Research on the Flotation of High-Sulfur and Low-Copper Ore Based on Mineralogical Characteristics

The selective separation of copper sulfide ore from iron sulfide minerals has always been a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved. This study conducted a process mineralogy research on a copper–tin polymetallic ore in Yunnan. The research results showed that the ore sample contained 0.33% copper, and the oxidation rate of copper was 16.48%. The distribution rate of copper in its independent minerals was only 58.30%. The copper content in oxidized copper and hematite/limonite was relatively high, making it difficult to achieve a high flotation recovery rate. The priority flotation process was applied to the flotation process of this copper mine. The final copper flotation scheme determined was that the grinding fineness of −0.074 mm was 55%, “two roughing, one scavenging, and three cleaning”. This was followed by the re-grinding of the coarse concentrate, with the collector being ML-8:Z-200 = 2:1, the dosage being 60 g/t, and calcium hypochlorite as the copper–sulfur separation inhibitor. Finally, a copper concentrate product with a copper grade of 16.83% and a recovery rate of 54.31% was obtained. At this time, the silver grade was 388.55 g/t, achieving efficient recovery of the copper ore. The comprehensive utilization of multi-metallic copper sulfide in the processing plant has high practical significance.