Lovozero Mining and Processing Plant (Revda settlement, Lovozersky district, Murmansk region, Russia)

Fedyakov V. Yu., CEO, PhD in Law, info@ooolgok.ru

State Research and Design Institute of Rare Metal Industry (Moscow, Russia)

Shekhirev D. V., Leading Researcher, PhD in Engineering, shekhirev@list.ru
Golovko V. V., Expert, PhD in Engineering, VaVasGolovko@rosatom.ru
Fureev I. L., Head of Department, ILFureev@rosatom.ru

This study aims to develop a process for producing nepheline concentrate from tailings generated at the Lovozero Mining and Processing Plant during loparite ore beneficiation. The accumulated tailings exceed 18 million tons, with an annual increase of 400,000–450,000 tons. The work is relevant due to the shortage of bauxite feedstock for the aluminum industry. It was established that gravity separation and wet magnetic separation are ineffective for upgrading the original tailings without preliminary grinding. The effectiveness of dry magnetic separation applied to the 0.1 mm size fraction and reverse flotation with hydroxamic acids applied to the –0.1 mm fraction in producing marketable nepheline concentrate was demonstrated. A simplified process is recommended for obtaining high-grade nepheline concentrate with two products: the 0.1 mm size fraction is processed by magnetic separation, and the –0.1 mm fraction (including re-ground middlings from magnetic separation) is processed by reverse flotation, yielding a concentrate with Al₂O₃ content of 28.1 wt.% and recovery of 91.4 %. Additionally, a loparite-bearing aegirine product with a niobium content of 0.47 wt.% and recovery of 62.4 % was obtained. The process for obtaining nepheline concentrate from coarse and fine fractions considers the material composition of the tailings: coarse fractions are enriched in nepheline, fine fractions in aegirine and loparite, with particles larger than 1 mm being practically absent. The proposed process design reduces the volume of material sent for grinding to 10 % of the original tailings and for flotation to 31 %.

1. Tsukerman V. A., Selin V. S., Goryachevskaya E. S. An integrated approach to the Khibini deposits apatite-nepheline ores processing and utilization: economics. Obogashchenie Rud. 2015. No. 3. pp. 41–46.
2. Kogarko L. N. Formation of loparite ores (Lovozero rare metal deposit, Eastern Fennoscandia). Doklady Rossiyskoy Akademii Nauk. Nauki o Zemle. 2022. Vol. 505, No. 2. pp. 137–140.

3. Suk N. I., Kotelnikov A. R., Kovalsky A. M. Mineral compositions of loparite-bearing rocks of the Lovozero alkaline massif and physico-chemical conditions of formation of mineral parageneses. Vestnik Kamchatskoy Regionalnoy Assotsiatsii «Uchebno-nauchnyi Tsentr». Nauki o Zemle. 2012. No. 1, Iss. 19. pp. 41–58.
4. Maksimova V. V., Krasavtseva E. A., Savchenko E. E., Ikkonen P. V., Elizarova I. R., Masloboev V. A., Makarov D. V. Study of the composition and properties of the beneficiation tailings of currently produced loparite ores. Zapiski Gornogo Instituta. 2022. Vol. 256. pp. 642–650.
5. Goryachev A. A., Lashchuk V. V., Martynov E. V. The method of geoecological monitoring of tailing dumps of enriched rare metal of the Karnasurt deposit (Lovozersky GOK, Kola Peninsula). Trudy Fersmanovskoy Nauchnoy Sessii GI KNTs RAN. 2019. No. 16. pp. 101–106.

6. Mitrofanova G. V., Marchevskaya V. V., Perunkova T. N. Optimized regimes of nepheline flotation using stockpiled apatite-nepheline processing waste (the Khibiny deposits). Tsvetnye Metally. 2022. No. 8. pp. 8–14
7. Ratobilskaya L. D., Boyko N. N., Kozhevnikov A. O. Phosphate ore processing. Moscow: Nedra, 1979. 261 p.
8. Lygach V. N., Ladygina G. V., Brylyakov Yu. E., Kostrova M. A. Increasing the efficiency of nepheline production
at ANOF-II of JSC Apatit by improving the reagent mode of nepheline reverse flotation. Gornyi Informatsionnoanaliticheskiy Byulleten'. 2007. No. 10. pp. 365–369.
9. Shapovalov N. А., Poluektova V. A., Gorodov A. I., Krayniy А. А., Vintskovskaya I. L., Ryadinskiy M. M. Domestic phosphorus surfactant-active collectors complex separation of apatite-nepheline dirt. Fundamentalnye Issledovaniya. 2015. No. 2-8. pp. 1689–1693.
10. Mukhina T. N. Improving the efficiency of nepheline reverse flotation using high-molecular alkylbenzenesulfonates: diss. for the degree of Candidate of Engineering Sciences. Apatity, 2004. 174 p.
11. Sizyakov V. М., Nazarov Yu. P., Brichkin V. N., Sizyakova E. V. Processing of aged dumped tailings of apatitenepheline ores flotation. Obogashchenie Rud. 2016. No. 2. pp. 33–39.
12. Sentemova V. А. Application of cationic flotation for production of high-grade nepheline concentrates from apatitenepheline ores with increased feldspar content. Obogashchenie Rud. 2009. No. 5. pp. 11–14.
13. Elbendari H. A. M. Increasing the complexity of phosphate ore processing by the flotation method: diss. for the degree of Candidate of Engineering Sciences. Saint Petersburg, 2021. 134 p.
14. Sentemova V. A. The technology of nepheline concentrate obtaining. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2011. No. 2. pp. 39–42.
15. Fomin A. V. Prospects for the use of gravity concentration methods in nepheline concentrate production processes. Obogashchenie Rud. 2024. No. 2. pp. 32–39.
16. Rakaev A. I., Chernousenko E. V., Rukhlenko E. D., Alekseeva S. A. Obtaining nepheline concentrate from tailings of the beneficiation plants of the Lovozero Mining and Processing Plant. Obogashchenie Rud. 2007. No. 1. pp. 8–11.
17. Fomin A. V., Mitrofanova G. V., Chernousenko E. V. Development and justification of a combined technology for the comprehensive processing of loparite tailings to produce nepheline and loparite concentrates. Obogashchenie Rud. 2024. No. 6. pp. 8–11.
18. Chernousenko E. V., Vishnyakova I. N., Mitrofanova G. V., Marchevskaya V. V., Kompanchenko A. A. Analysis of reagent regimes in nepheline concentrate production from loparite ore processing tailings by flotation. Fizikotekhnicheskie Problemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopayemykh. 2024. No. 5. pp. 181–190.
19. Mitrofanova G. V., Chernousenko E. V., Kameneva Yu. S., Vishnyakova I. N. Testing of a complexing reagent on the basis of hydroxamic acids by floating transition metal minerals. Vestnik Kolskogo Nauchnogo Tsentra RAN. 2019. No. 2. pp. 95–104.
20. Suslavich B., LaDouceur R., Mamudu A., Young C. Synthesis and characterization of hydroxamic acid N,3-dihydroxy-2-naphthamide and its copper (II) complex per keto/enol forms and rare earth flotation. Minerals and Mineral Materials. 2024. Vol. 3, Iss. 1. DOI: 10.20517/mmm.2023.25
21. Zhou F., Yan Ch., Wanga H., Sun Q., Wang Q., Alshameri A. Flotation behavior of four C18 hydroxamic acids as collectors of rhodochrosite. Minerals Engineering. 2015. Vol. 78. pp. 15–20.