During all stages of the development of civilization, the main wealth of mankind was natural resources. They can be divided into two types: renewable and non-renewable. The first category includes resources of animal or plant origin. The second type is minerals, which are the basis of the existence of modern mankind. After all, they are the main raw material for mineral production. The article will consider such minerals as polymetallic ores. What is this mineral raw material? Where are its largest deposits located? How is polymetallic ore mined and enriched? Answers to these questions will be given below.
What are polymetallic ores ?
Polymetallic ores are minerals that contain a whole complex of chemical elements. The main components that form this mineral raw material are galena and sphalerite. The most important elements are lead and zinc. Also, this ore may contain components such as copper, silver, gold, cadmium. Less commonly, such minerals include tin, gallium, indium, and bismuth.
Scientists in the course of research found that polymetallic ores were formed over various geological eras. These minerals occur mainly in rocks of volcanic origin.
World deposits of polymetallic ores
These minerals are found on any of the continents of the globe. The largest reserves of polymetallic ores are in Australia. Currently, work is ongoing on this mainland in the three largest fields: Broken Hill, Mount Isa and the MacArthur River.
In North America, large reserves of such minerals are located in the United States and Canada. Spain has the largest European field. On the Asian continent, polymetallic ores are mined in China, Kazakhstan and Japan.
Large reserves of such minerals are located in Russia.
Deposits of polymetallic ores in Russia
The main territory where the unique reserves of polymetallic ores are located in Russia is Altai Territory. This region hosts more than ten large deposits of such mineral raw materials. These ores contain a large amount of zinc, lead, copper and precious metals.
The largest and most promising deposits are Rubtsovskoye, Korbalikhinskoye, Zarechenskoye, Stepnoye, Zakharovskoye and Talovskoye. All of them were discovered back in the fifties and sixties of the twentieth century. Polymetallic ores from the Zarechenskoye deposit are characterized by a high content of copper, zinc and lead. Mineral raw materials from the Rubtsov deposits are rich in silver and gold.
Polymetallic ores in Russia are also found in the Far East. Currently, work is underway to extract such minerals at three deposits: Nikolaevsky, Verkhniy and Partizansky. Mineral raw materials from the deposits of the Far Eastern region of the Russian Federation are characterized by a high content of lead, zinc, gold, silver, tungsten and tin.
How are polymetallic ores mined?
In the modern world, there are two ways to extract polymetallic ores:
The underground mining method involves the extraction of mineral raw materials from the bowels of the Earth, in which there is a minimal violation of the integrity of its surface. With this method, three stages are distinguished:
- Opening the surface.
- Conducting preparatory work.
- Mineral extraction.
An open method is the extraction of polymetallic ores by extracting them from the bowels of the earth using open pit mines that form a quarry. This method provides high efficiency extraction of mineral raw materials. Open industrial development of the field consists of the following process steps:
- Preparation of rock for excavation by mechanical and explosive cultivation.
- Loading the resulting mass into vehicles.
- Transportation of raw materials to an industrial site for further processing.
However, to extract polymetallic ore does not mean to extract the necessary metals. Raw materials must go through the enrichment process.
Description of the processing of polymetallic ores
From the extracted polymetallic ore, it is impossible to immediately obtain the metals contained in it. Their smelting becomes possible provided that the content of these elements in the concentrate is at least 30 percent. In ore extracted from the bowels of the Earth, this ratio is much less than necessary.
The concentration of polymetallic ores is a combination of interconnected mineral processing processes, resulting in two products:
- concentrate with a rich content of chemical elements, which is sent to the metallurgical redistribution for smelting metals from it;
- enrichment waste is waste material freed from nutrients.
The process of enrichment of polymetallic ores consists of three stages:
- Crushing and grinding of minerals.
- Direct enrichment.
- Getting the finished concentrate.
Conclusion
Polymetallic ores are minerals containing a complex of necessary chemicals. Such mineral raw materials are used in various industries. By extracting and enriching these minerals, mankind provides itself with such necessary elements as lead, zinc, copper, gold, silver.