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 method of flotation concentration, which has in recent years completely revolutionized the utilization of mineral resources, has apparently not yet been applied to the separation of water-soluble salts into their components, since no literature data on this subject are available. The application of the highly efficient flotation method, even to a single case, for simplifying and shortening the lengthy and cumbersome method of fractional crystallization, would provide an impetus for further research in this area, the results of which could greatly simplify the technological process in salt separation.