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Date submitted2023-09-08
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Date accepted2024-06-03
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Date published2024-12-25
Modern approaches to barium ore benefication
Barite is one of the critically important minerals in several industries, including the fuel and energy, nuclear, and medical sectors. For decades, its extraction did not require any complex techniques; however, with the depletion of rich barite-bearing veins around the world, the circumstances have changed. While the demand for barite is growing widely, it is necessary to optimize and improve the existing methods for benefication of barite and barite-containing ores, and create new approaches to extracting this mineral, as well as develop technogenic barite deposits accumulated in large quantities during the previous ore production. Dumps and tailings often demonstrate high barite content, while new mining technologies make its extraction cost-efficient. Russian and foreign papers of the last 14 years provide data on the current state of primary and technogenic deposits, areas of barite use and the approaches employed for its benefication. Considering the expansion of the range of barite applications, the growing need for the mineral in the oil and gas industry and the difficulties in developing new barite deposits in Russia, the importance of new approaches to the enrichment of ore tailings in polymetallic deposits is revealed.
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Date submitted2024-05-02
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Date accepted2024-06-03
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Date published2024-07-04
Iron ore tailings as a raw material for Fe-Al coagulant production
The paper presents the results of experimental research into the recovery of Fe-Al coagulant from iron ore tailings (IOTs). The variables investigated in the laboratory tests included sulphuric acid concentration, temperature, leaching time, solid/liquid phase ratio (S:L) and the presence of stirring. The experiment determined the composition of the coagulant and the solid residue after leaching. The maximum iron content in the solution after leaching was obtained using 40 % H2SO4 at a temperature of 100 °C (or with stirring at 75 °C) and a contact time of 60 minutes. In this case, the iron yield was at the level of 25 % of the total content in the iron ore tailings. Chemical analysis of the solution obtained after leaching showed Fe and Al sulphate contents of 11 and 2 % respectively. In the next step, the efficiency of the coagulant was evaluated on model solutions of colour. The experimental results showed that the coagulant obtained from the iron ore tailings can be used for wastewater treatment in a wide pH range from 4 to 12 pH units. The solid residue after leaching is a fine-grained powder rich in silica, which can potentially be used as an artificial raw material in the construction industry. The research carried out in this thesis has shown that the extraction of coagulants from iron ore tailings can be considered as a way to extend the production chain of iron ore mining and to minimise the amount of tailings to be stored in tailing ponds. The technical solution presented in this work allows to comprehensively solve the problem of environmental protection by creating new target products for wastewater treatment from IOTs.
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Date submitted2022-05-20
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Date accepted2023-04-03
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Date published2024-02-29
Impact of carbon dioxide on the main geotechnical quality criteria and preparation cost of cemented paste backfill
There is a global upsurge in the use of cemented paste backfill (CPB) for various mining functions. However, the cost of the Portland cement binder is prohibitive, thus warranting strategies to reduce cement usage without overly diminishing the CPB quality. Since carbon dioxide is used for patented sand moulding processes, this study is premised on that physicochemical ability of CO2 to enhance the curing of consolidated inorganic materials. It evaluated the impact of carbon dioxide on the uniaxial compressive strength UCS and preparation cost of CPB standard samples (ASTM C109). The preparation cost was delimited to the purchase cost of the Portland cement. The backfill material was silica sand tailings with 4.5 wt.% Portland cement binder and a water-cement ratio of 7.6. Distilled water of pH 5.4 was used for the control samples while variable amounts of carbon dioxide were dissolved in distilled water to generate carbonated mixing water with pH values of 3.8; 4 and 4.2. The lower the carbonated water pH, the higher is the CO2 concentration. UCS tests were conducted on the samples after curing for 3, 7, 28, and 90 days. There was an observable increase in the UCSs and reduction in curing time with increasing carbon dioxide. Samples prepared with carbonated water of pH 3.8 had almost double the strength of those prepared with pure distilled water of pH 5.4, implying that more dissolved CO2 corresponds to higher CPB strength. This is supported by the trendline equations for the graphical simulation of strength on curing time. Thus, CPB with much less binder can be expected to attain the requisite UCS if carbon dioxide is incorporated. The average reduction in Portland cement consumption was 0.61 %, which translates to a cost saving of the same percentage points. If calculated over the operational life of a mine, this is a massive saving of millions of dollars.
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Date submitted2022-11-02
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Date accepted2023-03-02
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Date published2023-04-25
Environmental damage from the storage of sulfide ore tailings
The mining industry is one of the most challenging in ensuring environmental safety. During the last century, the Karabash Copper Smelting Plant was processing sulfide ores and depositing the tailings into storage facilities that now occupy an area of more than 50 hectares. To date, abandoned tailings are a significant source of natural water, air, and soil pollution in the Karabash city district. The article comprehensively examines the environmental impact of the Karabashmed copper smelter, one of the oldest metallurgical enterprises in Russia. The effects of seepage from the two Karabashmed tailings facilities on water resources were assessed. We revealed that even outside the area of the direct impact of processing waste, the pH of natural water decreases to values 4-5. Further downstream, the infiltration water from the tailings pond No. 4 reduces the pH of river water to 3.0-3.5. The presented results of environmental engineering surveys are derived from sampling water and bottom sediments of the Ryzhiy Stream and the Sak-Elga River, sample preparation, and quantitative chemical analysis. The study revealed significant exceedances of the maximum permissible concentrations for a number of chemical elements in the impact zone of the copper ore processing tailings.
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Date submitted2021-12-15
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Date accepted2022-09-12
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Date published2023-08-28
Substantiation and selection of the design parameters of the hydroficated equipment complex for obtaining backfill mixtures from current enrichment tailings
The issue of the influence of the concentration of the solid phase on the reduction of energy costs and specific energy consumption during pulp transportation is considered. The procedure for preparing slurry from the current enrichment tailings is shown. A scheme is given and the operation of a hydroficated unit for thickening and hydraulic transport of backfill mixtures is described. A diagram of the movement of solid particles in one of the units of the complex – a lamellar thickener is shown. The summary table shows the main design parameters and characteristics of the lamellar thickener. A general view of the laboratory setup used for experimental studies with slurry at various concentrations is given. An example of calculating productivity, density and specific load is presented. The dependence of the shear stress on the velocity gradient was determined for various pulp concentrations. Experimental studies of the process of thickening the production of slurry from the current enrichment tailings have been carried out. It was found that the geometric dimensions of the thickener depend on the concentration of the solid phase in the transported mixture. It is concluded that the flow rate of the slurry and the head loss are functions of the rheological characteristics of the viscoplastic slurry and can be calculated from the derived calculated dependencies.
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Date submitted2022-09-30
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Date accepted2023-02-13
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Date published2023-04-25
Hydrogeoecological conditions of technogenic groundwater in waste disposal sites
The specific hydrogeoecological conditions of aquifers of some technogenic formations, mainly iron ore skarn-magnetite and titanium-magnetite formations, are considered. The resulting wastes, which are stored in waste disposal sites during development of deposits, due to the impact of a number of factors (natural and technogenic) form technogenic waters. Waste disposal facilities are complex engineering structures (dumps and sludge storages), which in turn create their own hydrogeoecological conditions, which must be investigated in order to prevent and minimize environmental and economic damage caused by these objects to the aquatic environment. The paper presents long-term field and laboratory studies of the aquatic environment under the influence of a waste disposal facility in the Middle Urals – one of the largest tailings, representing a potential environmental and man-made hazard. This tailing dump contains tens of tons of waste – enrichment tailings and creates specific hydrogeoecological conditions on the territory. Based on many years of monitoring studies, an analysis of these conditions was carried out – the quality of groundwater affected by the tailings was assessed. It is shown that groundwater is of technogenic nature, i.e. are man-made waters that have a significant impact on the surface and underground hydrospheres of the territory.
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Date submitted2022-06-27
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Date accepted2022-09-09
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Date published2022-11-03
Study of the composition and properties of the beneficiation tailings of currently produced loparite ores
The increase in demand for rare earth metals and the depletion of natural resources inevitably causes the need to search for alternative unconventional sources of rare metal raw materials. The article presents the results of a study of the composition and properties of the beneficiation tailings of currently produced loparite ores. Sieve, mineralogical, chemical, and radionuclide analyses were carried out. The average content of loparite in tailings was determined. Using scanning electron microscopy, minerals-concentrators of rare earth elements in the loparite ore beneficiation tailings were diagnosed. The distribution of valuable components and thorium in the tailings was determined depending on the particle size class. The radium-thorium nature of radioactivity was established, the values of the effective specific activity of the samples were calculated. We concluded that it is necessary to develop an integrated technology for processing the beneficiation tailings of loparite ore, due to the complex and heterogeneous mineral and chemical composition of the tailings material.
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Date submitted2020-07-29
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Date accepted2021-03-30
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Date published2021-06-24
Model of baddeleyite recovery from dump products of an apatite-baddeleyite processing plant using a CVD6 concentrator
The paper is devoted to developing a model of baddeleyite recovery from dump products of an apatite-baddeleyite processing plant using centrifugal concentrators. The relevance of the work arises from the acquisition of new knowledge on the optimization of technological parameters of centrifugal concentrators using Knelson CVD (continuous variable discharge) technology – in particular, setting the frequency of valve opening and the duration of valves remaining open. The purpose of the research was to assess the applicability of CVD technology in the treatment of various dump products of the processing plant and to build a model of dependencies between the concentrate and tailings yields and the adjustable parameters, which will allow to perform preliminary calculations of the efficiency of implementing this technology at processing plants. The research objects are middling and main separation tailings of the coarse-grained stream and combined product of main and recleaner separation tailings of the fine-grained stream. The study uses general methods of mathematical statistics: methods of regression analysis, aimed at building statistically significant models, describing dependence of a particular variable on a set of regressors; group method of data handling, the main idea of which is to build a set of models of a given class and choose the optimal one among them. Authors proposed an algorithm for processing experiment results based on classical regression analysis and formulated an original criterion for model selection. Models of dependencies between the concentrate and tailings yields and the adjustable parameters were built, which allowed to establish a relationship between the concentrate yield and the valve opening time, as well as a relationship between the tailings yield and the G-force of the installation.
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Date submitted2019-06-06
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Date accepted2019-08-09
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Date published2020-04-24
Studies of enrichment of sulfide and oxidized ores of gold deposits of the Aldan shield
The paper presents the analysis of studies of the enrichment of sulfide and oxidized ores in Yakutia deposits. The ore of the deposit is a mixture of primary, mixed and oxidized ores. The main useful component of the studied ore samples is gold with a content of 1.5 to 2.8 g/t, the silver content is low – 5-17 g/t. Ore minerals are represented by sulfides, among which pyrite predominates. The total sulfide content does not exceed 3-5 %. The presence in the ore of free and associated gold with a grain size from fractions of a micron to 1.5 mm. Gold is represented by nuggets in intergrowth with sulfides and also forms independent inclusions. Ores are classified as easily cyanidable. It was found that the content of amalgamable gold is 10-49, the share of cyanidable gold ranges from 66.67-91, the share of refractory gold is 9.0-33.33 %, which in absolute amount equals to 0.24-0.8 g/t. The extraction of gold in gravitation concentrate varies depending on the gold content in the ore and the yield of concentrate and for ores with a gold content of 1.5-2.8 g/t from 40 to 60 %. The direct cyanidation of all studied ore samples established the possibility of extracting gold into solution up to 86.7-92.9 %, the gold content in cyanidation cakes is 0.2-0.3 g/t. Investigations of the gravitation concentrate by the method of intensive cyanidation showed that with an initial gold content of ~ 500 g/t, up to 98.9 % is extracted into the solution. The gold content in intensive cyanide cakes will be 6-15 g/t. A set of studies carried out by the authors of the article at various institutes showed that it is advisable to process ore from the deposit using cyanidation technology with preliminary gravitational extraction of gold.
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Date submitted2018-05-07
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Date accepted2018-07-06
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Date published2018-10-24
Hydraulic transportation of thickened tailings of iron ore processing at Kachkanarsky GOK based on results of laboratory and pilot tests of hydrotransport system
- Authors:
- V. I. Aleksandrov
- M. A. Vasileva
The object of study is the system of hydrotransport of iron ore processing tailings at JSC «EVRAZ Kachkanarsky GOK». The aim of the work was to determine the parameters of the hydraulic transport of tailings of the iron ore enrichment at weight concentrations of the solid phase from 30 to 70 % and to develop recommendations for the industrial operation of hydraulic transport systems of highly concentrated slurries of the Tailing Facilities of the Kachkanarsky GOK. Laboratory studies of the parameters of hydrotransport of thickened tail pulps were carried out with the development of a calculation method; pilot tests of the hydrotransport system under the conditions of the Tailing Facilities of the Kachkanarsky GOK. It has been established that using polyurethane coatings on the inner surface of the slurry lines significantly (1.75 times) decrease the specific pressure loss on the hydrotransport of thickened fluids. This allows to significantly increase the range of transportation for placing tailings in the distant parts of the storage zone. The introduction of research results is in the project of reconstruction and development of the tailing facility of the TF of the Kachkanarsky GOK for the period 2018-2020. It is proposed to use the results of work in the project of reconstruction of the hydraulic transport system at the TF of the Kachkanarsky GOK by switching to the hydraulic transport of slurries thickened to weight concentrations of 35-40 % in the slurry pipes with an internal polyurethane coating, which will ensure energy saving in the hydraulic transport process.