^aDepartment of Industrial Chemistry, Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu-630003 (INDIA)
^bCSIR-Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar-751013, Odissa (INDIA)

Low grade graphite ore containing 14-15% fixed carbon (F.C) from Tamilnadu Minerals Limited (TAMIN) have been investigated for beneficiation. It responds well to the flotation technique. The existing graphite beneficiation plant has the capacity to process 200 tons of ore per day to yield graphite concentrate with fixed carbon content of 84 to 96% purity and recovery of 80 to 88 %. The representative sample collected from the plant in 15 days duration is matching well with the feed quality of plant. The rod mill discharge sample proximate analysis of each size fraction was carried out on dry basis. Kinetic flotation study of Methyl Isobutyl Carbinol (MIBC) and ethyl alcohol 90:10 with kerosene 10:90 ratio reagent dosages gives better recovery and assay. Similarly the above reagent dosage gives rapid flotation rate. Beneficiation studies indicated that the percent recovery of final lock cycle test is 85% and fixed carbon content of floatation concentrate is 96.24%. The +72 mesh size of float concentrate is 25.2% which is meeting as per the requirement. Bench-scale flotation test shows that it is possible to obtain a maximum grade of 97% F.C, with a recovery of 89%.