NUST MISiS College of Mining, Department of Minerals Processing and Technogenic Raw Materials, Moscow, Russia:

T. I. Yushina, Professor, Head of Department, e-mail: yuti62@mail.ru
K. D’Elia, Post-Graduate Student, e-mail: kalimdelia@gmail.com

Erdenet Mining Corporation, Ulan Bator, Mongolia:

B. Purev, Post-Graduate Student, e-mail: bayanokk@yahoo.com

B. Namuungerel, Director of Technical Operations of Concentrating Mill, e-mail: namuun@erdenetmc.mn

A comprehensive review of the principal process flowsheets of flotation beneficiation of porphyry copper ores is given in the paper along with the factors, influencing upon the beneficiation indicators, including copper and molybdenum extraction in the bulk and selective flotation cycles, in which the main problem is connected with selective separation of copper and molybdenum minerals from iron sulfide. The paper presents the beneficiation process indicators of the leading world enterprises, processing porphyry copper ores. There are also reported the results of the recent investigations devoted to increasing the efficiency of flotation beneficiation and improvement of the reagent mode of porphyry copper ore flotation. On basis of the beneficiation practice data analysis, established were the lines of the promising investigations focused on development the means to increase the processing characteristics of porphyry copper ore flotation, especially in the aspect of decreasing the molybdenum losses with treatment of the tails. One of the very promising ways is an application of complex regents, which increase the flotation selectivity for copper, molybdenum and iron sulfides, probably in combination with existing reagent regimes on the porphyry copper ore processing plants too.

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