Replenishment of raw material reserves of non-ferrous metallurgy mainly by ores of complex composition, which are characterized by a fine mutual germination of minerals, and simultaneously increasing requirements for the full use of all valuable components of these ores urgently require the creation of new, more advanced technological schemes of their processing.

Hydroxamic acids were recommended to be widely used as reagents for quantitative and qualitative analysis of metals, their extraction isolation, as well as as collectors in the processes of flotation enrichment of ores of rare and non-ferrous metals. Due to the simple technology of synthesis of alkylhydroxamic acids using aqueous solutions of hydroxylamine sulfate, the IM-50 reagent consisting of hydroxamic acids of the C₇—C₉ fraction or their sodium salts was used in processing plants of the USSR. The study of the effect of hydroxamic acids during flotation has shown that their interaction with iron ions located in the pulp volume and on the surface of minerals has a significant and sometimes decisive effect on the results of enrichment.

Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is a highly effective high molecular weight flotation suppressor. The features of the depressing and coagulating effect on flotation silicates ensured the use of CMC in all copper-nickel processing plants in the North-West of the USSR.