Vol 9 Iss. 1

This work was to clarify the necessity of controlling pulp alkalinity at the Khibinogorsk processing plant. The main focus of the work was on studying the properties of the minerals and the flotation of apatite at various pulp alkalinity levels. Experiments showed that the dissolution process of apatite in the pulp proceeds very slowly and does not reach equilibrium within 60 minutes (for the coarse fraction—20 mesh). The article presents potentiometric measurements and test results. During apatite flotation, the alkalinity of the pulp significantly affects the the results of the process. High alkalinity reduces the rate of concentrate recovery, and for a given flotation duration, the recovery of apatite decreases. Increasing the consumption of oleic acid accelerates the process.

The method of flotation concentration, which has in recent years completely revolutionized the utilization of mineral resources, has apparently not yet been applied to the separation of water-soluble salts into their components, since no literature data on this subject are available. The application of the highly efficient flotation method, even to a single case, for simplifying and shortening the lengthy and cumbersome method of fractional crystallization, would provide an impetus for further research in this area, the results of which could greatly simplify the technological process in salt separation.

The possibility of powering separators of conventional designs with alternating current has been directly confirmed experimentally. When the separator operates on alternating current, the concentrate obtained is substantially purer than when the separator operates on direct current. Therefore, for a given degree of concentrate purity, an AC separator can provide significantly higher throughput. The recovery of the magnetic mineral into the concentrate is the same when the separator is powered with either direct or alternating current. The current required when powering the separator with alternating current is only slightly higher than the current required when supplying it with direct current. Therefore, the increase in energy losses in the separator winding when switching to alternating current supply is negligible.

In the work on the extraction of molybdenum from ores carried out by the Scientific Research Department of the Leningrad Mining Institute, the issue of recovering molybdenum from leaching solutions arose. Since electrolytic deposition, due to its greater operational simplicity, yields a product in the form of an oxygen compound of molybdenum that is free from other metals and distinguished by higher purity, it is of great practical interest to study the process of cathodic deposition of molybdenum hydroxide from its solutions. In the experiments described below, we experimentally studied the course of the process of electrolytic deposition of hydroxide from solutions of ammonium molybdate. The influence of various factors, such as the concentration of molybdenum in the solution, current density, temperature, and the concentration of salts of other metals, on the hydroxide deposition process was investigated. The presented results show that for satisfactory cathodic deposition of molybdenum hydroxide, a number of conditions must be observed (see the article).

Random samples of thin sections of molten rocks, which were given to us by A. V. Vvedenskii, were studied. We did not aim at a systematic study of this random, though rather extensive (about 200 thin sections) material, and in this note we limited ourselves to only some data characterizing the more common types of these "artificial rocks". The vast majority of the studied thin sections are glasses that have just begun to recrystallize with the formation of spherulites or various kinds of skeletal formations. Only in a few thin sections could one find minerals individualized in such a form that they were amenable to optical examination. Therefore, the main task of the study was the study of structures, and a considerably smaller amount of work involved the study of minerals.

The aim of our synthetic experiments was to artificially obtain individual components of stone casting in a well-individualized form and in sufficient quantity. We were to synthesize, first, those minerals that were identified by petrographers during microscopic examination of stone casting, and second, those minerals whose presence in the casting could only be assumed. The latter might be present in the form of microlites and could not be determined optically, but could be detected by X-ray diffraction studies of the stone casting. The minerals we synthesized were to be subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis in order to obtain standard Debye patterns (reference patterns) necessary for interpreting the Debye patterns of stone casting. In accordance with this task, the synthesis method chosen was the crystallization of minerals from the corresponding melts.

This note is a report of preliminary results of X-ray examination of stone casting samples. The issue of X-ray examination of stone castings is not covered in the literature, and therefore our work represents the first attempt to use X-rays in this area. Meanwhile, with the help of X-rays, a number of problems could be solved here, such as: determination of minerals in stone casting products in the fine-crystalline phase, determination of the degree of crystallization, determination of the dispersion value of particles of the crystalline phase, etc., not to mention the radiography of castings. Our work was intended to mainly determine the minerals that arise during the crystallization of diabase smelting products at different temperatures and annealing conditions. Complexes of characteristic lines for magnetite, diopside, augite and artificial enstatite were obtained.

As is known, the Debye camera serves as a device in which X-ray diffraction of finely crystalline and amorphous bodies is performed using monochromatic radiation. As a result of petrographic studies of the cast rock, the following information was obtained: a) the most important mineral components are: magnetite, olivine, plagioclase and a mineral whose composition is close to Ca₃Mg₂Si₆O₁₉, b) the main structure of the cast rock (mainly cast basalt). The results of physical and chemical research consist of a) identification of artificial mineral components of cast rock: enstatite, diopside, forsterite and acortite, their physical and chemical properties were studied under casting conditions, b) heating Endell Microscope from Leitz – reconstructed for special research work to determine high-speed and crystallizing properties of crystalline elements of cast rock.