Abstract:Flotation of cassiterite has been studied on pure minerals performed in a microflotation cell with various collectors. The results indicate that sulphosuccinamate demonstrates strong collection, good selectivity on cassiterite in the region around pH6, and that lead ions have certain activation whereas other ions such as ferric, aluminum, manganese, ferrous, calcium have strong depression on cassiterite flotation. In addition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was applied to study the flotation systems of cassiterite-sulphosuccinamate in the presence and absence of metal cation, and a chemisorption mechanism through chemically bonding between stannum species on the cassiterite surface and oxygen from sulphosuccinamate is proposed. The chemical environment of stannum species would be changed in the presence of lead ions in the flotation systems and therefore improve the activity of the stannum species, while ferric ions show strong depression due to the formation of steady complexes between ferric species and collector.

Key words: cassiterite flotation; sulphosuccinamate; tin