The effect of grinding media on the flotation of fine chalcopyrite

The pulp potential and flotation behaviour of fine chalcopyrite ground with different grinding media have been studied by experiments. It's shown that there exist great differences in pulp potential, oxidation species and flotation behaviour of chalcopyrite ground with ceramic or iron media. Grinding with ceramic media gave much higher pulp potential than grinding with iron media, which is much more beneficial to flotation of chalcopyrite. Low flotation recovery of chalcopyrite ground with iron media are mainly due to the surface of chalcopyrite coating with a hydrophilic film which composed of a plenty of FeOOH.