Flotation Test of Sulfide Copper-Zine Ore Using Di-β-naphthylthiocarbazone as Collector

Di-β-naphthylthiocarbazone reacts sensitively with various metal ions forming chelate compounds. It is, therefore, commonly used as analytical reagent. In this study, the author intended to use this reagent as a collector in flotation test of a sulfide copper-zinc ore. The main results obtained are as follows : 1) Di-β-naphthylthiocarbazone is a very powerful collector for copper minerals and the extraction percentage of copper is 91 by the addition of 2mg/T. This amount is very small than that which is consumed in the case of other collectors. Although the price of Di-β-naphthylthiocarbazone is comparatively high, its very small consumption will compensate the cost of collector. 2) Since the selective collecting action of Di-β-naphthylthiocarbazone for copper and zinc minerals is not sharp, suitable amounts of sodium cyanide, zinc sulphate and hydrogen sulfide are necessary for differential flotation of the sulfide copper-zinc ore. Especially, hydrogen sulfide has very effective depressing action for zinc minerals.