Great progress has been made in reverse flotation of fine quartz, especially many new reagents were proved their excellent effects. However, the influences of complex flotation system on fine quartz flotation still need to be scrutinized. In this study, alkyl ether amine (Flotigam EDA-C from Clariant) was used as a collector for the flotation of quartz. It shows better collectability for the flotation of quartz at about pH 10.0 (+/- 0.2). The adsorption mechanism of EDA-C on quartz and the influence of calcium ions on the flotation of quartz were investigated by adsorption tests, zeta-potential measurements, FTIR spectra measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic and atomic force microscopy imaging. Results show that EDA-C adsorbs on the quartz surface in physical adsorption with no new products, changing its zeta potentials and increasing its hydrophobicity. Calcium ion concentration of 20 mg/L, 40 mg/L, 60 mg/L and 1 g/L can inhibit the quartz surface strongly and decrease its recovery sharply. Inhibition action of 2 g/L Ca2+ decreased, even disappeared when the collector concentration increased to 90 mg/L Calcium ions changed the chemical environment of Si atoms and Ols on the quartz surface. After positively charged CaOH+ adsorbed on quartz surface, the amount of EDA-C adsorbed on quartz surface and the recovery decreased. It was greatly inspired to explore quartz separation application from these results. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.