The present paper describes both Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling and the experimental study of flow in an Outotec flotation cell using the FloatForce® mechanism. The rotor speed and the rotor bottom clearance are systematically varied to examine their effect on the flow. In all cases, two vortex recirculation zones are formed in the flotation cell for a single phase (water) flow. The effect of the rotor bottom clearance on the power draw and power number is not significant, although the power number increases slightly with a raise in the bottom clearance. The rotor clearance effect on flow intensity in the flotation cell's low region is observed, while the rotor speed has significant influence on the flow and power draw. Extensive measurements were carried out on the real life metallurgical performance of the flotation cell with different setups of the FloatForce® mechanism. Analysis includes recoveries and grades of different particle sizes for each setup. The optimum setup is ascertained and the reasons behind superior metallurgical behavior are discussed. It was revealed that 30 per cent rotor bottom clearance improved metallurgical performance, compared to 20 per cent rotor bottom clearance and that increasing rotor speed didn't improve metallurgical performance significantly. The CFD results are validated against measured data. The predicted power draw and power number are in a good agreement with experimental data. Especially excellent agreement is obtained at rotor bottom clearances of 20 per cent and 30 per cent for all rotor speeds. At a lower clearance of ten per cent, some deviation (14 - 20 per cent) is observed between predicted power draw and measured shaft power, while the predicted value is reasonably close to the measured electrical power. © (2010) by the Australasian Institute for Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).