Stimulation of heavy-media separation of diamond-bearing material by improvement of ferrosilicium corrosion resistance and produced rough concentrate quality

With regard to the analysis of major problems in heavy-media separation (HMS) of diamond-bearing materials from primary deposits and placers in Western Yakutia, the methods to improve corrosion resistance of ferrosilicium in the rougher cycle and to enhance the quality of produced rougher concentrates are developed and experimentally proved. These methods ensure the HMS intensification, which is confirmed by the lower rate of corrosion damage of ferrosilicium during processing due to: formation of a protective nanofilm on ferrosilicium surface after its nitride hardening; reduced yield of kimberlite product in rougher concentrate of HMS as a consequence of magnetic separation used to remove strong and weak magnetic minerals of magnetite and siderite from kimberlite. The comparative experiments carried out in the conditions similar to actual HMS processes produce the following results. Nitrided ferrosilicium is protected from corrosion damage of its grains in interaction with mineralized water during processing, which ensures reduction in loss of ferrosilicium by 2.8 times; the high corrosion resistance of nitrided ferrosilicium allows two-times longer time of its useful life; the inter-circuit two-stage magnetic separation makes it possible to reduce the yield of rougher concentrates in basic cycle of HMS by 29.53%–95.79% (depending on the content of iron-bearing minerals) owing to the sequential use of weak-magnetic (less than 2000 Oe ≈ 160 kA/m) and strong-magnetic (higher than 10000 Oe ≈ 800 kA/m) separation circuits, which ensure removal of strong-magnetic and weak-magnetic minerals from the concentrates.

Dvoichenkova G. P., Timofeev A. S., Nikitina Yu. N. Stimulation of heavy-media separation of diamond-bearing material by improvement of ferrosilicium corrosion resistance and produced rough concentrate quality. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2024;(8):108-124. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2024_8_0_108.

G.P. Dvoichenkova¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, Chief Researcher; Professor, Polytechnic Institute (branch) of the Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, 678170, Mirny, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, e-mail: dvoigp@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0940-3880,
A.S. Timofeev¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Senior Researcher, e-mail: Timofeev_ac@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3382-6007,
Yu.N. Nikitina, Leading Engineer, Yakutniproalmaz Institute Joint Stock Company ALROSA, 678174, Mirny, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, e-mail: nikitinayn@alrosa.ru,
¹ Institute of Comprehensive Exploitation of Mineral Resources Russian Academy of Sciences, 111020, Moscow, Russia.

A.S. Timofeev, e-mail: Timofeev_ac@mail.ru.

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