Particle Size Dependence of the Flotation Kinetics and Recovery for Copper-Molybdenum Ore in Seawater

Copper and molybdenum are often contained within porphyry copper ore, and their efficient recovery can be achieved by flotation, but the detailed flotation behavior and effects of various parameters must be elucidated.In this paper, the effect of different particle sizes on the flotation kinetics and recovery of copper-molybdenum ore is investigated by employing flotation experiments and mineral liberation analysis in seawater.The results indicate that liberation and flotation recovery increase with decreasing particle size and that the gangue mineral ratio is much higher after 35 s of flotation.Moreover, the flotation data are analyzed by fitting them with a firstorder kinetic equation, confirming that the kinetics and recovery decrease with increasing particle size.