Most copper ores found in nature do not exist as single mineral species but rather as symbiotic mixtures of copper sulfides and copper oxides; this makes the beneficiation of copper ore a subject that is both classic and complex within the field of mineral processing. Common copper oxide minerals possess distinct physicochemical properties: malachite (CuCO₃·Cu(OH)₂) has a copper content of 57.4%, a density of 4 g/cm³, and a hardness of 4; azurite (2CuCO₃·Cu(OH)₂) has a copper content of 55.2%, a density of 4 g/cm³, and a hardness of 4; chrysocolla (CuSiO₃·2H₂O) has a copper content of 36.2%, a density of 2–2.2 g/cm³, and a hardness of 2–4; and cuprite (Cu₂O) has a copper content of 88.8%, a density of 5.8–6.2 g/cm³, and a hardness of 3.5–4. These diverse copper oxide minerals exhibit vastly different natural hydrophilic characteristics; when combined with copper sulfide minerals—which also vary in floatability—these differences dictate the varying levels of difficulty in separation. Flotation currently stands as the primary separation method for copper oxide ores, categorized into two main approaches—direct flotation and sulfidization flotation—based on ore properties. Copper sulfide ores are further classified into mono-metallic and polymetallic types; the former involves relatively simple flotation processes, whereas the latter requires more complex flow-sheet designs due to the presence of associated valuable metals. Mineral processing plants rely on tailored flotation processes to efficiently concentrate copper minerals from raw ore, significantly upgrading the copper concentrate grade and providing suitable feedstock for subsequent copper smelting. Specialized equipment for various stages of the flotation process provides the essential support for implementing these techniques; in the following sections, we will systematically outline eight core flotation processes suited to different types of copper ore, as well as nine key pieces of equipment commonly used throughout the entire process.
Published time：22 November 2022
8 Core Flotation Processes
1. Direct flotation process for simple copper sulfide ores: Leverages the difference in floatability between copper minerals and gangue; features a simple, easy-to-operate flowsheet.
2. Differential flotation process for polymetallic copper sulfide ores: Separates minerals in stages based on their flotation rates; reduces reagent consumption and eliminates interference from residual reagents.
3. Ore washing–grinding–copper flotation–iron magnetic/gravity separation process: Involves desliming followed by copper flotation, then iron recovery via magnetic and gravity separation; suitable for high-iron copper oxide ores.
4. Grinding–desliming–copper flotation process: Removes high-copper slimes beforehand to minimize interference with flotation and improve copper concentrate grade.
5. Direct sulfidization-flotation process for copper oxides: Uses staged addition of sodium sulfide to activate copper oxides, combined with xanthate collectors; suitable for minerals such as malachite and azurite.
6. Hydrothermal sulfidization-flotation process: Intensifies the sulfidization reaction under high temperature and pressure to form artificial copper sulfide; overcomes slime interference and achieves high recovery rates.
7. Amine collector flotation process: Uses cationic collectors to process minerals like azurite and atacamite; suitable for certain refractory copper oxide ores.
8. Chelating agent–neutral oil flotation process: Highly selective for refractory minerals like chrysocolla; significantly reduces sodium sulfide consumption.
9 Types of Equipment
1. Feeding - vibrating feeder
A vibrating feeder is a feeding equipment widely used in metallurgy, coal mining, mineral processing, building materials, and other industries. It can feed massive copper ore evenly and continuously to subsequent crushing equipment, and the material is pre-screened first.
2. Coarse Crushing - Jaw Crusher
Jaw crushers are mainly used for coarse Crushing in sand and gravel plants, metallurgy, mining, chemical, and other industries. The input particle size can reach 1500mm, the output particle size can be 10-350mm, and the material can be processed up to 2200 tons per hour. The compressive strength can reach 320MPa.
Large pieces of copper ore should first be crushed into smaller stones with a jaw crusher to meet the feed size of medium crushing.
3. Medium Crushing - Cone Crusher
The cone crusher is mainly used for medium and fine crushing ores with medium or above medium hardness and can process 12-1000 tons of materials per hour.
The hardness of copper ore is relatively high, which is just suitable for crushing with a cone crusher. After being processed by a cone crusher, the finished product with a size of 3-60mm is produced.
4. Screening - Circular Vibrating Screen
The function of the vibrating screen is to screen out the materials that meet the particle size of the next process. At the same time, collect the unqualified materials and send them to the crushing equipment for re-crushing until the particle size is qualified.
For example, the discharge particle size of the cone crusher is 3-60mm. In the following grinding process, the feed particle size of the ball mill is required to be below 20-25mm, so a vibrating screen can separate the materials with different particle sizes. Fed the materials below 20mm into the ball mill, and send the 20mm or more back to the cone crusher for re-crushing.
5. Grinding - Ball Mill
The function of the ball mill is to further grind the material into fine particles of 0-200 mesh size to meet the conditions for the next step of flotation.
The feed particle size of the ball mill is below 20-25mm, the discharge particle size is 0.074-0.89mm, and it can produce 0.65-615 tons of materials per hour. It is trendy in cement, silicate products, new building materials, and refractory materials.
6. Classification - Classifier
The classifier is a special equipment for particle size classification of the ore pulp in the metal beneficiation process. The length of the water tank is 3000-14300mm, and the diameter of the spiral is 300-3000mm. It mainly uses the different specific gravity of copper ore particles, associated gangue particles, and the different sedimentation speed in the liquid to classify them.
7. Beneficiation - Mixing Tank
The role of the mixing tank is to stir the pulp so that the chemical and the pulp are evenly mixed, and the reaction time of the chemical is accelerated.
8. Beneficiation - Flotation Machine
The flotation process needs to add flotation agents into the pulp so that the valuable ore particles can better adhere to the air bubbles generated by the flotation machine, float to the surface of the pulp, and be collected.
9. Drying - Dryer
The copper concentrate collected by flotation has a relatively high water content and cannot meet the standard for use, so it must undergo a dehydration process.
The dryer is drying equipment specially used in mining, mineral processing, chemical, and other industries. It can process 1.9-76 tons of materials per hour. In addition to copper concentrate, we can also use it to dry much other metal and non-metal minerals.
Ranging from easily processed simple copper sulfide ores to refractory chrysocolla-type oxidized copper ores, a suite of eight flotation processes creates a comprehensive technical framework capable of handling diverse ore characteristics; this system retains the proven advantages of traditional sulfide flotation while overcoming recovery bottlenecks for refractory oxidized ores through innovative methods such as hydrothermal sulfidization and chelation-assisted flotation. Complementing these processes are nine types of core equipment—covering stages from feeding, crushing, and grinding to flotation and drying—that provide the necessary hardware infrastructure to ensure the stable implementation of process parameters. Given the current industry context of high copper prices, processing plants must scientifically match specific flotation processes and equipment configurations to the unique characteristics of their ore—such as oxidation rate, mineral dissemination size, and associated components—to maximize copper concentrate recovery and grade while controlling production costs, thereby achieving the efficient utilization of low-grade, refractory copper resources.
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