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.

Producing of heterogeneous concentrates with good recovery in the processing of polymetallic ores is a challenge. Many factors must be taken into account including ore grinding, reagent mode, water composition, pulp density and the volume of supplied bubbles when producing high-quality selective concentrates. Microbubbles smaller than 50 μm in size were produced based on the frother oxal T-92 at different concentrations using a generator. The most optimal number of microbubbles smaller than 50 µm was produced at a T-92 concentration of 0.5 g/dm³. Polymetallic ore of Kazakhstan deposit was used for flotation studies. The studies were conducted in the copper-lead rough concentrate producing cycle. Flotation active minerals chalcopyrite and galena pass into the foam product, while sphalerite and pyrite remain in the chamber product in this cycle. In this paper, the density of pulp (20, 30 and 50%) as one of the main factors that effects the selectivity of flotation is studied. The kinetics of ore flotation in the base mode and with the use of a microbubble generator has been studied at these densities. Test experiments have been performed at the optimum density. The use of a water–air microemulsion generator makes it possible to maintain the quality of the copper-lead concentrate and increase the extraction of copper into the rough concentrate by 7.41%, lead by 5.98%.

The article presents the results of laboratory studies on ore flotation of copper-molybdenum deposits in the East Kazakhstan region of Kazakhstan using a combined reagent. It is required to use new beneficiation methods and flotation reagents to increase the efficiency of flotation of ore minerals to improve the processing of finely disseminated ores. The problem can be solved by using a combination of different collectors. The objective of the research is to increase the recovery of copper and molybdenum during flotation of copper-molybdenum ore using a combined reagent. The studied ore sample contains 0.42% copper; 0.009% molybdenum. A combination of sodium butyl xanthate, TS-100 thionocarbamate, and reaflot in a ratio, in %: 15: 3: 1, was used as a combined flotation reagent. The combined flotation reagent was preliminarily passed through an ultrasonic homogenizer JY96-IIN to obtain a reagent microemulsion before flotation. The optimum dispersion time for the combined flotation reagent is 60 seconds. At the same time, 99.4% are microemulsion particles with a particle size of fewer than 3.7 microns. The use of a combined reagent microemulsion increases the extraction of copper into the copper-molybdenum concentrate by 3.69%, and the extraction of molybdenum by 6.05%. The copper content in the copper-molybdenum concentrate increases by 1.26%. The copper content in the flotation tailings decreases from 0.07 to 0.056%. The consumption of the combined reagent is reduced by 15% in comparison with the basic butyl xanthate.

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%.

The enrichment of polymetallic sulfide ore is a complex task. Fine grinding is carried out to reveal useful minerals, resulting in the formation of microparticles. It is difficult to achieve the floatation of microparticles and fine useful minerals are lost with flotation tailings. The problem of microparticle flotation can be solved by using air bubbles smaller than 50 µmin for the flotation process. Water-air microemulsion (WAME)of a frothersolution obtained using the generator was used as microbubbles. The effect of WAME on flotation was studied on polymetallic ores and gold-bearing ore from Kazakhstan deposits.The use of WAMEin the processing of polymetallic ore allowed for themaintenance of the quality of rougher concentrates, to increase the copper extraction in Cu-Pb rougherconcentrate by 7.41%, of lead by 5.98% in the copper-lead flotation cycle (Cu-Pb-Zn-Fe ore), copper extraction in Cu-Mo rougherconcentrate by 5.2%, and molybdenum by 4.7% in the copper-molybdenum flotation cycle (Cu-Mo ore). The indicators of flotation gold extraction into the gold-containing concentrate significantly improved in comparison with the basic mode when using the generator in rougher and scavenger flotation cycles: the quality increased by 5.3 g/t, and the extraction increased by 4.27%.