Flotation of coal and sulphur from a typical South African ultrafine colliery waste has been achieved in laboratory-scale batch flotation tests, using dodecane, kerosene, and oleic acid as coal collectors, and xanthates to float the sulphide minerals (with the aid of dextrin as a coal depressant). The use of oleic acid as collector, in conjunction with MIBC frother, produced a coal yield of 56 per cent (much more than was obtained with dodecane or kerosene) at an ash content of 18 per cent, from a feed ash of 34.4 per cent; and a low-sulphur tailings. Sulphide flotation using potassium xanthate (PAX) recovered 26.3 per cent of the total sulphur in the concentrate. Staged addition of xanthate increased the total sulphur recovery to 42.1 per cent and reduced the sulphur content of the tailing further. © The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2013.