A study on mineral processing technology of a complex copper-pyrite ore

A complex copper-pyrite ore contains 0.71% Cu, 8.11% S, and 0.021% Mo. It has the characteristics of high sulfur-to-copper ratio, secondary copper-containing, low content of accompanying molybdenum, and complex copper-sulfur dissemination. In order to efficiently develop and utilize this resource, the mineral characteristics of the ore was find out by the process mineralogy research, and then the detailed beneficiation test was carried out, a comparative study of ‘asynchronous flotation-combined selection’ flotation process and ‘asynchronous flotation-separate selection’ flotation process was carried out. The flotation process ‘asynchronous flotation-combined selection’ could obtain copper concentrate containing 23.82% Cu and 0.31% Mo with the copper recovery of 91.50%, and molybdenum recovery of 38.25%. The flotation process ‘Asynchronous flotation-separate selection’ could obtain copper concentrate containing 23.98% Cu and 0.52% Mo with the copper recovery of 91.74%, and molybdenum recovery of 63.19%. The "asynchronous flotation-separate selection" process is recommended to treat this ore.