In a sad twist you inherit “only” a copper mine while your siblings inherit gold and diamond mines. On inspection you come to know that your copper mine is fully equipped to extract the metal from the ore and also that it consists only of Chalcopyrite. Finely powdered, pulverized ore is ready to be processed. What would be your next step?
Concentration using froth floatation
Once powdered ore is available, the next step is to increase the concentration of the metal (to be extracted) by means of – yes - concentration. Since CuFeS2 (chalcopyrite) is a sulphide ore we should subject the ore to froth floatation.