The adsorptionAdsorption of collectorsCollector on mineral surface is critical for a successful flotationFlotation of copperCopper oxide minerals. In the present study, atomic force microscopy (AFMAtomic Force Microscopy (AFM)) has been applied to study the in situIn situ adsorptionAdsorption of hydroxamic collectorsHydroxamic collector, i.e., octanohydroxamic acid (OHA), on copperCopper oxide minerals, such as malachiteMalachite, in aqueous solutions. AFMAtomic Force Microscopy (AFM) images show that hydroxamic collectorsHydroxamic collector adsorb strongly on malachiteMalachite mainly in the form of insoluble copperCopper hydroxamate complex. Increasing the collectorsCollector’ concentration and the adsorptionAdsorption time both increase the adsorptionAdsorption of hydroxamic collectorsHydroxamic collector on malachiteMalachite. The test results as obtained with the attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared spectrometryFourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR) show that the collectorCollector adsorbs onto copperCopper oxide minerals, with strong absorbance spectra being detected. These results confirm those as obtained with an AFMAtomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Test results also show that a hydroxamic acid collectorCollector has a moderate collectivity for the flotationFlotation of copperCopper oxide minerals. The findings also show that AFMAtomic Force Microscopy (AFM) image analysisAnalysis is a powerful tool for the study of the collectorsCollector’ adsorptionAdsorption on copperCopper mineral surface, and therefore the flotationFlotation of copperCopper minerals.