The ores containing multiple metals, such as lead, copper and zinc, can be selectively extracted by using froth floatation. The minerals that do not float into the froth are called the flotation tailings or flotation tails. The froth flotation process was first patented by H. F. K. Pickard, E. L. Sulman and John Ballot in the year 1906.

 — The recovery of these copper minerals by flotation or hydrometallurgy from ores, typically containing 0.5%TCu (open pit mines) and 1-2%TCu (underground mines) is of great commercial...

Copper sulfide ores must be concentrated before they can be economically transported to a smelter. Froth flotation is part of a copper beneficiation process in which finely ground ore is placed in aerated tanks that contain a water-based solution from which a copper-sulfide-rich froth is recovered

Froth flotation is a selective separation process to separate valuable materials (recyclables, minerals, and other fine-size waste) from unwanted materials (gangue) using air bubbles in a general floatation tank, Jameson flotation cell, or flotation column.

 — The operation of a froth flotation column can be described by a nonlinear convection–diffusion partial differential equation that incorporates the solids–flux and drift–flux theories as well as a model of drainage.

Sulphide ores are the major sources of base metals like Copper, Lead, Zinc, Nickel and Cobalt. Beneficiation of these base metal sulphide minerals is predominantly through the froth flotation technique.

 — The significance of frothers in the context of mineral flotation is widely recognized, particularly in relation to their impact on bubble size and dispersion, coalescence inhibition, as well as the structure and stability of the froth.

Froth flotation is a highly versatile method for physically separating particles based on differences in the ability of air bubbles to selectively adhere to specific mineral surfaces in a mineral/water slurry.

 — The copper concentrate from a copper lead zinc flotation circuit. Froth flotation, as pointed out previously, was a part of the evolution of milling during the first quarter of the 20th century—a period during which the progress of milling was greater than in all of its previous history.

Copper–molybdenum ores are usually processed by froth flotation in two stages. In the first stage, both chalcopyrite and molybdenite are floated together as one concentrate under alkaline conditions using air as a flotation gas.