Recent trends in flotation technology are briefly reviewed. These show that considerable development has been made as the operators, suppliers and technologists have responded to the challenges of the industry. Most of these advances have been based on empirical and phenomenological methods.
There is a considerable opportunity to make further advances through a more fundamental, scientific approach. Some of this work is discussed and, although progress is being made on this front, industrial uptake has been somewhat slow.
A number of specific issues facing the industry are discussed.