Science and Production Association "RIVS" JSC, Saint Petersburg, Russia:

Zimin A. V., Chief Executive Officer, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, e-mail: rivs@rivs.ru

Arustamyan M. A., Chief Operating Officer, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

Soloveva L. M., Head of the Technological Department

Ural office of Science and Production Association "RIVS" JSC, Uchaly, Russia:

Kalinin E. P., Executive Officer

Nemchinova L. A., Head of the Research Laboratory

The working practice of the Science and Production Association "RIVS" of the development and improvement of the technological flotation concentration schemes of pyrite copper and copper-zinc ores allows authors to propose the classification system of the substantial composition of ores and appropriate technological decisions. This classification system allows to unify the certain processed ores in the following technological groups:
1. Copper-zinc ores, which copper minerals are generally presented by chalcopyrite (content of the secondary copper minerals is to 10%). The peculiarity of these ores is the relative growth of copper and zinc minerals with the pyrite and less close growth of copper and zinc minerals with each other.
The subgroups of this group are:
• the ores, which are characterized by the prevalence of the zinc content under the copper content (the content ratio to 2,5:1);
• the ores, which are characterized by the prevalence of the copper content under the zinc content (the content ratio from 2,5:1 to 3:1 (3:0,5)).
2. Copper-zinc ores, which copper minerals are presented in equal shares by chalcopyrite and gray copper ores, characterized by more thin relative growth of copper minerals (chalcopyrite, tennantite) with zinc minerals and pyrite.
3. Copper-zinc ores, which copper minerals are presented by secondary minerals on 50% with the pyrite containing by more than 70%.
4. Copper-zinc ores, which contain more than 30% of pyrrhotite, except pyrite.
For the purpose of the prevention of slime formation of copper minerals and increasing their extraction for all copper and copper- zinc ores, there is recommended, as a rule, the obtaining cycle of copper "heads", which can consist of the phased obtaining of 2 or 3 copper "heads".
The developed technological flotation schemes of pyrite copper and copper-zinc ores went through the successful industrial testings on the following processing plants: Uchalinsk, Sibay, Nikolaevsk, Belousovsk, Khaybullinsk and Gai.