This paper discusses the results of flotation tests on finely dispersed Cu–Pb–Zn–Fe–sulphide ore of the in which microbubbles finer than 50 µm were used as carriers. It was found that volume dosage of microbubbles in the amount of 0.1 liter per kilogram of solids increased the flotation rate of various sulphide ore components by factors of 2–4 and recovery by 0.5–3%. An analysis of the recovery kinetics was performed using previously developed theory of combined microflotation. It was found that the major effect of using microbubble carriers, which has led to the gain in flotation rate efficiency, can be attributed to the fact that the effectiveness of particles and microbubbles hetero-aggregation exceeds the capture efficiency of particles by coarse bubbles by factors of more than 50–70 and the flotation rate of mineralised microbubbles by coarse bubbles by several times compared to the flotation rate of separate particles.

The search for effective reagents for the flotation of non-ferrous metals from mineral raw materials is an actual problem. The article discusses the results of research on improving the technology of processing copper–molybdenum ores using a combined collector emulsion. The object of research was copper–molybdenum ore containing 0.43% copper and 0.0089% molybdenum. Copper minerals are represented by chalcopyrite 1.2% and chalcocite 0.015%, while covellite is present in a much smaller amount. The main mineral of molybdenum is molybdenite. The cycle of collective copper–molybdenum flotation includes the main flotation, control flotation, and three re-cleanings of concentrate. In the basic mode, the collective Cu–Mo concentrate was produced with the copper content of 16.25% with an extraction of 77.79% and with the molybdenum content of 0.45% with an extraction of 79.38%. Reaflot, thionocarbamate, and butyl xanthate were used in a ratio of 1:3:15 to prepare a combined collector agent. In order to produce the combined collector emulsion, the best degree of dispersion, which amounted to 99.5% of particles with a size of −3.6 μm, was chosen. During the Cu–Mo ore flotation using an optimally dispersed microemulsion of the combined collector agent, a collective Cu–Mo concentrate was obtained with a copper content of 18.2% with an extraction of 83.58%, and with a molybdenum content of 0.49% with an extraction of 88.46%. The use of a combined collector agent increases the extraction of copper into the collective Cu–Mo concentrate by 5.79%, while the extraction of molybdenum increases by 9.08%.

The article presents the results of laboratory research on the possibility of flotation processing of copper-containing technogenic raw materials. Studies were performed using a sample of copper-containing tailings obtained after the processing of copper ore from the Kazakhstan deposit and a composite flotation reagent. The application of a combination of various collectors allows for raising technological indicators of flotation. The purpose of the research is the increase extraction of copper at flotation of copper-containing technogenic raw materials with the application of a composite reagent. The studied sample of tailings contains 0.23% of copper. A mixture of sodium butyl xanthate and thionocarbamate in the ratio of 1:1 was used as a composite flotation reagent. Parameters of flotation of copper-containing tailings were worked out: degree of regrinding, charges of sodium butyl xanthate, blowing agent T-92, and a composite reagent. Composite flotation reagent was fed into the flotation process of copper-containing tailings in the form of emulsion produced in a T 18 digital ULTRA-TURRAX dispersant. The optimal emulsification time of the composite flotation reagent was 1 min. Without emulsification in the composite reagent the percentage of particles smaller than 1.192 µm is 55.047%. After emulsification of the composite reagent for 1 minute, the percentage of particles smaller than 1.192 μm is 91.134%. In optimum basic mode the rough copper concentrate with a copper content of 4.2% was obtained with the extraction of 61.56%. With the use of a composite reagent, a blister copper concentrate with a copper content of 4.5% and a recovery of 66.54% was obtained. Extraction of copper increases by 4,98%.

The article presents the results of laboratory studies on the effect of the liquid-gas ratio and the foaming agent type on the average water-air micro dispersion size obtained from the foaming agent solution. The size of microbubbles significantly effects the efficiency of flotation and depends on the type and concentration of foaming agent used for their production. A generator was used to obtain water-air micro dispersion. The works were performed to work out the water-air micro dispersion parameters of at different liquid-gas ratio and different performance of the generator. The following foaming agents were used as objects of research: sodium butyl aero flot (BTF), flotanol C-7, butyl triethylenetetramine (B-TETA) at a concentration of 0.5 g/dm3. It has been established, that the optimal phase liquid-gas ratio was 1:1, the optimal capacity of the generator was 6-7.2 dm3/h with an average particle size of air-water micro dispersion- 33-41 mm for BTF solution, 103-107 mm for C-7 solution, 90-93 mm for B-TETA solution. The type of foaming agent used in flotation effects the size and stability of microbubbles. It is established that the flotation agents can be arranged in the following line with respect to their ability to create micro dispersion: IIBK→Senfroth 580→B-TETA→OPSB→Flotanol C-7→T-92→BTF. The best results are shown by BTF that creates micro dispersion of 43-58 μm (t 20-40 °С) and stability of 80 sec with concentration of 0.5 g/dm3.

The Shalkiya deposit lead-zinc ore flotation processing regimes were developed with application of regrinding and apolar reagent based on oil and diesel fuel. An optimal ore grinding flow sheet was proposed, including feed grinding prior to flotation to 80 % of –0.074 mm size fraction, regrinding of the first lead cleaning cycle froth product to 97 % of –0.074 mm size fraction and scavenging lead flotation cycle tail — to 99 % of –0.074 mm size fraction. The Kumkolskoye deposit oil and diesel fuel mixed in the ratio of 1 : 1 was used as apolar reagent. It is shown that application of regrinding and apolar reagent, if compared with the plant established regime, permits to increase zinc content in zinc concentrate by 3.83 %, and zinc recovery — by 9.42 %; lead content in lead concentrate is increased by 5.18 %, and its recovery — by 12.36 %. With that, lead content in flotation tail decreases from 0.87 to 0.5 %, that of zinc — from 1.42 to 1.0 %, i.e., losses of lead and zinc in flotation tail are decreased by 20.07 and 10.29 %, respectively.

In this study, we examine the effect of novel submicronic activators made from copper minerals and copper-rich concentrate on sphalerite flotability. The copper minerals and copper concentrate are ground in a vibratory micromill and ultrasonically treated to obtain submicronic sphalerite activators. Histograms show that the concentration of copper particles in the activator after treatment is 92%–94%, with particle sizes of 105–115 nm. The results concerning monomineral flotation showed that sphalerite flotation is possible with the use of submicronic copper particles as an activator. At the same time, the consumption of mineral copper is much lower (by 10 times) than that of copper sulfate. The best results are achieved when submicronic particles of covellite and bornite (with a 60% concentration of particles 300–500 nm in size) were used. Sphalerite recovery amounted to 80%, which is higher than the recovery obtained with the use of copper sulfate by 2% but is 2% lower compared to the use of copper oxyhydroxide. The flotation effect of the submicronic activators on sphalerite was tested in laboratory conditions using polymetallic ore from one of Kazakhstan’s deposits. It is shown that the novel submicron activators based on bornite and copper concentrate exhibit much lower consumption rates and can replace the more expensive copper sulfate at the same Zn content (54.8%–54.9%), obtaining recovery rates of 95.69%–96.57%.