Copper mine tailing should be reused for environmental and economicalbenefits. A copper mine tailing from Liaoning province was studied by AAS, XRD, andSEM-EDS. It was shown that chalcopyrite and pyrite were the main valuable minerals inthe tailing. Chalcopyrite was embedded closely in the pyrite mineral as revealed in SEMEDS.By regrinding, the chalcopyrite was liberated from pyrite. Besides, ammonium humateis a good organic surfactant. With ammonium humate as the selective depressor,chalcopyrite can be separated from pyrite by flotation in a relative low pulp pH of 10.6.Comprehensive flotation tests conducted on the copper mine tailing indicated that Cuconcentrate with Cu grade of 20.16% and S concentrate with S grade of 48.02% wereobtained, achieving a good recovery result from the tailing. The mechanism of ammoniumhumate was proved by IR spectrum and XPS spectrum, showing that there was achemical adsorption between ammonium humate and pyrite, thus depressing pyrite fromflotation. The research can offer a way to treat similar copper tailing.
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