Prospects and priorities for the reconstruction and development of lithium mining production on the basis of domestic raw materials

The prospects of lithium as a component of new energy are considered. Provides data on the resources of lithium mineral raw materials. Variants of the reconstruction of lithium production facilities in Russia from domestic raw materials are evaluated in order to solve the problem of import substitution. Attention is focused on the choice of objects of priority industrial development and the need to create modern technologies for processing lithium raw materials. It is shown that the restored Zabaikalsk mining and processing plant can be a reliable source of lithium when using new technological solutions for extracting lithium and associated useful components from primary ores and waste of spodumene ores.

Mercury as an indicator of geological and environmental risks in the development of various mineral raw materials

Mercury is a highly toxic pollutant of the environment, and a quantitative assessment of its emission and migration in the technogenic transformation of mining regions is vital. The presented study focuses on the features of mercury concentration in the natural mineral raw materials, commercial products and processing waste by the example of mercury-containing copper pyrite deposits in the Urals. Mercury (its quantitative indicators) is used as a reliable element-tracer of the evolution of the technogenic system: mineral raw materials – subsurface use wastes – environmental components – food products – the human body. Such integrated approach is recommended for optimizing the forecasting, assessment and management of geological and environmental risks, as well as for the geological and environmental monitoring of the modern mining engineering system.

Application of an improved mining complex for opencast mining of ore deposits

The purpose of the study is reducing the loss of mineral raw materials and increasing the efficiency of mining operations using a mining complex through the introduction of a new design and engineering solution that improves the equipment functionality. The study involves the analysis of known designs of mining equipment capable of providing the transformation of cyclic scooping of rock mass into its continuous loading, as well as screening of fine fractions from the ore mass. High productivity mining complexes are referred to a promising direction of mining equipment development. The article proposes an improved design of the mining complex, which allows to combine the extraction and loading process and ore mass grading. The improved mining complex is equipped with an annular conveyor with vibrating grids through which fines are screened into the accumulation hopper. From the accumulation hopper the small fractions are sent by means of a pneumatic conveying system to the bunker sections of a special-purpose hauler while the oversize product is loaded into a dump truck by a dump conveyor. The fine fractions of substandard ore collected in the bunker sections are sent for heap leaching. The fine fractions of conditioned ore are sent to the concentration plant to be processed. The proposed design and engineering solution employing an improved mining complex will reduce the cost of works and increase the recovery factor of mineral raw materials in the development of complex-structured deposits of ores characterized by natural concentration of small classes. Removal of fine ore fractions directly during the excavation and loading process can significantly reduce the dusting and decrease the loss of mineral raw materials from blowing and spilling of fine fractions.

Mineral Raw Materials’ Resource Efficiency in Selected ESEE Countries: Strengths and Challenges

The mineral raw materials’ resource efficiency is currently recognized in Europe as the way for the future development of the European mining economies. With this aim, a West Balkan Mineral Register was created in the EIT Raw Materials RESEERVE Project, including Primary and Secondary Raw Materials of six Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (ESEE) countries, i.e., Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Within the Project, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) and Gap Analysis was also performed for the development of the raw material sector in the region. This paper summarizes the main strengths to be exploited, i.e., the significant geological potential, the presence of critical raw materials (e.g., Sb, Co, REEs) in primary and secondary raw materials, and the challenges to address, i.e., compliance of resources/reserves classification with international standards, integration of state’s mineral policy with spatial planning strategies, improvement of the business environment, capacity building of the raw materials workforce and enhancement of the public acceptance of the sector, in order to achieve the sustainable development of the mineral resources of the six ESEE countries. These opportunities comply with the objectives of the EU Raw Materials Initiative and are expected to contribute in the further enhancement of those economies in transition for the upcoming years.

Utilization of effluents from hydrochloric acid processing of sphene concentrate

Mineral raw materials have a multicomponent composition. The extraction and translation of all or the main components into useful products is an urgent and important task. The integrated use of mineral raw materials is an essential requirement of environmentalists for technology developers. The methods of disposal of hydrochloric acid processing of sphene, developed by the authors, make it possible to carry out the process in an environmentally friendly version with obtaining the demanded main and by-product.

A Roadmap for Exploration and Exploitation of Mineral Raw Materials in Greece

Despite EU climate objectives and raw material needs, there is a growing concern caused by the limited direct access to primary sources and supplies of valuable raw materials, and by the heavy reliance on imports. Member states are encouraged to design and implement effective policies to improve domestic access to raw materials and to promote green energy, thus advancing European competitiveness, particularly for high tech products, emerging innovations and quality of life. The Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy, Secretariat-General for Energy and Mineral Raw Materials (MRM), Directorate-General for MRM, as an important stakeholder in the management of the raw material value chain that focuses on developing and providing a transparent and stable regulatory framework for mining and quarrying exploration and exploitation, ensures its efficient implementation in line with the principle of sustainability and facilitates strategic investments in knowledge, technology and innovation, therefore enhancing development benefits to local communities and society more generally.

Economic aspects of subsurface use in northern regions of resource type

В настоящее время в экономическом развитии не только отдельных регионов, но и всей страны особую роль играет состояние добывающей промышленности, в основном топливно-энергетических ресурсов и цветных металлов. В Российской Федерации доходы, получаемые за счет добычи и экспорта минерального сырья, в стоимостном выражении составляют около 80% российского экспорта. В статье рассматриваются экономические аспекты недропользования в северных регионах ресурсного типа, специализирующихся на добыче высоколиквидных минеральных ресурсов: нефти, газа, угля, алмазов и золота с целью выявления сильных и слабых сторон. Анализируются минерально-сырьевой и производственный потенциалы добывающей промышленности регионов. Методом математической статистики оценивается уровень зависимости социального развития регионов от добывающей промышленности по шкале Чеддока. На основе факторного анализа и оценки экономических составляющих недропользования и региональной статистики за 2010-2020 гг. выявлены высокий уровень ресурсной ориентированности экономики, капиталоемкости и фондоемкости добывающей промышленности и моноспециализация экономики во всех северных регионах ресурсного типа, высокий уровень зависимости социального развития от добывающей промышленности в Республике Саха (Якутия), Ханты-Мансийском – Югра и Ямало-Ненецком автономном округах. Выделены негативные и позитивные факторы устойчивого развития добывающей промышленности, также определены ключевые моменты перспективного развития экономики северных регионов ресурсного типа. At present, the state of the mining industry, mainly fuel and energy resources and non-ferrous metals, plays a special role in the economic development of not only individual regions, but also the whole country. In the Russian Federation, revenues derived from the extraction and export of mineral raw materials in value terms account for about 80% of Russian exports. The article discusses the economic aspects of subsurface use in the northern resource-type regions specializing in the extraction of highly liquid mineral resources: oil, gas, coal, diamonds and gold in order to identify strengths and weaknesses. The mineral raw materials and production potentials of the mining industry of the regions are analyzed. The method of mathematical statistics evaluates the level of dependence of the social development of regions on the extractive industry on the Cheddock scale. Based on a factor analysis and assessment of the economic components of subsurface use and regional statistics for 2010-2020, there was revealed a high level of resource orientation of the economy; capital intensity of the mining industry and monospecialization of the economy in all northern resource-type regions; a high level of dependence of social development on the extractive industry in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Khanty-Mansiysk-Yugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. The negative and positive factors of the sustainable development of the mining industry are highlighted, and the key points of the prospective development of the economy of the northern regions of the resource type are also identified.

Assessing Behavior Similarity of Mineral Raw Material Prices through a Feature-Based Clustering Approach

Mineral raw materials prices have been shown to be affected by macroeconomic factors such as aggregate demand and commodity-specific factors (e.g., supply shocks). In addition, it has been shown that certain mineral raw material prices co-move, meaning that they behave similarly during expansion and contraction phases of the international business cycles. In order to assess the behavior similarity of the prices of different mineral raw materials, we propose a method that utilizes extracted features of time series price data and unsupervised learning techniques to create clusters of price movements having similar long-term behavior.