Leading Scientific-Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Moscow, Russia:

A. M. Egorov, Leading Researcher
A. V. Lavrentev, Head of Laboratory

National Research Nuclear University “MEPhI” (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), Moscow, Russia:
G. A. Sarychev, Head of a Chair of Design of Apparatuses and Settings
I. G. Tananaev, Professor of a Chair of Design of Apparatuses and Settings, e-mail: geokhi@mail.ru

Reconstruction and development of Russian mineral resource base of lithium industry requires the prospective sources of mineral raw materials. Since 1942 till 1990, Transbaikalia Ore-Dressing and Processing Enterprise, created on the basis of Zavitinsk rare-metal deposit, had been the only lithium producer in USSR. This enterprise produced mainly lithium, beryllium, tantalum, niobium, tin and fluorite concentrates, and fieldspathic quartz. This paper considers the possibility of opening and processing of Zavitinsk deposit dumps after excavation of raw material base of lithium ores. Spodumene is the basic mineral resource of the dumps. In natural conditions, spodumene easily undergoes various lithium washing out processes due to the transformation into the secondary phases (mica and clayey minerals). There is offered the technology of Zavitinsk deposit off-balance ore benefication by flotation with preliminary radiometric separation of ore dumps. There was laboratory tested the flotation benefication of X-ray luminescence separation concentrates in Zavitinsk deposit off-balance ore dumps. The scheme and reagent mode, taken for the as-mined ore, were used during the experiments. Isoalcohols C12 – C16 produced by Kemerovo nitrogen fertilizer plant, are the most prospective and cheap flotation agents during the spodumene extraction from Zavitinsk deposit ore.
This work was carried out within the applied scientific investigations; the unique identifier of the project is RFMEFI57814X0050.

1. Volegzhanina I. S. Mirovoy rynok litiya i ego soedineniy (Global market of lithium and its compounds). Marketing v Rossii i za rubezhom = Journal of Marketing in Russia and Abroad. 2006. No. 5. pp. 101–109.
2. Obzor rynka litiya i ego soedineniy v SNG (Review of market of lithium and its compounds in the CIS countries). Moscow : Infomine, 2011. Available at: http://www.infomine.ru/research/38/374 (accessed : April 12, 2016). (in Russian).
3. Geologicheskie issledovaniya i gornopromyshlennyy kompleks Zabaykalya (Geological investigations and mining-industrial complex of Transbaikalia region). Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1999. pp. 341–344. (in Russian).
4. Linde T. P., Stavrov O. D., Yushko N. A. et al. Litiy Rossii: sostoyanie, perspektivy osvoeniya i razvitiya mineralno-syrevoy bazy (Russian lithium: state, prospects of mastering and development of mineral-resource base). Mineralnoe syre. Seriya geologo-ekonomicheskaya = Mineral raw materials. Geology-economic series. 2000. No. 6. pp. 116—121.
5. Kurkov A. V., Shatalov V. V., Boldyrev V. A., Zarubin A. I. Processes on surface of minerals in a non-sulphide flotation system valuated by mycrocalorimetric measurements. Application of surface science to advancing flotation technology. Engineering Foundation Conferences. Naantaly, Finland, 1996. p. 12.
6. Bichurin R. Ch., Enbaev I. A., Rudnev B. P., Klishin D. A., Shamin A. A. Effektivnost pererabotki otkhodov obogatitelnogo i metallurgicheskogo proizvodstv — vazhneyshiy rezerv uvelicheniya syrevoy bazy dobychi tsvetnykh i blagorodnykh metallov (Efficiency of processing of benefication and metallurgical production wastes – the most important reserve of increasing of raw-material base of non-ferrous and noble metal extraction). Trudy nauchnogo simpoziuma “Nedelya gornyaka—2003” (Proceedings of the scientific symposium “Miner's Week–2003”). 2003. No. 11. pp. 209–212.
7. Azarova Yu. V., Kazantsev V. V., Koltsov V. Yu., Sarychev G. A., Tananaev I. G. Otvaly Zavitinskogo litievo-bеrillievogo mestorozhdeniya kak syre dlya polucheniya litiya (The Zavitinskoye lithium-beryllium deposit dumps as raw material for lithium production). Obogashchenie Rud = Mineral processing. 2015. No. 2. pp. 23–27. DOI: 10.17580/or.2015.02.09
8. Kukov A., Egorov A. Processing practice of low-grade complex spodumene ores. Proceedings of XV Balkan Mineral Processing Congress. Sozopol, Bulgaria, June 12–16, 2013. Sofia, Bulgaria : Publishing House “St. Ivan Rilski”, 2013. Vol. II. pp. 640–644.
9. Samkova R. Recovering lithium mica from the waste after mining SN-W ores through the use of flotation. GeoScience. 2014. Vol. LV, No. 1. pp. 33–37.
10. Aghamirian M., Mackie S., Raabe H., Lang D., Grammatikopolous T., Pearce G., Todd I., Imeson D. Lithium Extraction from Spodumene. Hydroprocess 2010 III International Workshop on Process Hydrometallurgy, August 11–13, 2010. Santiago, Chile.
11. Grammatikopolous T., Gunning C., Pearse G., Gelcich S. Quantitative characterization of spodumene ore by automated mineralogy from the Moblan Pegmatite Deposit, Quebec, Canada. Proceedings of 48^th Conference of Metallurgists, COM 2009, August 23–26. Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON Canada. pp. 65–76.
12. Bulatovic S. M. Handbook of Flotation Reagents: Chemistry, Theory and Practice. Volume 3. Amsterdam, Netherlands – Oxford, UK – Walthadm, USA : Elsevier, 2014. 238 p.
13. Margarido F., Vieceli N., Durão F., Guimarães C., Nogueira C. A. Minerometallurgical processes for lithium recovery from pegmatitic ores. Commonicações Geológical. 2014. Vol. 101, Especial II. pp. 795–798. Available at : http://www.lneg.pt/download/9655/41_2904_ART_CG14_ESPECIAL_II.pdf (accessed: April 12, 2016).
14. Chen Y., Tian Q., Chen B., Shi X., Liao T. Preparation of lithium carbonate from spodumene by a sodium carbonate autoclave process. Hydrometallurgy. 2011. Vol. 109. pp. 43–46.
15. Yan Q., Li X., Wang Z., Wu X., Wang J., Guo H., Hu Q., Peng W. Extraction of lithium from lepidolite by sulfation roasting and water leaching. International Journal of Mineral Processing. 2012. Vol. 110/111. pp. 1–5.
16. Sitando O., Crouse P. L. Processing of a Zimbabwean petalite to obtain lithium carbonate. International Journal of Mineral Processing. 2012. Vol. 102/103. pp. 45–50.
17. Mokrousov V. A., Lileev V. A. Radiometricheskoe obogashchenie neradioaktivnykh rud (X-ray benefication of nonradioactive ores). Moscow : Nedra, 1979. 192 p.
18. Oleinovaya kislota B-115 (Oleic acid B-115 (Б-115)). Available at: http://akrihim.com/oleinovaya-kislota-b-115 (accessed : November 17.11. 2015). (in Russian).