Patent ID: 7004326

Claim:
A flotation process for selectively recovering valuable metals while rejecting arsenide minerals from an ore containing both said valuable metals and arsenide minerals comprising the steps of: wet-grinding the ore into a slurry, adjusting the pH of the slurry to a preset value by the addition of reagents, oxidizing the slurry by providing an oxidizing environment to the slurry, adding a reagent suite of a polyamine and a sulfur-containing species to the slurry for depressing flotation of arsenide minerals, readjusting the pH of the slurry to a the preset value by the addition of reagents, adding a collector and a frother at effective dosages to the slurry to float valuable minerals to be recovered and subjecting the slurry containing the collector and frother to flotation to float and selectively recover the valuable metal while rejecting the depressed arsenide minerals.