Copper recovery from slow-cooled copper slag of Lao Cai copper smelting II by flotation method using a mixture of collectors

Abstract

This paper presents the difference in the efficiency of copper slag flotation when using different types of collector mixtures, such as butyl xanthate/dithiophosphate, butyl xanthate/amine xanthate, and butyl xanthate combined with surface sulfidation reagent Na₂S at different grinding finenesses of copper slag and different collector mixture dosages. Experimental results show that the copper recovery ratio with butyl xanthate/dithiophosphate collector mixture is the highest. The closed-circuit flotation flowsheet with one rougher stage, two scavenger stages using butyl xanthate/dithiophosphate collector mixture obtained copper slag concentrate with a grade content of over 20% Cu, tailings with a grade content of approximately 0.2% Cu, and the actual copper recovery into the concentrate product reached over 90%.