Enhancement of cervantite sulfidization flotation by Pb(II) activation: Performance and interfacial mechanism

Cervantite is an important antimony oxide mineral, but its strongly hydrophilic nature results in poor recovery by conventional sulfidization flotation. In this study, Pb(II) was introduced as an activator into the sulfidization flotation system to promote surface sulfidization. Micro-flotation results show that Pb(II) activation increased the flotation recovery of cervantite from 3.26 % to 89.77 % at pH 9.5, whereas direct sulfidization with Na 2 S resulted in poor recovery. The zeta potential measurements, Visual MINTEQ calculations, XPS, ToF-SIMS, and contact angle measurements were used to elucidate the mechanism of Pb(II)-activated sulfidization flotation of cervantite. These results indicate that Pb(II) species interacted with surface oxygen atoms of cervantite and formed surface Pb–O species, which may serve as adsorption sites for sulfide species and promote the formation of Pb–S species on the cervantite surface, thereby favoring subsequent xanthate adsorption. This study provides insights into the sulfidization flotation mechanism of cervantite and offers a valuable reference for the efficient recovery of antimony oxide ores.