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Concentrating
Using large grinding mills, ore is further crushed and ground to the consistency of beach sand. Because nature creates copper in low densities (typically less than 1 percent grade), copper levels must be increased or "concentrated" to be recovered economically. This is accomplished by the next step, called flotation. Finely ground ore is mixed with water and reagents creating a slurry. When agitated and injected with air, froth is created in the slurry and the copper is liberated or "floated" away from the host rock. The product of this process is dry, gray powder called copper concentrate, which contains about 30 percent copper.
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