The UG2 reef of the Bushveld Igneous Complex in South Africa is a valuable source of platinum group metals (PGMs) that is beneficiated by flotation. Chromite is one of the main gangue constituents of UG2 ore and it is essential that the amount of chromite reporting to the concentrate during flotation be minimised since it is detrimental to the subsequent smelting operations. It is generally considered that chromite is naturally hydrophilic and only reports to the concentrate by entrainment. However, it is possible that, under certain conditions, the chromite can be activated by the typical reagent suite used in the flotation of UG2 ore, rendering it hydrophobic and amenable to true flotation. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of copper sulphate and the collectors, sodium isobutyl xanthate and dithiophosphate on the flotability of chromite in a microflotation cell. The effect of copper sulphate on the zeta potential of chromite was also determined. It was found that collectors alone have an insignificant effect on the flotation of chromite whereas, in the presence of copper sulphate recoveries of above 60% were observed in mildly acid to mildly alkaline solutions decreasing to 20% at a pH value of 10. The extent of activation depended on the copper sulphate dosage. Zeta potential measurements showed that, above pH 4 copper species were adsorbed on the chromite and between pH 5 and 9 the adsorption bead to charge reversal of the chromite particles to positive values. The speciation programme, MINTEQA2, was used to predict the copper species present over the pH range used. It was postulated that the activation is due to the adsorption of copper hydroxide species at the chromite surface, which then act as sites for collector adsorption.