FLOTATION MECHANISMS OF BORON MINERALS

The development of reagent strategies for the flotation of boron miner als requires an understanding of flotation chemistry of reagent/minera l interactions. The floatability of a typical boron mineral, colemanit e, was investigated in a microflotation cell by using anionic and cati onic surfactants as collectors and tannic acid as a depressant. The re sults obtained with zeta potential measurements together with flotatio n tests reveal that colemanite is floatable with both anionic and cati onic surfactants at its natural pH of 9.3. While the floatability of c olemanite with anionic surfactants decreases with increasing pH, that with a cationic surfactant exhibits a maximum at pH 10.2, indicating t he major role of electrostatic interactions in the system.