Improving the sulfidation-flotation of fine cuprite by hydrophobic flocculation pretreatment

Hydrophobic flocculation pretreatment was performed to assess its effect on the recovery of fine cuprite in sulfidation-flotation. The results of the micro-flotation experiment showed that cuprite recovery is related to the particle size, and that an excessive content of fine particles (<18 m) impacted the recovery of coarse particles. When hydrophobic flocculation pretreatment was used, the recovery of fine cuprite in sulfidation-flotation increased from 60.3% to 86.3% under optimum conditions (pH 9.5; sodium oleate concentration, 2 x 10(-4) molL(-1); stirring time, 6 min; stirring speed, 1600 rmin(-1)). The laser particle size analysis and optical microscopy results indicate that hydrophobic flocculation pretreatment effectively reduces the content of fine cuprite, and augments the apparent particle size in the pulp. We performed the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory and extended DLVO theory calculations to further support the interpretation of the results.