Scientists from the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have found that the waste from processing platinum-copper-nickel ores of the Norilsk group can serve as an additional source of raw materials. Studies have shown that the concentrations of cobalt and platinum in tailings are comparable to the content of these metals in mined ores.
Specialists analyzed samples from the tailings storage facility in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and identified nickel, copper, zinc, cobalt, lead, platinum, gold and silver in them. Thermodynamic calculations were also carried out, which for the first time made it possible to describe the forms of migration of elements in solution. This will help not only to develop technologies for extracting valuable metals, but also to assess the behavior of toxic elements, which is important for the ecology of the region.
The study opens up the possibility of reusing industrial waste, reducing the burden on nature and increasing the efficiency of developing Russia's largest copper-nickel deposits.
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