2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16
In addition to minerals, the composition of mineral raw materials also includes the so-called waste rocks. What it is? Why did they get such a name? The answer to these questions will be briefly given in the article. It will also briefly describe what fortification is and describe its practical implications.
Scientific definition
Under the empty breeds in science and industry understand breeds that do not represent any practical value. They usually accompany mineral deposits and are often difficult to separate, requiring special processing.
So, waste rock ore, for example, consists of oxides of aluminum, calcium, magnesium, silicon. The minerals formed by them are called silicates, aluminosilicates.
As the "Mining Encyclopedia" explains, waste rocks are extracted from the bowels along with minerals and sent to dumps - places where substandard mineral raw materials are placed on the surface. The dumping usually completes the so-called overburden work in quarries, which open access to usefulfossils and prepare them for excavation. The well-known waste heaps are nothing more than dumps - mountains of waste rock extracted from mines or (near mining and processing plants) being enrichment waste.
What is enrichment
Enrichment is used if waste rock cannot be completely separated from minerals for any reason. This term refers to the processes of primary processing of mineral raw materials. The goal is to separate valuable minerals from waste rocks and from each other. Indeed, iron ore, for example, in addition to the rocks we are considering, may contain other valuable minerals - oxides of nickel, molybdenum, vanadium, chromium, manganese, tungsten.
Enrichment includes several stages, at which, in turn, certain operations are carried out. So, the preparatory stage includes the processes of crushing and grinding, screening (separation of rock particles according to size) and classification.
At the main stage, useful components are extracted from raw materials - one or more. To do this, they rely on the differences between waste rocks and minerals and the latter from each other in electrical conductivity, wettability, density, magnetic susceptibility, chemical properties, solubility, etc. The final stage involves dehydration and drying of processed products.
Result of enrichment process
As a result of enrichment, concentrated rocks are obtained, ready for processing, and the so-called dump tailings, consisting ofmostly from waste rocks. Valuable minerals are practically absent in them or are present in such a concentration that further processing of such raw materials is simply impractical. In addition, in the process of enrichment, intermediate products can also be obtained, the concentration of useful components in which is higher than in waste, but lower than in target products.
The enrichment process is carried out at the processing plants, next to which mountains of waste rock gradually grow.
Recycling waste
Despite their apparent uselessness, these rocks can be used in industry and construction. So, they are used in reclamation, in road construction, they fill mine workings, fall asleep ravines. Many of the waste rocks, previously considered unnecessary, have found their application in modern industry, for example, Khibiny nepheline. Previously, when receiving apatite concentrate, nepheline was sent to waste, but now, thanks to scientific research, it is used in a number of industries. Thus, waste rocks, despite their telling name, can be successfully applied and benefited.
Recommended:
Low-waste and waste-free technologies: definition, description, problems and principles
Problems of the harmful effects of industry on the environment have been worrying environmentalists for a long time. Along with modern means of organizing effective methods for the disposal of hazardous waste, options are being developed to minimize the initial damage to the environment
Waste incineration plant: technological process. Waste incineration plants in Moscow and Moscow region
Waste incinerators have long been controversial. At the moment, they are the cheapest and most affordable way to recycle waste, but far from the safest. Every year, 70 tons of garbage appears in Russia, which needs to be removed somewhere. Factories become a way out, but at the same time the Earth's atmosphere is exposed to enormous pollution. What waste incineration plants exist and is it possible to stop the waste epidemic in Russia?
Waste sorting complex: equipment for sorting and processing household waste
The article is devoted to waste sorting complexes. The features of this equipment, the technological steps performed, etc. are considered
Classification of production and consumption waste. Classification of waste by hazard class
There is no general classification of consumption and production waste. Therefore, for convenience, the basic principles of such a separation are often used, which will be discussed in this article
Rock s alt halite: properties, description and scope
S alt halite is a natural mineral from which the well-known table s alt is obtained. The technical mineral has a number of properties, the application of which was found in 14,000 areas. The most common of them is the treatment of road surfaces in the fight against ice
