Apatite-nepheline Ores Research Articles

СНИЖЕНИЕ ТРАНСПОРТНЫХ РАСХОДОВ КОМБИНИРОВАННЫХ ПЕРЕВОЗОК ГРУЗОВ В ВАГОНАХ И КОНТЕЙНЕРАХ В АРКТИЧЕСКИХ РЕГИОНАХ РОССИИ

The economy of the Murmansk region retains its raw material orientation, as it is justified by the region’s natural resources and industrial potential. Economic activity of mineral-resource enterprises and those mining ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals is going to remain the dominant sector of the regional economy for a long time due to the geological and economic characteristics and natural and climatic features peculiar to this area. The region is endowed with various natural resources. On the Kola Peninsula there are more than sixty major deposits of various types of mineral raw materials with more than three dozen extractable resources, the most valuable of which include copper-nickel, iron, apatite-nepheline ores and ores of rare metals. Production management and transportation of raw materials require well-developed infrastructure, creating an integrated transport system, that is why it plays a strategic role in the economy of the Murmansk region. It is connected with the fact that the region is predominated by industries focused on producing and delivering considerable volumes of raw materials and metals outside the region. In these circumstances, every enterprise plans and arranges transportation of cargo by various means of transport. Railway transportation plays a significant role as it provides round-the-clock cargo transportation from senders to recipients fulfilling clients transportation requests regardless of weather conditions.Therefore, the important scientific task is analyzing the cargo base and finding solutions for improving the existing and creating new designs of wagons and containers for railroad transportation of cargo, taking into account spatial directions of cargo flows, which is the purpose of this article. The authors have proposed options for modernization of wagons and designs of composite containers that possess scientific novelty, as the current state of the railroad transport system requires modernization.It is impossible to achieve effective economic performance of an enterprise that works in the sphere of mining and processing of mineral raw materials without creating a proper transport component that requires its own development. The implementation of the given proposals will allow the enterprises to increase the volume of cargo transportation which in its turn is going to have a significant impact on socio-economic development of the region.

Energy and Resource Efficiency in Apatite-Nepheline Ore Waste Processing Using the Digital Twin Approach

The paper presents a structure of the digital environment as an integral part of the “digital twin” technology, and stipulates the research to be carried out towards an energy and recourse efficiency technology assessment of phosphorus production from apatite-nepheline ore waste. The problem with their processing is acute in the regions of the Russian Arctic shelf, where a large number of mining and processing plants are concentrated; therefore, the study and creation of energy-efficient systems for ore waste disposal is an urgent scientific problem. The subject of the study is the infoware for monitoring phosphorus production. The applied study methods are based on systems theory and system analysis, technical cybernetics, machine learning technologies as well as numerical experiments. The usage of “digital twin” elements to increase the energy and resource efficiency of phosphorus production is determined by the desire to minimize the costs of production modernization by introducing advanced algorithms and computer architectures. The algorithmic part of the proposed tools for energy and resource efficiency optimization is based on the deep neural network apparatus and a previously developed mathematical description of the thermophysical, thermodynamic, chemical, and hydrodynamic processes occurring in the phosphorus production system. The ensemble application of deep neural networks allows for multichannel control over the phosphorus technology process and the implementation of continuous additional training for the networks during the technological system operation, creating a high-precision digital copy, which is used to determine control actions and optimize energy and resource consumption. Algorithmic and software elements are developed for the digital environment, and the results of simulation experiments are presented. The main contribution of the conducted research consists of the proposed structure for technological information processing to optimize the phosphorus production system according to the criteria of energy and resource efficiency, as well as the developed software that implements the optimization parameters of this system.

Hybrid Composites Based on Silica and Titanium(IV) Phosphate for Sorbents

Using a titania–silica precursor with the composition SiO2 ∙ TiO2 ∙ хH2O, isolated via hydrochloric acid treatment of a process waste from the dressing of apatite–nepheline ore, we have prepared a hybrid composite containing silica as a matrix for an α-Ti(HPO4)2 ∙ H2O functional filler (STP). The key step of the synthesis process is a solution-phase reaction of the precursor with phosphoric acid. Our results demonstrate that a preferable sequence of steps begins with the mechanical activation of the components of the precursor, with their phase transformations. Using a combination of subsequent heat treatment with phosphoric acid with different concentrations under atmospheric conditions and in an autoclave, we have found conditions for chemical reactions that change the composition and structure of the final product and, accordingly, its sorption activity for cesium and strontium cations. The synthesized hybrid inorganic material can be effectively used to remove radionuclides and heavy nonferrous metal cations from liquid discharges. The proposed technology significantly surpasses known processes in economic and environmental characteristics.

Correlation between the material constitution components in apatite-nepheline ores of the Khybiny Rock Massif (the Kola Peninsula)

Raw apatite-nepheline ores of the Khibiny alkaline massif are similar in terms of the set of ore-forming minerals and differ in their quantitative ratio. A special place among apatite-nepheline ores is occupied by ores of tectonically destroyed zones, which are widespread in the Khibiny apatite-nepheline deposits. Destruction zone ores are product of secondary changes in raw ores and are characterized by the presence of finely dispersed secondary minerals represented by hydrated micas, zeolites and clay minerals. In the aquatic environment they form colloidal sediments with active surface properties. This fact, as well as thin films of clay and other minerals formed on the surface of apatite grains, cause a decrease in the degree of hydrophobicity of fluorapatite and deterioration of the selectivity of apatite flotation. According to the analytical determinations of the chemical components of the ores and their mineralogical composition, a correlation-regression analysis of the ratio of the components of the material composition of the ores has been performed. The results of correlation-regression analysis have shown that the presence of hypergenically changed ores related to difficult-to-treat ones can be identified by lower ratios of sodium and potassium oxides, as well as sodium and aluminum relative to their average. The presence of products of nepheline change in all ores processed has allowed revealing the most stable correlation between nepheline and sodium oxide, rather than aluminum oxides, in contrast to the earlier opinion. The very high correlation relationship between fluorapatite, nepheline, and titanite and the oxides of phosphorus, sodium, and titanium, respectively, and the statistical significance of the correlation and regression coefficients allow determining the content of these minerals using the regression equations presented in the paper.

The use of anionic flocculant in water treatment for flotation of apatite-nepheline ores

Currently, an urgent problem is the improvement of methods for purification of industrial water from concentrates of suspended particles and water-soluble impurities using polyacrylamide flocculants. By studying the adsorption processes from aqueous solutions of H and OH ions, the acid-base properties of the surface of the solid phase of the most contaminated technological product have been analyzed, i. e. discharge of the thickener of apatite concentrate, the mineral composition of which is 90 % represented by apatite. The influence of reagents present in the processing technology (fatty acid collector, iron sulfate) on the quantitative ratio of acid-base centers on the surface of apatite has been evaluated. It has been shown that the interaction of these reagents with the mineral creates prerequisites for greater efficiency of the anion-type flocculant. In order to determine the conditions under which flocculants of different types are in the maximally ionized state, studies have been carried out to change the viscosity of the polyelectrolyte solution at different pH values. The position of the isionic point for samples of cationic and anionic flocculants in the presence of reagents used in apatite flotation and dehydration of apatite concentrate has been studied as well. Studies on model and real suspensions in recycled water for a wide range of cationic and anionic flocculants have been performed. Kinetic and concentration dependencies of flocculating capacity of analyzed reagents have been determined; the experiments have confirmed the more efficient operation of anionic-type reagents. The search for the most effective reagents will make it possible to provide optimal water values for the content of suspended particles and hardness cations when introducing closed water circulation technology.

Improvement of apatite recovery from the Khibiny apatite–nepheline ore in flotation

Improvement of apatite recovery from the Khibiny apatite–nepheline ore in flotation

Ceramic Products from Mining and Metallurgical Waste

The use of mining and metallurgical waste for the production of building supplies reduces the burden on the environment and serves the sustainable development of the region’s industry at the same time. Russia has substantiated the possibility of producing ceramic construction materials of compression molding from a unique mixture of substances based on waste slag of copper–nickel productions, tailings of enrichment of apatite–nepheline ores, and ferruginous quartzites of enterprises of the Murmansk region. The effect of forming pressure (20, 50, and 100 MPa) on the properties of ceramic materials was studied. It is shown that an increase in molding pressure leads to an increase in the physical and mechanical properties of ceramic materials and to a decrease in fire shrinkage and water absorption. The use of a forming pressure of 100 MPa and a firing temperature of 1050 °C makes it possible to obtain a wall clinker brick; at a firing temperature of 1100 °C and a forming pressure of 20–100 MPa, a road clinker brick can be produced. Ceramic samples with frost resistance of more than 200 cycles were received.

Titanite-Containing Mineral Compositions and Their Chemical Treatment with Preparation of Functional Materials.

The waste of apatite-nepheline ore processing was chosen as the material of study for the present investigation. The chemical and phase compositions have been analyzed and the route of the new technology has been developed. Treatment of the waste with diluted hydrochloric acid enables to separate apatite, nepheline, titano-magnetite minerals from titanite (CaSiTiO5). The obtained titanite concentrate contains 30–32% of titanium dioxide. Interaction of titanite with hydrochloric acid under heating and stirring conditions results in calcium leaching. The titanite decomposition is accompanied by titanium and silica oxides precipitation. The resulting solid has been used as a precursor for the synthesis of functional materials. Mechanochemical activation of the precursor provides the structural and morphological disorder of the initial particles. Thermodynamic stability of activated particles is achieved by chemisorption or roasting.

ОЦЕНКА ВАРИАНТОВ ОТРАБОТКИ ПРИБОРТОВЫХ И ПОДКАРЬЕРНЫХ ЗАПАСОВ РУДНИКА «ОЛЕНИЙ РУЧЕЙ»

Актуальность исследования обусловлена необходимостью отработки новых рудных тел, появившихся в ходе проведения опережающей эксплуатационной разведки. За проектными контурами рудников остаются запасы, которые необходимо доработать либо подземным, либо комбинированным способами. При технологии доработки прикарьерных запасов возникают наибольшие сложности, поскольку их отработка вызывает нарушение обеспечения устойчивости откосов борта карьера. Поэтому поиск, выбор и определение главных параметров системы разработки прикарьерных запасов при доработке месторождений, обеспечивающих эффективное и безопасное освоение запасов, представляет весьма актуальную задачу. Цель: рассмотреть возможные варианты отработки прибортовых и подкарьерных запасов с учетом залегания новых рудных тел апатит-нефелинового месторождения и соблюдением необходимых условий для заданного направления развития горных работ в границах горного отвода и произвести технико-экономическую оценку предложенных вариантов. Объект: крупное месторождение апатит нефелиновых руд «Олений ручей». Методы: горно-геологический анализ верхнего яруса месторождения апатит-нефелиновых руд «Олений ручей» и анализ существующих данных о физико-механических свойствах горных пород, слагающих массив рассматриваемого месторождения, анализ возможных схем развития горных работ при отработке прикарьерных запасов с оценкой возможности внутреннего отвалообразования при доработке карьера. На примере разработки месторождения апатит-нефелиновых руд «Олений ручей» авторами рассмотрены возможные варианты отработки и вскрытия прибортовых и подкарьерных запасов верхнего яруса месторождения с соблюдением условий развития горных работ в границах горного отвода. Предложено оптимальное развитие горных работ по варианту, предусматривающему минимальный коэффициент вскрыши.

Analysis of the Thermophysical and Chemical-Technological Properties of Mining and Processing Waste Materials

Results of a system analysis of volumes and physical, chemical, granulometric, lithological, and thermophysical characteristics of waste materials of apatite–nepheline ores stored in tailing dumps of ore mining and processing works are presented to assess the economic viability of using such materials in energy- and resource-efficient and environmentally sustainable processing systems comprised of conveyor belt roasting machines and ore-thermal furnaces. The results allow the formulation of the principal engineering, technological, economic, and environmental requirements imposed on complicated chemical–power-engineering systems for the processing of apatite–nepheline ore waste materials at mining and processing works and the determination of the variability degree of the characteristics of waste batches from different dumps.

ИМИТАЦИОННОЕ МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЕ ПРОЦЕССА СУШКИ ОКАТЫШЕЙ ИЗ ОТХОДОВ АПАТИТ-НЕФЕЛИНОВЫХ РУД

The paper presents a multi-scale mathematical model of a complex multi-level drying process of lumped man-made wastes of apatite-nepheline ores. It takes into account heat-technological peculiarities of the burning conveyor machine, intensity of internal moisture transfer in the shell, negative phenomena of over-wetting of separate horizons of the moving dense multilayer mass of pellets and heat carrier gas. This makes it possible to increase energy efficiency by intensifying heat-mass exchanging multi-layer drying processes. An essential dependence of efficiency of using heat and electric energy from organization of thermal and aerodynamic mode of thermal treatment of pellets from wastes of apatite-nepheline ores on quality of obtained pellets is revealed. According to numerous computational experiments on the developed simulation model, it is shown that when drying a moving multilayer mass of pellets in the drying zone of the burning conveyor machine, moisture is redistributed along the height of the multilayer mass, as a result of which in certain areas the pellets are over-watered.

ГЕОМЕХАНИЧЕСКАЯ ОЦЕНКА ПАРАМЕТРОВ УСТОЙЧИВОСТИ ОТКОСОВ БОРТОВ И УСТУПОВ ПРИ ОТРАБОТКЕ МЕСТОРОЖДЕНИЯ АПАТИТ-НЕФЕЛИНОВЫХ РУД «ОЛЕНИЙ РУЧЕЙ»

Актуальность обусловлена необходимостью безопасного ведения горных работ на карьерах глубиной свыше 360м. Наращивание объёмов добычи возможно при значительном углублении; для снижения объёмов вскрыши необходимо укручение откосов бортов и уступов. Для решения данного вопроса необходимо знать геомеханическую обстановку уступов и бортов как на предельном контуре, так и при изменении их основных параметров – высоты и углов наклона. Цель: проанализировать горно-геологические условия месторождения «Олений ручей» и существующие данные о физико-механических свойствах горных пород, слагающих массив рассматриваемого месторождения, произвести расчет и проверку устойчивости откосов бортов карьера на предельном контуре и изыскать возможность укручения откосов бортов и вскрышных уступов при ведении горных работ. Объект: крупное месторождение апатит-нефелиновых руд «Олений ручей». Методы: горно-геологический анализ месторождения «Олений ручей» и анализ существующих данных о физико-механических свойствах горных пород, слагающих массив рассматриваемого месторождения, аналитические расчеты устойчивости элементов откосов. Результаты. Получены данные расчетов устойчивости откосов при отсутствии поверхностей ослабления в прибортовом массиве борта в висячем боку рудной залежи (висячий борт) и с учетом угла падения Главного разлома под углом 40–45° при формировании борта в лежачем боку (лежачий борт), а также с учетом сейсмичности района и уровня грунтовых вод. Определены параметры откосов бортов на предельном контуре. Полученные значения параметров правомерны при отсутствии в прибортовом массиве поверхностей ослабления. При наличии поверхностей ослабления с падением в выработку откосы необходимо заоткашивать строго по этим поверхностям.

Monitoring the process of bioremediation and revegetation of a phosphogypsum waste stack by remote sensing

Production of phosphorus-containing fertilizers is related with the problem of reclamation of phosphogypsum dumps formed during the processing of Apatite-nepheline ore. In this regard, some attention should be paid to biological remediation as the most effective ecological method. Biological reclamation is one of the ways to protect the environment in the formation of phosphogypsum dumps. In this article, we propose a method for assessing the effectiveness of remediation using phyto monitoring using satellite data, which are used as the results of remote sensing. The proposed method allows estimating the volume and state of biomass of plants forming vegetation cover on the surface of man-made massif.

Anthropogenic pollution of the southern part of the Khibiny mountain massif and foothills

The article deals with the problems associated with the anthropogenic impact of the mining and consentrating of apatite-nepheline ores on the environment in the Khibiny mountain massif, located in the central part of the Murmansk region. Mining company is one of the largest enterprises of the region and the largest European producer of phosphate raw materials for production of mineral fertilizers, but it is necessary to remember the fact that the activity of this enterprise causes significant damage to the environment, and the impact is complex. This impact is compounded by the low resilience of local ecosystems to human impacts. Mining leads to mechanical disturbance of soils, pollution of groundwater and surface water, atmosphere, soil and vegetation, and affectes negatively on the health of the local population. Negative features of production are low level of integrated use and consentrating of extracted ores, the presence of large amounts of unused waste of mining and consentrating industries. Priority pollutants are dust particles, strontium, lead, zinc, phosphorus, iron, etc. In this paper special attention is paid to bioindication research methods using Baltic sphagnum (Sphagnum balticum) and brown sphagnum (Sphagnum fuscum), due to their ability to accumulate aerotechnogenic pollutants.

Vanadium in the Arctic zone of Russia on the Kola region example: prevalence, sources, industrial potential

This article gives a brief overview of the prevalence, sources and industrial potential of vanadium in the Arctic zone of Russia on the Kola region example. Within the Kola region many solid minerals is mining: apatite-nepheline ores of the Khibiny, rare earth elements ore of Lovozero, baddeleyite-apatite-magnetite ores of the Kovdor, ferruginous quartzites of Olenegorsk, copper-nickel deposits of Pechenga etc. In the region potential deposits of platinum group elements, chromium, titanium, lithium and beryllium are explored. Recent studies conducted by the workers of the KSC RAS, in combination with geological and exploration data of predecessors, indicate that within the Kola region there are large sources of vanadium. Numerous occurrences of vanadium mineralization, as well as deposits of vanadium, are mainly localized within the entire Paleoproterozoic Pechenga-Imandra-Varzuga (PIV) rift belt, which stretches for more than 500 km across the entire Kola Peninsula - from the throat of the White sea in the North-East to the Norwegian Caledonian in the North-West. The time of the belt development is considered to be at the period 2.5-1.7 Ga. Elevated concentrations of vanadium is installed in metasomatites at the contact of volcanics and dolomite in Prikhibin’e, in sedimentary rocks of the North Pechenga area and throughout the black-shale strata of the entire PIV zone. Mineralization, composed by extremely rare vanadium minerals, established in massive sulfide ores of the PIV belt, however, has only scientific interest. Potential sources of industrial extraction of vanadium are complex Fe-Ti-V ores, which are components of mafic/ultramafic layered intrusions. The study of Fe-Ti-V ores of the region continues.

Generalized Model for Engineering and Controlling a Complex Multistage Chemical Energotechnological System for Processing Apatite-Nepheline Ore Wastes

A comprehensive formulation for the problem of engineering applied to a multistage chemical energotechnological system for the production of phosphorus from the technogenic wastes of apatite-nepheline ores is presented. The main objective of the studies performed within the procedure of engineering is to determine the phosphorus-production technology parameters decreasing energy and resource efficiency due to the optimization of energy-consumption values for all considered multistage chemical energotechnological processes instead of individual stages. A generalized model of engineering is developed for the chemical energotechnological system of phosphorus production in compliance with the IDEF0 International Standard of Function Modeling, and parameters suitable for further use in the procedure of minimizing the energy and resource efficiency of this production are concretized for multistage chemical energotechnological processes. A conceptual foundation based on the methods of automatic control theory, i.e., the state-space description of control objects, is proposed for the creation of a universal program-optimization model for a chemical energotechnological system. Some results of a simulation experiment in the Simulink environment for the modeling of dynamic systems are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approaches to the optimization of multistage chemical energotechnological processes.

Geochemical aspects of the mining and processing of the large-tonne mineral resources of the hibinian alkaline massif

This article presents an analysis of the influences of nature and production factors relating to the chemical-mineralogical composition of products that formed at the stages of mining and processing apatite-nepheline ores in the Khibiny Mountain Massif. It is shown that all main production processes are connected to the formation of dump waste products that are subject to further changes under the influence of exogenous factors, which include conditions of outdoor storage in dumps and sludge accumulators. According to the dead tails (stale tails) of apatite production, the characteristic changes in the chemical-mineralogical composition and grain-size distribution are determined and have a significant effect on the indicators of their mineral processing. The experimental study of dead tails includes processing a set of technological operations, and their flowsheets are also determined. These flowsheets provide a nepheline concentrate of the required composition with indicators no worse than when processing the tailings of the current composition. It is shown that the existing flowsheets for apatite or nepheline concentrate processing lead to the accumulation of significant amounts of mulls associated with the separation of less valuable components of raw materials into the dump waste products, including calcium and silica. The experimental work also demonstrates the conversion process of gypsum wastes produced during the production of phosphoric acid and shows the importance of additional hydrochemical treatment of belite mull to achieve an economically justified ratio of the main and by-products in the processing of aluminosilicate raw materials.

Geodynamic Safety of Mining Operations under Rockburst-Hazardous Conditions in the Khibiny Apatite Deposits

The results of investigations aimed at solving the topical problem of geodynamic risk assessment in mining of the Khibiny rockburst-hazardous deposits in the Kola Peninsula are presented. The developed procedures and approaches contribute to minimization of geodynamic risks under large-scale mining of close-spaced apatite-nepheline ore deposits. The geomechanical model is designed, which allows analyzing successive development of a system of closely spaced deposits in the Khibiny Massif. Based on the model data on the stress-strain state, the optimal sequence and direction of mining in the conditions of rockburst hazard is determined. The nested structure of the rock mass, direction of the tectonic compression, main radial faults, daylight surface relief and the parameters of the ore bodies are taken into account. The complexing of the predicted stress fields and seismicity improves reliability of detection of higher rockburst hazard zones. The examples of stoping sequence substantiation using a set of in-situ and numerical methods are given. The main lines of development in the geomechanical support of mining and the variants of process solutions toward regional and local unloading of rock mass are shown.

Evaluation of the efficiency of complex processing of poor apatite-nepheline ores containing rare and rare-earth metals

Evaluation of the efficiency of complex processing of poor apatite-nepheline ores containing rare and rare-earth metals

U-Pb SHRIMP-II ages of titanite and timing constraints on apatite-nepheline mineralization in the Khibiny and Lovozero alkaline massifs (Kola Peninsula)

Results of this study of titanite samples collected from silicate rocks and apatite-nepheline-(sphene) ores from Paleozoic polyphase alkaline nepheline syenite complexes of the Khibiny and Lovozero massifs revealed the possibility of their in-situ U-Pb dating using sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe SHRIMP-II with an accuracy of 1.0-1.5%, which is comparable with that of U-Pb zircon analysis. Employing different approaches to age determination of the formation of the U-Pb system of titanites, the combined isochrons and mixing lines were plotted from the data obtained from the differentiated complex samples (121 analyses of five Khibiny samples and 52 analyses of one Lovozero sample) and apatite-nepheline ores (120 analyses of five Khibiny samples and 88 analyses of three Lovozero samples). They indicate synchronous crystallization of titanite in silicate rocks throughout the complexes: 374.1 ± 3.7 Ma for the Khibiny massif and 380.9 ± 4.5 Ma for the Lovozero massif, and attest to the later formation of phosphate-rare-metal ores: 371.0 ± 4.2 and 361.4 ± 3.2 Ma, respectively. The relatively delayed ore mineralization specific to the Lovozero massif can be accounted for the significantly lower volumes of magmatic melt and ore fluid involved, different thermal conditions, and the pattern of the investigated mineralization. As such, the obtained U-Pb data from titanite make it possible to limit significantly the time interval (most likely, not exceeding 15-20 Ma) comprising the evolution and activity of the ore-magmatic system of major agpaitic complexes, which is probably associated with plume magmatism.