Zinc metal is produced using extractive metallurgy. After grinding the ore, froth flotation, which selectively separates minerals from gangue by taking advantage of differences in their hydrophobicity, is used to <answer>get an ore concentrate</answer>. This concentrate consists of about 50% zinc with the rest being sulfur (32%), iron (13%), and SiO
2 (5%). The composition of this is normally zinc sulfide (80% to 85%), iron sulfide (7.0% to 12%), lead sulfide (3.0% to 5.0%) silica (2.5% to 3.5%), and cadmium sulfide (0.35% to 0.41%).
What is froth flotation used for?
get an ore concentrate