The present work aimed to determine the oxidizability of lake sapropels by various oxidizing agents in connection with the very easy oxidizability of balkhashite by nitric acid, as shown in our earlier work. The investigation carried out showed the analogous behavior of the mentioned sapropel material towards these oxidizing agents, both with regard to the quantity of the oxidation products and with regard to their quality. In both cases, the substances obtained are mixtures of higher carboxylic acids and their easily stiffening derivatives. The applied significance of this work is the use of the obtained oxidation products as flotation reagents. The investigations carried out showed their high flotation power against sulfide as well as oxide ore minerals. The newly discovered properties of sapropelic material — its easy oxidizability under certain conditions with the formation of technically valuable products in large quantities — open up new possibilities for the use of these interesting compounds for the benefit of industry, since they are widely distributed and occur in many places of the Soviet Union as thick deposits of new and old geological formations.

The article sets out a reasonable hypothesis of the causes of mineral flotation. Its main principles are as follows: Insignificant flotation of "sulfide" minerals is due to the formation of halogen oxidation products on their surface, which react with collectors to form stable oriented films of the corresponding organic sulfide compounds of heavy metals, which are inseparable from the substance of the minerals. Cleavage of complete collection products from the surface is possible due to oxidation or as a result of intramolecular rearrangements, especially in the presence of excess collector. The reason for the strong floating of "oxide" minerals is the formation on their surface of unstable reaction intermediates between substances in the mineral and the collector. The effectiveness of sulfidization of oxidized minerals is due to the transformation of their surface into the corresponding hemisulfides, which are able to react with collectors. The article compares and discusses modern theories of the flotation ability of minerals.