Flotation of Low Grade Copper ore from Kallur, Raichur District, Karnataka

Copper, an important non-ferrous metal, is in great demand in India, resulting in a continuous important of large quantities. The total copper ore reserves in India(Raghunandan et. al.1981) have been estimated to be 497 million tons of which an average of 2 million tons are being processed at present. In this c ontext the deve-lopment and exploitation of new reserves assumes impor-tance in order to meet the increasing demand from inter-nal production rather than through imports of the metal. Out of 19.4 million tons of reserves of the ore in Kar-nataka, 4.5 million tons are at present commercially exploited at Ingaldhal and Kalyadi. New ore reserves have been found at Tintini, Kailur, Machanur and Aladahalli
and exploratory drilling for copper in these areas have
been started by the Department of Mines and Geology. In this paper a detailed account of the beneficiation
studies carried out on the low grade copper ore from Kallur, Raichur District, Karnataka are described for possible commercial exploitation in future.