Slurry is fed into the flotation column through an upper feed pipe, where it flows evenly into the column. Compressed air is introduced through an air injection chamber at the bottom of the column via a vertical air pipe, creating a large number of fine bubbles that are evenly distributed across the column's cross-section. The slurry descends slowly under the influence of gravity, while the bubbles rise upward, continuously interacting with the valuable minerals in the slurry. Under the influence of flotation reagents, the target minerals adhere to the surface of the rising bubbles, forming a mineralized froth layer at the top of the column. This froth is scraped or naturally overflows into the concentrate launder, while the remaining minerals (usually gangue or non-valuable minerals) are discharged from the tailings pipe at the conical bottom of the column.