Separation and recovery of copper, nickel, or manganese in a synthetic leach solution with two components similar to a solution from manganese nodules leached by sulphuric acid were investigated as a function of the concentration of collectors as diethyl- and dimethyl- carbamates or of pH. Copper, nickel, and manganese in each quasi-leach solution were collected over 95%. In a strong acid region, however, the recovery of nickel and manganese tends to be remarkably low. Copper and nickel or copper and manganese in the two constituent slution have to some extent a possibility to separate each other using the above mentioned collectors round pH=1. Separation of copper and manganese is better than that of copper and nickel on the basis of the separation index. The conditional stability constant of copper with diethyldithiocarbamate explains a tendency in the flotation recovery of this complex as a function of pH.

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Laboratory-scale continuous flotation machines, which have eight cells, were developed to estimate actual performance data with small amount of ores in a laboratory. These machines are designed to be self-aerating and cell-to-cell type, in order to set various kind of circuits easily using eight cells.
Continuous flotation tests with many kinds of ores were carried out and satisfactory results were obtained. Comparison with a locked cycle flotation test, a conventional method, is also described.
The agreement with the results obtained by Agitair #48 and #60, popular commercial flotation machines, in roughing, scavenging, and cleaning circuits proves the laboratory-scale continuous flotation machines to offer the reliable information.

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