Abstract: Zinc oxide ores have many characteristics such as complex structure，complex the concomitant mine and similar surface properties，which makes it difficult to separation from gangue mineral. In the flotation process of zinc oxide ore，it is the difficult to separate the valuable mineral，hemimorphite and smithsonite，from calcium-bearing minerals. Therefore，it can provide a theoretical basis for its efficient flotation separation that an in-depth analysis of the surface properties of hemimorphite，smithsonite and their calcium-bearing gangue minerals and the relationship between surface properties and flotation behavior. This paper systematically introduces the research status of hemimorphite，smithsonite and their calciumbearing gangue minerals in surface features. Factors including surface key fracture，wettability，surface energy，surface potential and surface solubility on floatability the zinc oxide ore are expounded. Among them，the surface key fracture determines the active site of the mineral exposed surface；surface wettability determines the natural hydrophobicity of minerals； in the process of flotation，the collector with charge opposite to the mineral surface can easily lead to flotation by physical adsorption；the metal ions dissolved on the surface of useful minerals will activate gangue minerals，resulting in difficult flotation separation. Finally，the future research direction of the surface characteristics of zinc oxide ores are prospected in this paper.

Key words: Zinc oxide ore, Surface properties, Hemimorphite, Smithsonite, Dolomite, Calcite, Floatability, Flotation