Abstract: This paper presents the characteristics of molybdenum and the development status of the copper-molybdenum separation technology and also explores the best process condition for the copper-molybdenum separation.The results show that the low recovery problem of molybdenum minerals separation could be resolved when thioglycolic acid was chosen as the separation inhibitors to suppress copper floating molybdenum.The concentration of Mo in the molybdenum could be above 50% steadily,and the recovery of Mo from Cu-Mo separation could be increased to 85% with the optimum conditions after several cleanings.

Key words: Copper-molybdenum separation, Molybdenite, Inhibitor