SDG 9.4

SDG 9.5

SDG 12.2

SDG 12.5

SDG 13.2

State Key Laboratory of Mineral Processing

Major Achievements

Driven by China’s strategic need for advanced mineral-resource development, CSU scientists addressed one of the most enduring global challenges in mineral processing: the efficient flotation separation of complex metal oxide ores. Their work produced two foundational advances, a surface-layer hydrophobicity framework for colloidal collectors and a precision-regulation theory for foam structure. These breakthroughs together form a multidimensional, integrated technology system that markedly enhances the beneficiation and selective separation of critical resources such as ilmenite, spodumene, and copper–cobalt oxide ores. The technologies have been deployed at scale in ten major metal-oxide mines both in China and abroad, supporting the Belt and Road Initiative and reinforcing the secure supply of raw materials essential for national defence, new-energy industries, and the electronics sector. This body of research was recognised with the Second Prize of the 2023 National Science and Technology Progress Awards.