Selective depression of galena and chalcopyrite by O,O-bis(2,3-dihydroxypropyl) dithiophosphate

A novel synthesized reagent, O,O-bis(2,3-dihydroxypropyl) dithiophosphate (DHDTP), was investigated as depressant on the depression of chalcopyrite and galena, when ammonium dibutyl dithiophosphate (DDTP) was used as the collector in flotation tests. Zeta potential and adsorption measurement were performed to study the interaction between depressant and minerals. The flotation tests of two minerals show that DHDTP has slight depression on chalcopyrite in the whole pH range and strong depression on galena in the pH range of 6-10. When DHDTP dosage is increased, the recovery of galena decreases rapidly, while that of the chalcopyrite decreases slightly. The satisfied separation results of artificially mixed samples are that the copper grade and recovery rates of concentrate are 24.08% and 81%, respectively, when the pH is 6 with 278 mg/L DHDTP. Zeta potential and adsorption measurements show that DHDTP has more strongly adsorption capacity to galena than chalcopyrite.