Figure 4 - Overall recovery of the main rare earth elements (REEs) obtained under different depressant conditions. 4. CONCLUSION The depressant dosages applied in this study were insufficient to achieve effective gangue rejection, highlighting the need for dosage optimization in future work. Sodium alginate showed potential as a gangue depressant, particularly for magnesium- and barium-bearing phases, contributing to improved selectivity. In contrast, quinic acid provided the highest REE recoveries, although with limited gangue suppression. Overall, the findings demonstrate that depressant selection and dosage play a critical role in balancing REE recovery and the concentrate quality in the flotation of Fen Deposit ores. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by: a) the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Program through the project REESOURCE Project under Grant Agreement number 101138460, b) UID/04028 - Research Center for Natural Resources and Environment – CERENA - funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P./ MCTES through the national funds. REFERENCES Akyildiz, E., Silva, C. M., Tobiczyk, K., Lode, S., Aasly, K., & Kowalczuk, P. B. (2026). Flotation response of parisite, monazite, bastnäsite and synchysite from a carbonatite deposit. Powder Technology, 471, 122112. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.POWTEC.2025.122112 Dong, L., Jiao, F., Qin, W., & Wei, Q. (2021). New insights into the depressive mechanism of citric acid in the selective flotation of scheelite from fluorite. Minerals Engineering, 171, 107117. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MINENG.2021.107117 Guo, C., Hou, S., Wang, W., & Li, Q. (2024). Effect of an Environment-Friendly Depressant on the Flotation of Bastnaesite and Fluorite. Minerals 2024, Vol. 14, Page 165, 14(2), 165. https://doi.org/10.3390/MIN14020165
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