The present invention relates to a compound obtainable by reacting an N-acyl neutral amino acid or a salt thereof, or an N-acyl neutral amino acid oligopeptide or a salt thereof with a monohydroxy monocarboxylic acid or a salt thereof. This compound is useful as a collector in a process for froth flotation of non-sulfidic ores, especially phosphate ores. The invention also relates to a method which comprises the steps of a) conditioning a pulped phosphate ore, wherein the phosphate ore comprises a calcium phosphate mineral or a mixture of such minerals, and gangue minerals, with an effective amount of a calcium phosphate mineral collector reagent, which is the above-mentioned compound, and optionally other flotation aids and b) performing a froth flotation process to recover the calcium phosphate mineral(s).
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