Abstract: Clay minerals mainly include kaolinite， pyrophyllite， montmorillonite， chlorite， talc and other layered aluminosilicate minerals. These minerals usually have low hardness and are easy to float and slime in the process of grinding and flotation， which worsens the flotation environment of target minerals. The development and application of new high-efficiency selective inhibitors of clay minerals are the key technologies for stable and effective separation of high clay content minerals. Aiming at the flotation separation of a high clay pyrite in Southwest， based on the structure and properties of clay minerals， a special depressant for aluminosilicate gangue and "sequential regulation of the action of collector inhibitors and enhanced selective suppression" floating sulfur process were developed. Conditional test results showed that when the content of -0.045 mm in the ore is 91.16% and the amount of inhibitor EMY-01 is 900 g/t， good test results could be obtained. The closed-circuit test results based on the conditional test showed that EMY-01 as an inhibitor could obtain sulfur concentrate with sulfur grade of 50.16% and sulfur recovery rate of 97.12%. The results showed that the use of EMY-01 as an inhibitor could realize the effective development and utilization of high clay content sulfide ores.

Key words: clay minerals, easy floating and easy sliming, selective depressant, EMY-01