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17НАУКИ О ЗЕМЛЕ
УДК 553
ГРНТИ 52. 52.29
Afandiyeva Z.J.
candidate of technical sciences, associated professor Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry
THE STATE OF RAW MATERIAL BASE OF AZERBAIJAN FERROUS AND NON-FERROUS METALLURGY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS
Summary. The article deals with economical-ecological recommendations on the complex and rational use of Dashkasan mining complex of the north-east part of the Lesser Caucasus and the sulfide-polymetallic deposits of the southern slope of the Great Caucasus and of the Zaghlik alunite deposit based on the author own research with the involvement of literary and fund materials.
Currently, reconstruction of Ganja Aluminum plant on the basis of new machinery and technology is fully completed, taking into account the complex use of alunite ore and waste to protect the environment. However, due to the absence of the concentrator at Zaghlik deposit, half of the crushed ore consists of impurities of non-aluminate minerals (kaolinite, pyrophyllite and quartz), the transportation of which entails large transport costs and complicates the chosen production technology at this plant. Therefore, we suppose that, it is necessary to perform the first enrichment of the alunite ore at the deposit in order to improve the technology of alunite production at the plant. We propose to build a concentration plant at Zaghlik deposit to separate minerals of impurities from alunite. At the same time, the resulting waste of enrichment can be used as raw material for the porcelain-faience industry.
The implementation of this recommendation will reduce the volume of raw ore by half and will provide significant savings in the transportation and processing of alunite concentrate. High economic efficiency of this process is that, enriched ore having a high content (from 88% to 93%) of alunite with high recovery (from 75% to 78%) of alumina can contribute to the improvement of production and technological operations, to a minimum waste and prevention of environmental pollution causes.
Keywords: Dashkasan iron ore deposit, mineral raw materials, mining industry waste, complex use of mineral raw materials, aluminum production.
Introduction
Azerbaijan has rich recourses of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. According to historical sources, deposits of copper, gold and cobalt were exploited by German (Siemens), Russian and local industrialists (Gadabay - copper, gold, Dashkesan - cobalt) [1,c.2] in the XIX century on the territory of Azerbaijan Later on, the discovery and operation of large oil fields on the Absheron Peninsula and adjacent areas led to a decrease in interest in the investigation and extraction of solid minerals in the promising areas of the Lesser Caucasus [2, 3, c. 2].
At the beginning of the XX century systematic geological study of the territory of Azerbaijan was started. Very soon, a number of iron ore and polymetallic deposits were discovered and put into operation. Their development was of great importance not only for the republic, but for the entire Soviet Union for a long time. Dashkesan iron, alunite and marble, Aghdara and Filizchay poly-metals, Paragachay molyb- denum, Gumuslug lead, Darridagh arsenic, Nakhichevan rock salt, Dashsalakhli bentonite went to the common treasury of the country. After the collapse of the USSR, the development of the Dashkesan iron ore, Zaghlik Alunite and Paragachay molybdenum deposits was suspended because of economic difficulties.
Now the question is raised on the resumption of the full-scale operation of the Dashkesan iron ore cluster on the basis of scientific and technical achievements in the field of extraction and processing of multicomponent ores taking into account ecological factors and requirements for the comprehensive use of mineral resourc [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, c.3 ]
Black metals. The main mineral-raw materials base of ferrous metallurgy in Azerbaijan is Dashkesan ore region (fig. 1) in Dashkesan, Southern Dashkesan and Damirov deposits of magnetite ores with total reserves of 350 million tons. All iron ore deposits of the country are represented by three formations: skarn-magnetite, metasomatic and titan magnetite, of them skarn-magnetite iron ore is of industrial importance.
During the Soviet period, Azerbaijan was started to operate (two quarries and a concentrating mill with a cable way to the railway station) on the base of the Dashkesan ore region. From there, the concentrate produced by the plant was delivered to a metallurgical plant in Rustavi (Georgia). Until 1986, the plant produced 1.2 million tons of commercial ore per year; by 1987 annual production had dropped to 765,000 tons. After the collapse of the USSR, the plant's work was suspended because of emerging social and economic crisis.
Figure 1. Geological map of the central part of the Dashkesan ore region
Convntional signs:
1 - quaternary alluvial deposits; 2 - lower-cretaceous intrusive rocks (K1); 3 - vein-rock of basic composition (Ki); 4 - limestone of oxford age (J3 Oxf.); 5 - tuffs, travertine, tuff sandstone, pebble, siltstones of Oxford-Cimmerian age (J3oxf+km); 6 - tuffs, tuff breccia, tuff- pebbles and tuff-sandstones, separate streams of andesitic and andesitocytes porphyritic upper age (J2bt); 7 - hornstones; 8 - cobalt-bearing tectonic zones; 9 - skarn-brown fields; 10 - occurence of cobalt mineralization; I - northern cobalt deposit; II - northeast deposit of iron cobalt; III - northwestern cobalt-containing fields of iron ores; IV - southern iron cobalt deposit.
Currently, in Dashkesan necessary work on the reconstruction of the mining and processing plant and quarries based on new technologies and equipment has been carried out with the participation of foreign companies and foreign investment. Dashkesan Filizsaflashdirma mining enterprise is operated on the base of Dashkesan deposits.
The developed industrial infrastructure, the availability of transport connections and experienced specialists, the proximity of Dashkesan to Ganja stipulate economic development and implement large investment projects in this region. At present, a steel plant is being built in Ganja. In the future, it is planned to commission new deposits of the Dashkesan deposit with an increase in the volume of production
of commercial ore to 2 million tons per year. In future, this level is recommended not to exceed in order to extend the prolongation of the deposit and to load the able-bodied part of the local population.
According to the decrease of the rich sections reserves of the field and iron content in the ore, it becomes necessary to improve the technology of its processing with the use of more advanced methods of enrichment. One of such methods is the production of pellets for the production of sponge iron.
Comprehensive use of mineral resources of the Dashkesan deposit is the second important prerequisite for increasing the efficiency of ore mining and processing at this facility.
First of all, we are talking about multiple-volume production wastes of mining and ore dressing - rock and tailing dumps. These man-made accumulations, representing potentially recyclable raw materials, occupy significant land areas and make a significant "contribution" to environmental pollution. The problems of waste utilization are increasingly being paid attention to in mining [13, c.4]
It is obvious, due to the capacity expansion of new Dashkesen concentrator, the gross output of the tailings, requiring the construction of a new tailing dump, will increase much. With the complete transition of the factory to the production of agglomeration concentrate, the problem of fresh water deficit is aggravated, the actual use of which considerably exceeds the established norm per unit of output.
After enrichment of magnetite ore, the polluted water is dumped into the basin of river Goshgarchay in unpurified form. Currently, about 40 million tons of tailings with a gross metal content of up to 5.2 million tons have been accumulated in the river valley. The
26 East European Scientific Journal #9(73), 2021 gravel (25-26 mm) sorted from the dumps serves as a valuable building material, the demand of which is very high in intensively developing Ganja region. Gravel can be transported by cable car to station Gushchi Bridge, and from there it is delivered to consumers by rail.
The use of waste as gravel and sand increases the efficiency of field development and allows releasing the part of the capital investment for the development of the main production. In fact, the tailings of the concentrating mill and the breeds of quarry dumps constitute an addi tional raw material base, not requiring significant capital investments for its development. It is proposed to create joint ventures for the production of products from the slag of the pipe-rolling plant, tailings of the concentrating mill, solid and dusty waste from Ganja aluminum plant [14, c.5].
It is advisable to include mineral products and products derived from wastes in the composition of traditional mineral product during the development of a long-term plan for ore mining and processing industry. It is important to precisely set the prices for wastes and for products obtained from them.
These prices should promote the fullest and most appropriate use of wastes by state and private enterprises. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the categories and quality of wastes to assess their value using recalculation coefficients relative to rich ores. Thus, on the category of I waste, this coefficient can be set in the range 0.7-0.8; on II - 0, 40, 7; on III - 0.1-0.3, etc.
It is extremely necessary to compile a cadaster of industrial wastes, reflecting their physical-chemical properties and concentration of alloying metals, as well as regulating the volume of waste formation at mining enterprises of various types.
The exceptional importance of waste disposal problem of mining enterprises requires the creation of a special structure the function of which would be to resolve the whole range of problems related to the comprehensive use of industrial waste in the country's economy.
Non-ferrous metals. Significant resources of polymetallic ores in the Republic are located in Filizchay and Nakhichevan groups and the Mekhmanin deposit in Nagorno-Karabakh. The ore of these deposits contains several dozens of useful components, the majority of which can be extracted at this level of contemporary technology.
The Filizchay group of deposits of sulfide-polymetallic ores is unique both in reserves and favorable mining conditions and in the concentration of accompanying elements. Four deposits of sulfide-polymetallic ores belong to this group: Filizchay, Kotekhchay, Katsdagh, and Tenross. Mineral resources of the region:- Above mentioned deposits are located in a picturesque mountainous area of the Balakan and Zagatala regions.
While these deposits are being developed, green mountain ranges, populated areas and mountain rivers may be under threat of destruction due to mass pollution of the environment with sulfuric anhydride
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and other macro and microelements contained in ore concentrate. In addition, the production of concentrates with subsequent processing in other plants of foreign countries contradicts the principle of complex processing, as it excludes the use of waste and the production of pyrite concentrate.
Processing of polymetallic ores in conditions of imperfect technology can lead to the loss of a large number of useful components from 1 ton of raw materials, which is inadmissible in case of acute need of polymetallic resources of Azerbaijan in the international market [15, c.7].On the base of the interests of environmental protection and a number of economic factors of the most advantageous place for the dislocation of the Filizchay mining complex, we propose, Dashuz steppe area, near which there are almost no settlements and green areas, agricultural crops.
The site is located near the railway junction of Yevlakh, Mingechaur, Sheki, Zagatala, Gakh, where a large number of labor resources are concentrated, a large part of which may be involved in the mentioned production [16, c.7]. This site is also advantageous thanks to its reserves of economic, technological and drinking water, a natural closed "tailing dump" (Ajinor lake), in summer it turns into a dead valley. It can be used as a natural waste storage facility of the plant with a full metallurgical cycle.
In addition to a mining plant, there is a chemical plant for producing elemental sulfur and sulfuric acid from the pyrite concentrate, and copper powder from copper concentrate (or copper sulfate). We propose to build a mineral-raw material complex (MRC) with the appropriate infrastructure. Moreover, we propose to build a repair and mechanical plant for repairing the machines and equipment of the mining plant next to the metallurgical combine, as well as enterprises producing agricultural and transport vehicles.
Repeated and combined use of polymetallic ores is of paramount importance in the complex use of mineral raw materials, waste utilization and environmental protection, which doubles the specific weight of extracted components in comparison with the isolated method [17, c. 7].
Recycling of waste, sludge, slag, wastes sulfur-containing and other gases, dusts and waste materials is the most important factor in the scientifically based organization of the mining and metallurgical production cycle, expansion of the raw material base and economical use (resource saving) of mineral raw materials method [18, 19, 20, c. 7].
Such a way to the development of mineral resources provides additional production of non-ferrous metals, chemical, agrochemical, construction, glass raw materials. Reducing metal, chemical and building raw materials losses significantly increases the yield coefficient of useful components and contributes to the improvement of the environment. The more the coefficient of complex use of ore raw materials, the less are production waste, and, consequently, pollution of the environment [21, 22, 23, c. 8].
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In Azerbaijan the main raw material for the production of aluminum (alumina) is the alunite ore of Zaghlik deposit (fig.2). It is a complex raw material for the production of aluminum, sulfuric acid, potassium sulfate, vanadium, agrochemical and building materials. In addition to the main component of alunite, alunite ore contains a significant amount of other useful components. The main component of ore is alunite alumina (51%).
The aluminum plant was put into operation in Ganja in 1965 on the base of Zaghlik alunite, which was partially suspended in 1991 based on socio-economic and environmental considerations. Currently, the reconstruction of Ganja Aluminum plant is being completed fully on the basis of new machinery and technology, taking into account the complex use of alunite ore and waste for environmental protection.
In the absence of a concentrator, half crushed ore deposit consists of non-alunite raw materials which, entail large transport costs and complicate the production technology at this plant during transportation. Therefore, the most important measure is primarily enriching initial alunite ore in order to improve the production technology of alunite at the plant.
The calculations carried out on the base of materials from other existing enterprises show that, capital expenditures for enriching 1 ton of ore, assuming the cost of initial ore as zero, averages $ 5.05 (US). Hence, the total cost of enriching the given amount of alunite is $ 15 million. Enriching ore reduces the volume of ore almost by half and provides significant savings, during transportation and processing.
Wastes of quartz sands, glass, construction and agrochemical raw materials enrichment can be successfully used in the relevant industries. Initial enrichment of alunite ore is firstly directed to the complex use of raw materials, reduction of transportation from the deposit to the plant. The improvement of ore processing prevents environment pollution around Ganja.
Zaghlik alunite contains a number of useful components. Such important chemical elements as pentoxide vanadium, titanium, gallium, sodium sulfate, glass, construction, agrochemical raw materials contained in alunite are not extracted, but they go to dumps occupying huge land.
Fig. 2:- Geological map of Zaghlik deposit of alunite 1- alluvial, elluvial and delluvial formations (Q); 2-diabase porphyry (K-J1); 3- upper suite - tuffs and tuffites (J3 km); 4-lower suite - alunite stratum (J3ox);
5-hornstones (J2-J3ox-km); 6 - skarn iron ore deposit; 7 - Campaign Maastricht limestone (J3ox-km); 8 - argillite and sandstones with inter-beds of marls (J3kl); 9-porphyrites (J2); 10 - gabbro and granitoids; 11 - dikes of vein-rock; 12- lines of tectonic ruptures; 13 - occurrence element In addition to aluminum raw
materials,
In addition, alunite ore also contains a large amount of sulfur. While processing alunite in alumina, sulfur and its compounds become volatile gas, most of which resulting from factory pipes. In the form of anhydride, sulfur is contained in the waste gases of the plant. Trapping sulfur and sulfur-containing elements
from volatile gases will significantly meet the gap of the republic in sulfuric acid.
In the production of sulfuric acid, sulfur has a great advantage over other sulfur-containing components, both during transportation and processing technology. The process of burning sulfur is much
28 East European Scientific Journal #9(73), 2021 more effective than burning sulfur pyrite, the cost of transporting sulfur is 2.5 times cheaper than pyrites and 3 times cheaper than sulfuric acid Experiments of many enterprises in the USA, Canada and Mexico confirm the expediency of obtaining sulfur from sulfur-containing gases [24, c. 10].
Wastes are divided into solid, liquid and gaseous products at the enterprises of non-ferrous metallurgy of the republic. These waste products cause great harm to the environment. The dusts accompanying the production and the gases of mining enterprises are irrecoverable waste. They dissolve in the air, causing the pollution of the atmosphere. In this context, special attention should be paid to the processing of gaseous dust, which will increase the extraction of minerals and the complex use of mineral raw materials.
The use of contemporary dust collectors and electrostatic precipitators in Ganja clay-earth plant enables to obtain additionally hundreds of tons of alumina, sulfuric acid, calcium sulfate, and so on. The production of sulfuric acid from the gases of kilns significantly reduces the technological cycles, reduces operating costs compared with obtaining it from the original mineral raw materials. Sulfur gases yielding from
Ganja plant are also a valuable raw material for the production of elemental sulfur and liquid sulfuric anhydride, being more transportable than sulfuric acid.
Conclusion
Some measures should be taken to make fuller use of Dashkesan iron ore clusters mineral resources in order to further develop raw material base of ferrous metallurgy in Azerbaijan. For this the followings are proposed:
- to make wider use of progressive methods of complex enrichment of ore raw materials with maximum extraction of useful components from it;
- to start large-scale processing of deposited wastes of mining and processing industry of previous years by organizing specialized enterprises from industrial and household waste products with wide use of free work-force resources of local population;
- consider the problem of involving in the development of promising South Dashkesan and Damirov iron ore deposits.
It is very important and necessary to compile a cadaster of industrial wastes reflecting their quality, physic-chemical and mechanical properties, concentrations of basic metals and alloying elements, norms and tailings from various categories of mining enterprises. Building the concentrator near the quarry must be carried out to improve the production technology of alunite, the primary enrichment of alunite.
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