The Northern Mining and Processing Plant (Kryvy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region), which is part of the Metinvest group, has improved the quality of iron ore concentrate for the production of pellets.

According to the information of the company, at ore-dressing plant No. 1 of Northern Mining, a technological chain for the production of iron ore concentrate with an iron content of 68% from the ore of the Pervomaisky open pit was launched. Thanks to the project, the company has improved the quality of its pellets and gained the opportunity to enter new markets to sell iron ore.

At the same time, in 2023, Northern Mining will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its launch. From the very beginning, ore-dressing plant No. 1 has been one of the main divisions of the enterprise. According to the project, both stages of technological sections of ore-dressing plant No. 1 are designed for the processing of ores from the Pervomaisky and Hannovsky deposits according to a three-stage crushing scheme.

The design capacity of the plant allows it to process 30.5 million tonnes of ore per year and produce concentrate with an iron content of 65.8%. However, new times dictate new requirements. To remain competitive in the iron ore market, Northern Mining focused on improving the quality of the concentrate.

To achieve this goal, the concentrators proposed to change the technological chain at ore-dressing plant No. 1 and work on the ore of the Pervomaisky open pit, represented by finely disseminated magnetite quartzites. Experts calculated that to obtain a concentrate with an iron content of 68%, it is necessary to perform additional overburden of the mineral. This can be done by increasing the grinding time by one more stage in the cycle, including classification, wet magnetic separation and desludge. To do this, at the first stage, the plants combined the sections and installed new routes for pumping middlings between them.

At the output, the enrichers received a concentrate of the highest quality. In the new mode, the first stage of ore-dressing plant No. 1 began work in July this year. Earlier, in January, the second stage of the plant started operating according to a four-stage scheme.

CEO of Northern Mining Andriy Skachkov said that at present, the Metinvest group focuses on the production of pellets and products with high iron content. Northern Mining is also actively working in this direction.

"We have implemented an operational improvement at the ore processing plant and changed the technological chain to obtain a higher quality concentrate. We have equipped the LURGI 552V roasting machine and now we have an offer for European metallurgists – pellets with an iron content of 65% and concentrate with 68%. With such products, the enterprise is bold can enter more marginal sales markets and have prospects for supporting production at a sufficiently high level," the CEO said, quoted by the press service.

Northern Mining is one of the largest mining companies in Europe, which specializes in the production of iron ore concentrate with an iron content of 65.8% and pellets with an iron content of 63%.