Effect of 2-aminothiophenol on the separation of jamesonite and marmatite

Abstract The minerals jamesonite and marmatite have similar surface properties. Separating them using a flotation method is inefficient. For separation of lead and zinc the lead mineral is generally floated preferentially to the zinc mineral, which appears in the sinks. In this study a new of collector, 2-aminothiophenol, is introduced that can float a zinc mineral, as a product entrapped in foam, preferentially. Single mineral flotation tests revealed that 2-aminothiophenol has good selectivity for flotation of marmatite. An artificial mixture of minerals used in a flotation test showed that 2-aminothiophenol can effectively separate marmatite from jamesonite. A product assaying at 45.06% Zn and 4.06% Pb was produced. FTIR spectra were employed to probe the adsorption mechanism of 2-aminothiophenol onto marmatite. The results indicate that adsorption of 2-aminothiophenol onto jamesonite and marmatite were, respectively, physical adsorption and chemical adsorption. This agrees with the flotation results.