THE SUBSTANTIATION OF THE METHODOLOGY OF STOCKPILING AND CONSERVATION OF RARE-EARTH - RARE METAL PROCESSING WASTE UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESTRICTIONS

• Published in: International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference : SGEM Vol. 18; no. 1.3; pp. 1029 - 1035
• Main Authors: Gromov, E V, Mesyats, S P, Ostapenko, S P
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Sofia Surveying Geology & Mining Ecology Management (SGEM) 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Accidents; Air pollution; Apatite; Conservation; Distance; Earth; Ecosystems; Engineering; Geotechnology; Industrial pollution; Metals; Mine tailings; Mineral deposits; Mining; National parks; Nature; Nature reserves; Nepheline; Operating costs; Overburden; Polar environments; Production capacity; Production costs; Rare earth elements; Restoration; Solutions; Stockpiling; Storage; Tailings; Transportation; Void space; Waste disposal; Arctic region; Russia
• ISSN: 1314-2704
• DOI: 10.5593/sgem2018/1.3/S03.129

A tough requirement for the development of the Partomchorr apatite-nepheline ore deposit containing rare-earth elements is a performance of environmental safety of production, because a sanitary zone of the projected mining and processing plant sides with the boundaries of the existing Simbozersky nature reserve and the created Khibiny national park. The studies have substantiated reasonability of the Partomchorr deposit development by a combined mining method; in the first stage step-by-step mining of four open pits with a total capacity of 35 mln m3 is performed. The proposed solutions for the ore processing waste disposal include the stacking of dewatered tailings in the mined pit void space, the storage of the remaining tailings in an overburden downhill tailing on the industrial site with a view to stage-by-stage restoration. The proposed approach to stockpile the processing waste from the Partomchorr deposit makes it possible to reduce the transportation distance by 5.5 times and the area of the surface tailing dump by 2.22 times. It allows refusing a tailing pond and, as a result, reducing production costs, including annual environmental payments. Decrease of the volume and distance of waste transportation, a significant reduction in surface tailings and a step-by-step consolidation of dusting surfaces allow minimizing the mining-induced load in the area of specially protected arctic natural territories as a result of reducing the risks of man-made accidents, diminishing the aerosol pollution, and the areas of disturbed natural ecosystems.