Use of alternative raw material sources as flux material in pyrometallurgical production of the MMC Norilsk Nickel Polar Division

The tightening of requirements for reducing the man-made impact of concentrators and metallurgical enterprises by the global community in the context of compliance with ESG criteria, as well as the integrated development of mineral deposits by Russian legislation, necessitates the development of technologically and economically sound methods for processing anthropogenic raw materials and ore reserves characterized by a low content of target metals and the presence of non-specific impurity components. In the Polar Division of MMC Norilsk Nickel, such raw materials are lowsulfide lean ore from the Zapolyarny mine, materials from mine waste dumps stored on the surface, and stored ash and slag obtained earlier during coal gasification for the production of generator gas at the Nickel Plant. Due to the significant content of silicon dioxide in this raw material, methods of its involvement in the pyrometallurgical production of the MMC Norilsk Nickel Polar Division during the processing of sulfide copper-nickel ores and concentrates are considered, in process of which transported from offsite silicon-containing flux, quartzite and river sand, is used for slagging of iron. A technologically sound method of involving the materials in question is the processing for metallurgical slag-cleaning in the electric furnace of the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant named after B. I. Kolesnikov. The conducted studies (balance calculations and pilot tests) showed the fundamental possibility of using alternative materials in a mixture of siliconcontaining fluxes with partial replacement of the main flux and obtaining conditioned smelting products. The calculation of economic efficiency, performed only on the replacement of the main flux (quartzite) in the processing of waste dump material and low-sulfide ore of the Zapolyarny mine, showed a stable positive effect. When processing ash slag, the effect has borderline values and will be achieved in the future as a result of the liquidation of the waste disposal facility.