Patent ID: 8434623

Claim:
A process for separating at least one first material from a mixture comprising the at least one first material and at least one second material, the process comprising: (A) contacting the mixture comprising: (a1) the at least one first material selected from the group consisting of a sulfidic ore, an oxidic ore, a carbonate-comprising ore, and an oxidic- and carbonate-comprising ore, and (a2) the at least one second material, with at least one selective hydrophobicizing agent in the presence of a suspension medium, so that an adduct is formed from the at least one hydrophobicizing agent and the at least one first material but not with the at least one second material, (B) contacting the adduct from (A) with at least one magnetic particle which is functionalized on a surface with at least one polymeric compound having a transition temperature LCST, lower critical solution temperature, at a temperature at which the at least one polymeric compound has hydrophobic character so that the adduct from (A) and the at least one functionalized magnetic particle agglomerate, (C) optionally, adding a further suspension medium to the mixture obtained in (B), (D) separating the agglomerate present in the suspension from (B) or (C) from the suspension by application of a magnetic field, (E) dissociating the agglomerate separated off in (D) by setting a temperature at which the polymeric compound has hydrophilic character in order to obtain the at least one first material.