Say goodbye to heavy, impurity-laden foam—and hello to higher concentrate grades.

When processing high-muddy or complex copper-gold ores, many plants struggle with frothers that produce thick, persistent foam. This “heavy” froth not only carries more gangue into the concentrate but also creates downstream filtration problems and makes the entire flotation circuit harder to control.

Y&X’s Flometal Q61 frother offers a smarter solution.

Case Study at a Glance

The Challenge: Thick Foam, Lower Grade, Higher Costs

The Chinese ore dressing plant was processing molybdenum-bearing ore using MIBC as the frother. While MIBC is a widely used industrial frother, the plant faced persistent operational issues:

• Heavy, persistent foam that was difficult to control
• Higher gangue entrainment, which diluted concentrate grade
• Filtration bottlenecks caused by slow-breaking froth
• Limited recovery improvement, even with optimized collector dosages

The plant needed a frother that could deliver cleaner foam, better selectivity, and stronger synergy with the collector—without increasing reagent costs.

The Solution: Flometal Q61 Frother

After a thorough evaluation, the plant replaced MIBC with Flometal Q61 frother.

Flometal Q61 is a high-performance frother designed for complex sulfide and gold flotation circuits. It offers:

• High Selectivity
  Minimizes gangue entrainment, protecting concentrate quality and reducing impurities.
• Strong Synergistic Effect with Collectors
  Creates an excellent collecting environment, helping collectors achieve maximum recovery of target minerals.
• Operation-Friendly Foam
  Produces brittle, quick-breaking foam that reduces the burden on subsequent filtration and thickener circuits.
• Fast Foaming and Optimal Bubble Size
  Generates a uniform bubble size distribution with suitable toughness and low viscosity—ideal for high-muddy, fine-grained ores.
• Reliable Performance
  Less affected by pulp pH, unavoidable ions, and other flotation reagents. It has no collecting action of its own and does not interfere with collector selectivity.

The Results: Higher Recovery, Higher Grade, Easier Operation

The plant’s industrial trial delivered clear, measurable improvements:

The plant not only achieved higher molybdenum recovery and grade but also improved the stability of the entire flotation circuit. Operators reported that the foam was much easier to handle, and downstream filtration no longer suffered from thick, sticky froth.

Why Flometal Q61 Works

Flometal Q61 is specifically engineered for challenging flotation conditions:

• Selective frothing – promotes valuable mineral flotation while limiting gangue recovery
• Collector synergy – enhances the performance of primary collectors without interfering with selectivity
• Brittle, quick-breaking foam – reduces entrainment and improves concentrate grade
• Stable performance – works effectively across a range of pH values and pulp chemistries
• Safe and convenient – non-toxic, odorless, non-corrosive, with good fluidity and water solubility
• Proven replacement – can directly replace MIBC and other international premium frothers

Customer Benefits

By switching to Flometal Q61, the plant achieved:

• Higher molybdenum recovery – over 3% improvement
• Higher concentrate grade – over 2% improvement
• Cleaner concentrate – less gangue entrainment
• Lower filtration burden – faster dewatering and easier handling
• Stable operation – fewer process upsets and better control
• Cost-neutral or cost-saving – better performance without higher reagent costs