recovery of coarse particles in these studies. According to previous
reports, most of the copper loss which is misreported to flotation tailings virtually in all operating
concentration plants occurs in particle sizes below 20 µm and over 105 µm.
In the studied process, chemical reagents were added in the first stage with no further addition
(single point dosage). Consequently, coarser particles are not expected to be recovered due to lack of
required flotation reagents. Therefore, dosage of consumed chemical reagents must be taken into
account.
For finer particles, lower recovery is typically attributed to low bubble–particle collision rates and
agglomeration and coating of fines onto copper surface inhibiting it from exposure to collectors that
reduce the probability of attachment. Low collision rates for finer material can generally be over-
come by utilizing equipment that improves the flotation rate. Flotation rate can be increased by
increasing the total surface area of air that is rising through the flotation cell by reducing the bubble
diameter (i.e., microbubbles) or by increasing the gas rate. Even with the generation of smaller
bubbles, recovery can still be challenging as longer retention times are typically required for finer
particles. Further, as plants and equipment continue to grow in size, many of the capital savings
achieved by utilizing fewer cells are lost due to inefficient mixing intensity. In contrast, the reduction
in recovery for coarse particles is often attributed to detachment due to excessive turbulence within
conventional mechanical flotation cells. A conventional cell needs to provide enough agitation to
maintain all the particles in suspension, shear and disperse air bubbles, and promote bubble-particle
collision. However, this approach is counterproductive for the recovery of coarse particles which
require a quiescent system for minimizing detachment. In addition to turbulence, surface expression
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 11

of the mineral of interest can also create challenges when dealing with coarse particles. It is
commonly accepted that liberation, or more accurately mineral surface expression, increases with
decreasing particle size. A higher surface expression provides more sites for bubble attachment.
Additionally, minimal surface expression for particles coarser than 105 µm can create a situation
where the strength of bubble/particle attachment is low. This condition reinforces the need for a
non-turbulent flotation environment.
Distribution of sulfide and oxide copper in different size fractions in rougher tailing for surveys 1
and 2 is shown in Figures 7 and 8. These figures display that the more sulfide copper loss in the
rougher cells in both surveys takes place in coarse particles and the more oxide copper loss happens
in fine particles. It seems that, almost 70% of overall copper loss is related to sulfide copper and 30%
of that is pertinent to oxide copper in survey 1. Also, almost 63% of overall copper loss in survey 2 is
in the form of oxide copper. Comparing the data of Figures 7 and 8 shows that overall sulfide copper
loos is the same for both surveys and oxide copper loss is much more in survey 2 than survey 1.
Therefore, the major reason forf difference between overall copper loos in two surveys can be
attributed to oxide copper loss. In the case of sulfide copper flotation, maximum loss happened at
the coarse particle size. It can be stated that almost most oxide copper particles are transferred to
tailings at the very fine particle size. Obviously, the highest loss of copper to the final tailing occurred
from both coarse and fine size fractions. Particles of extreme sizes (too coarse and too fine) are more
difficult to be recovered by froth flotation, compared to the intermediate particles.

Figure 7. Distribution of copper in different size fractions in rougher tail in survey 1.

Figure 8. Distribution of copper in different size fractions in rougher tail in survey 2.

12 M. ASGHARI ET AL.

Laboratory experiments
Baseline test
The baseline experiment for the mixed sulfide-oxide copper ore using conventional xanthate
flotation reagent (same industrial plant) was performed based on the conditions listed in Table 2.
This test was done to define a base recovery and to ensure the reproducibility of results and
congruity of the experimental parameters.
In such a condition, the copper recovery was achieved 79.3% at a concentrate grade of 7.3% Cu.
The recovery of oxide copper components obtained was 34.2%. These values were comparable to
results achieved at the Sarcheshmeh processing plant under normal operating conditions in survey 2.
The liberation characteristics for tailing sample, according to the locking-liberation characteristics
criteria (Table 3) are shown in Figure 9. The majority of the copper reported to the tailing occurs as
locked particles indicating that inadequate liberation is one of the reasons for the poor performance
of the copper ore. The poor flotation performance in initial test can be attributed to two major
factors: poor floatability of oxide copper ore and the poor liberation of coarse particles.

Effect of particle size

Ore sample of four different size fractions, >74, −74 + 38, −38 + 20, and <20 μm, were used
separately to study and investigate the effect of particle size during flotation process. Experimental
results obtained for the different size fractions are shown in Figure 10.
For sample size >74 μm, copper recovery was 59% and increased significantly to above 90% for
the −74 + 20 μm fraction. In fact, coarse and fine particles are more difficult to be recovered by the
froth flotation, compared to intermediate size particles. Lower recovery in the coarse fraction shows
that copper surfaces are not fully exposed and may be encapsulated in the gangue minerals (relatively
poor liberation degrees) requiring finer grind. Also, the rupture of the particle–bubble aggregates
due to decreasing ability of bubbles to lift the coarse particles is the main issue of the coarse particles
in flotation. Decrease in copper recovery in the fine fraction could be attributed to agglomeration
and coating of fines onto copper surface inhibiting it from exposure to collectors. Furthermore, fine
particles have low kinetic energy and consequently poor particle–bubble encounter probability,
which lead to ending up low recoveries. This is in line with the studies of Hassanzadeh et al.
(2018) and Qaredaqi, Haji Amin Shirazi, and Abdollahi (2012).

Recovery of tailing coarse particle fractions. Lower recovery in the coarse fraction indicates that
copper surfaces are not fully liberated requiring finer grind. The target of size reduction was to

Figure 9. Liberation of copper in the tailing sample shown as locked (0–30 area% copper), middling (30–80 area% copper), and
liberated (>80 area% copper) .
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 13

Figure 10. Flotation behavior of copper as a function of particle size. (Test conditions: slurry pH 11.8, 28% pulp density, 8 min
flotation time, collector, and frother additions fixed at 30 and 30 g/t) .

liberate valuable minerals from the gangue. Therefore, particles coarser than 74 μm reported to
tailing were separated and ground to −53 μm. Then, flotation experiment was performed on
grounded samples in initial conditions with 15 g/t further collector in 3 min. Extra stage was
implemented to avoid loss of valuable minerals in coarse particle fractions at rougher tailing. It is
observed that size reduction of coarse particles of rougher tailing and then their flotation have a
significant effect on increasing overall recovery in an acceptable range. The results showed that this
extra stage can increase copper recovery, from 79.3% to 82.2%. Furthermore, the mentioned
conditions improved the copper grade in the concentrate from 7.3% to 7.7%. The recovery of
oxide copper components increased from 34.2% to 35.36%. It can be stated that this recovery
increment is more related to sulfide copper recovery at the coarse particle size. This issue can be
justified by the fact that maximum loss in the case of sulfide copper flotation happened at the coarse
particle size.

Effect of collector dosage

It is well known that the collector dosage of sulfide ores flotation is an important variable. The effect
of collector dosage on copper flotation was investigated using 20, 30, 50, and 70 g/t of Z11 + R407
with ratio 3:2. Figure 11 presents variations of recovery and grade with collector dosage.

Figure 11. Flotation recovery and grade of copper as a function of collector concentration at (test conditions: Slurry pH 11.8, 28%
pulp density, 8 min flotation time, frother addition fixed at 30 g/t) .
14 M. ASGHARI ET AL.

Cu recovery increased with an increase in collector dosage from 20 to 50 g/t, so that maximum
cumulative recovery was obtained equal to 80.65% with concentrate grade of 7.1% Cu. However,
collector quantities larger than 50 g/t in the cell seem to be ineffective on the separation efficiency.
Similar results have been obtained by Azizi, Hassanzadeh, and Fadaei (2015).
Trahar (1981) reported that the flotation recovery of coarse particles is more sensitive to the
chemical environment than the fine particles. In similar studies, Klimpel (1997) suggested that a
small amount of collector dosage is sufficient to float the fine and intermediate size particles, whereas
a high degree of surface coverage by collector is required for flotation of coarser particles. Since finer
particles have larger specific surface area compared to the coarser ones, they consume higher
collector in higher rate of adsorption. Therefore, under this condition, the reagents are mostly
consumed by finer particles which, in fact, need little amount of collector to be floated efficiently.
Consequently, for lower collector dosages (20 and 30 g/t), there is no sufficient collector left for
coarser particles to produce enough hydrophobic sites in order to enhance the bubble–particle
attachment. It is noteworthy that promoting the recovery of sulfide copper is more than that of
oxide copper with increase of collector concentration, especially in coarse particles recovery. Because
the majority of copper sulfide loss occurs in coarse particles, which the collector dosage increase aids
to recover them.
It should be noted that adding chemical reagents only to conditioning tank can be the possible
reason for copper loss that should be addressed in future work. It is estimated that 15–20% loss in
copper can be recovered by distributing collector in the circuit along with optimization of their
dosages (Agheli et al. 2018).

Effect of sulfidization
Oxide copper minerals do not respond well to traditional flotation using known sulfydryl type
collectors without activation. In this study, sodium hydrosulfide was used as a sulfidization agent
prior to the flotation of mixed copper ores containing both oxides and sulfides. The recovery of
copper at different NaHS dosages (slug sulfidization) during flotation is shown in Table 4. The
conditioning time for NaHS addition was 3 min. It can be seen from Table 4 that introducing NaHS
into the pulp, using the slug addition technique, led to increased recovery. Increasing the NaHS
dosage to 800 g/t resulted in 4.5% increase in recovery from 79.3% to 83.8% with a significant
increase in grade.
The increase in recovery after the introduction of NaHS can be attributed to the recovery of oxide
minerals that were not recovered during flotation with PAX collector. The same observation has
been made in the case of slug sulfidization of oxidized lead-zinc-silver material with Na2S (Jones and
Woodcock 1979) and malachite with calcium polysulfide (Quast et al. 2005). Flotation response for
sulfide-oxide copper using 800 g/t NaHS for different particle size fractions is illustrated in
Figure 12.
Three important observations arise. Firstly, comparison of the above results indicates that a
part of the sulfide and oxide copper that had not been recovered in the pre-sulfidization stage
was recovered after sulfidization. Secondly, since the sulfide copper minerals such as chalcopyrite
in the feed fine particles were mostly liberated, it was possible that some of them to be tarnished
due to in situ weathering or during storage and therefore they required sulfidization. Sulfidization
followed by xanthate flotation could recover tarnished chalcopyrite and other sulfide minerals

Table 4. Batch flotation procedure incorporating the recovery of both oxide minerals using lug sulfidisation.
NaHS dosage (g/t) Cu recovery (%) Cu grade (%) Cu oxide recovery (%) Wt (%)
0 79.31 7.32 34.22 12.30
200 80.52 7.51 36.31 11.70
400 81.31 7.81 41.52 11.41
800 83.83 8.20 52.80 11.43
1300 81.34 7.20 38.31 11.20
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 15

Figure 12. Flotation response for copper oxide-sulfide with 800 g/t NaHS. Total collector and frother doses were 30 and 30 g/t,
respectively.

such as chalcocite. It is adjusted with the study of Clark et al. (2000), Newell and Bradshaw
(2007) and Hassanzadeh and Hassanzadeh (2017). This issue addressed the question regarding
the relative roles of the sulfidizer in contributing either to the flotation of possibly tarnished
chalcopyrite particles or to the flotation of oxides which are associated with chalcopyrite. Thirdly,
all the oxide copper minerals, particularly fine particles, responded positively to the NaHS/
xanthate flotation treatment. These findings are consistent with observations made by Kalichini
et al. (2017).
Finally, according to the results summarized above and considering the optimized conditions,
studied industrial plant is able to increase copper recovery about 8% in feed comprising sulfide and
oxide minerals without any decrease in grade.

Conclusion
In this study, two surveys were carried out in industrial copper flotation plant for evaluation of
floatability of two different kinds of copper ore (sulfide and mixed copper ores comprising sulfide
and oxide minerals) in order to find the reasons of copper loss to tailing. Likewise, batch flotation
experiments were carried out to determine whether particles previously lost as tailings could be
economically recovered using a suite of flotation technologies. Based on findings from plant scale
survey data and laboratory tests, the following conclusions can be deduced:

● Almost 95% of overall loss in final tailing was due to copper lose in the rougher flotation
circuit.
● The results of two surveys of sampling showed that the rougher flotation recovery of mixed
copper ore was 8% less than sulfide ore. It was found that an important factor of recovery
reduction was due to increasing of oxide copper proportion in rougher feed. The copper oxide
minerals did not respond well to traditional sulfide copper collectors and required alternative
flotation techniques. Changing sulfide copper content in plant feed had no significant effect on
sulfide recovery.
● More sulfide copper loss in the rougher cells took place in coarse particles and the more oxide
copper loss happened in fine particles.
● Particles of extreme sizes (too coarse and too fine) were more difficult to be recovered by froth
flotation, compared to the intermediate particles.
● Since the majority of the copper reported to the tailing occurred in coarse and locked particles,
grinding and floatation of tailing coarse particles with addition of extra collector may be
16 M. ASGHARI ET AL.

considered to reduce the loss of copper significantly. This was presumably due to improved
liberation and faster flotation kinetics of copper minerals in medium sizes.
● Cu recovery increased with an increase in collector dosage from 20 to 50 g/t, so that maximum
recovery was obtained equal to 80.65% with concentrate grade of 7.1% Cu.
● Increasing the NaHS dosage to 800 g/t resulted in 4.5% increase in recovery from 79.3% to
83.8% with a significant increase in grade. The increase in recovery after the introduction of
NaHS could be attributed to the recovery of oxide minerals that were not recovered during
flotation with PAX collector.
● Sulfidization followed by xanthate flotation could recover tarnished chalcopyrite and other
sulphide minerals such as chalcocite.
● Further investigations on the effect of chemistry of pulp, recycled water, use of alternative
collectors, or collector mixtures to improve copper flotation recovery must be considered.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Department of Research and Development of Sarcheshmeh
Copper Plants for this research.

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