Mechanical High‑Intensity Conditioning (HIC)
in Flotation Pre‑Treatment

One of the most persistent challenges in mineral flotation processes is the poor recovery of fine particles, which have limited ability to attach to bubbles due to surface characteristics, low inertia, and weak hydrodynamic interactions within the flotation pulp. These limitations reduce collision and adhesion probabilities, leading to losses of valuable minerals in fine fractions. High‑Intensity Conditioning (HIC) has increasingly been recognized as an effective pretreatment to address poor fine‑particle recovery in flotation. Recent literature demonstrates that mechanical HIC systems, through high‑shear mixing, can substantially enhance reagent dispersion, surface activation, and bubble–particle interactions. Studies collectively indicate that these effects improve mineral selectivity and recovery while decreasing chemical consumption. Despite these promising outcomes, there is still no comprehensive or unified understanding of the fundamental concept and mechanisms occurring within high‑intensity conditioning tanks. This review therefore aims to establish a clearer definition of HIC and to systematically summarize the physical and chemical mechanisms involved in such conditioning systems. It critically examines recent laboratory and industrial advancements in mechanical HIC systems, focusing on the hydrodynamic design and operation of mixing tanks under intensive shear regimes, reviewing key experimental findings and assessing the potential of HIC as a scalable, high‑efficiency pretreatment for enhancing flotation performance in mineral processing and highlighting directions for future research.