Some ionic collectors Were used as an alternative to conventional non-ionic collectors to obtain clean concentrates from fine coal samples containing 46.1% ash. Mixtures of kerosene and pine oil were used as conventional reagents while commercial fatty acids were used as ionic collectors. Flotation results showed that conventional collectors could not reduce the ash content of concentrate below 21.0% whereas, ionic collectors were found significantly better at reducing the ash content down to 16%, but their yields were lower. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.