In this study, the bubble–particle attachment and mineral liberation
measurements were used to relate the degree of liberation of
Cu minerals with attachment time. The results demonstrated that
the presence of highly and moderately liberated Cu minerals
resulted in a decreased attachment time. This work showed that
a non-linear correlation between the attachment time and Cu
grade exists which may be used to predict the concentrate Cu
grade. This work should contribute to a better understanding of
bubble–particle attachment mechanism occurring during flotation
of copper-sulphide ores. This relationship may be used in the
future to develop a practical method (without assays) to monitor
changing grade for a specified system (flotation plant). It also
may be possible to develop a method to infer potential grade if
mineralogy samples are available, but not enough samples are
available for conventional flotation tests. This requires a significant
amount of further work.