Influence of Frothers on the Flotation of Black Mountain Ore

Froth flotation is the most widely used industrial process for the separation of finely divided minerals from gangue. However, its effectiveness depends on the type of frothers used. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 2 Senfroth frothers, XP200 and XP 516 on the flotation of black mountain ore to recover copper with sodium mercaptobenzothiazole (NMBT) as a collector. A Denver flotation cell was used in this work. Two dosages (0.5ml and 1ml) of frothers were used. The mountain ore mineralogy analysis showed that the ore contained 0.341% copper feed grade. With 0.5ml of Senfroth XP 200, 1.278% of copper was recovered and 0.055% of copper reported to the tailings. In the case of Senfroth 516, 0.63% of copper was recovered while 0.21% of copper was found in the tailings at 0.5ml dosage. When 1ml dosage was used, Senfroth XP200 recovered 1.759% copper and 0.036% was found in the tailing, while Senfroth 516 recovered 0.932% copper leaving 0.154% in the tailings. Senfroth XP 200 was found to be more effective than Senfroth 516 in the recovery of copper from black mountain ore.