Reactive oily bubble, defined as air bubbles covered with a thin layer of kerosene containing collectors, was used to float a major rare earth mineral, bastnaesite from rare earth ores. Both fatty acid and hydroxamic acid were used to generate reactive oily bubbles. The flotation of bastnaesite with reactive oily bubble was investigated by zeta potential, zeta potential distribution and induction time measurement and micro-flotation tests. The results showed a quicker attachment to bastnaesite and a stronger collecting power of reactive oily bubbles containing 100 ppm fatty acid than conventional air bubbles, resulting in an enhanced bastnaesite recovery. The flotation recovery of bastnaesite by reactive oily bubbles containing hydroxamic acid is lower than that by conventional air bubble flotation where the bastnaesite was pre-conditioned by hydroxamic acid in aqueous phase. During induction time measurement, no attachment is observed between bastnaesite particles and reactive oily bubbles containing hydroxamic acid, illustrating the importance of collector type in reactive oily bubble flotation technology. These findings suggest the superior performance of reactive oily bubble technique than conventional bastnaesite flotation method only when proper collector is used to generate the reactive oily bubbles. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.