This paper investigates the detrimental effect of lizardite surface characteristics on pentlandite flotation. To reduce the effect, two different starch graft copolymers, starch-graft-polyacrylamide (S-g-PAM) and starch-graft-polyacrylic acid (S-g-PAA) were synthesized as depressants for lizardite. The flotation results show that at pH value of 8, where the flotation of lizardite and pentlandite are routinely performed, S-g-PAM and S-g-PAA improve pentlandite recovery efficiently, compared with the traditional depressant carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). Experimental results demonstrate that S-g-PAM and S-g-PAA disperse the hydrophilic lizardite particles from the pentlandite surface and also flocculate lizardite particles. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.