Ore description. Types of iron ores - a general characteristic of iron ore

The following industrial types of iron ores are distinguished:

There are four main types of iron ore products used in ferrous metallurgy:

• separated iron ore (friable ore enriched by separation method),
• iron ore briquettes.

Chemical composition

According to the chemical composition, iron ores are oxides, hydrates of oxides and carbonic salts of ferrous oxide, occur in nature in the form of a variety of ore minerals, of which the most important are: magnetite (magnetic iron ore), hematite (iron sheen or red iron ore); limonite (brown iron ore, which includes marsh and lake ores), siderite (spar iron ore or iron spar, and its variety - spherosiderite). Usually, each accumulation of the named ore minerals is a mixture of them, sometimes very close, with other minerals that do not contain iron, such as clay, limestone, or even constituent parts crystalline igneous rocks. Sometimes some of these minerals are found together in the same deposit, although in most cases one of them predominates, while others are genetically related to it.

rich iron ore

Rich iron ore has an iron content of over 57%, less than 8-10% silica, less than 0.15% sulfur and phosphorus. It is a product of natural enrichment of ferruginous quartzites, created by leaching of quartz and decomposition of silicates during the processes of long-term weathering or metamorphosis. Poor iron ores may contain a minimum of 26% iron.

There are two main morphological types of rich iron ore deposits: flat-like and linear. The flat-like ones lie on the tops of steeply dipping layers of ferruginous quartzites in the form of large areas with a pocket-like base and belong to typical weathering crusts. Linear deposits are wedge-shaped ore bodies of rich ores falling into the depth in zones of faults, fractures, crushing, bends in the process of metamorphosis. The ores are characterized by high iron content (54-69%) and low sulfur and phosphorus content. The most characteristic example of metamorphic deposits of rich ores can be Pervomayskoye and Zheltovodskoye deposits in the northern part of Krivbass.

Rich iron ores are used to smelt pig iron in blast furnaces, which is then converted into steel in open-hearth, converter or electric steelmaking. A small proportion of the rich iron ores mined are used as dyes and weighting agents for drilling muds. Separately, there are processes of direct reduction of iron, one of the products of which is hot briquetted iron. Poor and medium iron ore for industrial use must first go through the enrichment process.

Factors that determine the value of ores

1. The main factor determining the metallurgical value of iron ores is the iron content. Iron ores on this basis, they are divided into rich (60-65% Fe), with an average content (45-60%) and poor (less than 45%). A decrease in the amount of iron in the ore causes a progressive decrease in its metallurgical value due to a significant increase in the relative yield of slag in blast furnace smelting. The practice of operation of blast furnaces has established that with an increase in the iron content in the charge by 1% (abs.), the productivity of the furnace increases by 2-2.5%, and the specific consumption of coke decreases by 1-1.5%.
2. The composition of the waste rock has a significant impact on the quality of iron ore. With a waste rock basicity of zero, the amount of slag is doubled compared to the amount of waste rock introduced by the ore. If the waste ore is self-melting, that is, the basicity of ore and slag are equal, then the introduction of flux is not required, and the amount of slag is equal to the amount of waste rock, that is, its output will be half as much. In proportion to the decrease in the yield of slag, the specific consumption of coke decreases and the productivity of the blast furnace increases. Thus, the metallurgical value of ores increases with the increase in the basicity of the waste rock.
3. Harmful impurities reduce the value of the ore, and in a significant amount make it unsuitable for direct use in a blast furnace, even with a high iron content.
   • During blast-furnace smelting, a small amount of sulfur compounds passes into gas and is carried away with it from the furnace, but the bulk of sulfur is distributed between the pig iron and slag. In order to convert the maximum amount of sulfur into slag and prevent the production of sour pig iron, the blast furnace must contain highly heated slags with increased basicity, which ultimately increases the specific consumption of coke and proportionally reduces the productivity of the furnace. It is believed that a decrease in the sulfur content in the ore part of the charge by 0.1% (abs.) reduces the specific coke consumption by 1.5-2%, flux consumption - by 6-7% and increases the productivity of the blast furnace by 1.5-2%. ovens. The current conditions limit the maximum sulfur content in ore intended for blast-furnace smelting to 0.2-0.3%. However, due to the fact that at present, before being fed into the furnace, the bulk of the mined ores is subjected to beneficiation, followed by thermal processing of concentrates in the process of agglomeration or pellet roasting, as a result of which a significant proportion of the initial sulfur (80-95%) burns out, it became possible to use iron ores with sulfur content up to 2-2.5%. At the same time, ore, which includes sulfide sulfur, ceteris paribus, is of greater value compared to ore, in which sulfur is in the form of sulfates, since the latter is removed worse during agglomeration and roasting of the pellets.
   • Arsenic is removed even worse during agglomeration. In blast-furnace smelting, it completely transforms into cast iron. The content of arsenic in the mined ore should not exceed 0.1-0.2%, even if it is used for agglomeration.
   • Phosphorus is not removed during agglomeration. In a blast furnace, it completely transforms into pig iron, so its limiting content in the ore is determined by the possibility of smelting pig iron of this grade. So, for Bessemer (pure in phosphorus) cast irons, its amount in the ore should not exceed 0.02%. On the contrary, when obtaining phosphorous cast iron for the Thomas process, it should be 1% or more. The average phosphorus content, equal to 0.3-0.5%, is the most unfavorable, since for the smelting of Tomasov irons such a phosphorus concentration is low, and for Bessemer irons it is too high, which leads to a deterioration in the technical and economic indicators of the steelmaking process.
   • Zinc is not removed during agglomeration. Therefore, technical conditions limit the zinc content in melted ores to 0.08-0.10%.
4. Useful impurities increase the metallurgical value of iron ores for the following reasons. During the melting of such ores, naturally alloyed cast irons can be obtained, and then steels that do not require the introduction of special expensive additives for alloying (or reduce their consumption). This is how nickel and chromium impurities are used in ores. In other cases, other valuable metals are obtained simultaneously with cast iron. For example, when processing titanomagnetite ores as a result of metallurgical processing, in addition to iron, a very valuable and expensive metal is extracted - vanadium, due to which it becomes economically viable to process raw materials with a low iron content ( see for example Kachkanarsky GOK). An increased amount of manganese in iron ores makes it possible to obtain manganese cast irons, in which desulfurization processes take place more fully, and the quality of the metal improves.
5. The ability of an ore to be enriched (beneficiation of the ore) is an important sign of its metallurgical value, since most of the extracted iron ores are subjected to one or another enrichment method in order to increase their iron content or reduce the concentration of harmful impurities. The beneficiation process consists in a more or less complete separation of the ore mineral from the waste rock, sulfides. Enrichment is facilitated if the waste rock contains almost no iron, and the particles of the ore mineral are relatively large grains. Such ores are classified as easily enriched. Fine dissemination of ore particles and a large amount of iron in the waste rock make the ore hard-to-enrich, which significantly reduces its metallurgical value. In terms of enrichment, individual types of ores can be arranged in the following row in order of its deterioration: magnetic iron ore (enriched with the cheapest and effective way- magnetic separation), hematite and martite ores, brown iron ore, siderite. An example of an easily enriched ore is the magnetites of the Olenegorsk deposit. Magnetic separation makes it easy to separate gangue quartz from magnetite. When the iron content in the original ore is 29.9%, a concentrate with 65.4% iron is obtained. Also, during the magnetic separation of titanomagnetites of the Kachkanarskoye deposit, the proportion of iron in which is 16.5%, a concentrate with 63-65% iron is obtained. For example, Kerch brown iron ore can be attributed to the category of refractory ores, washing of which, with an initial iron content of 40.8%, allows increasing it in concentrate only up to 44.7%. In the waste rock washed from ore, its share in this case reaches 29-30%. The metallurgical value of iron ore is further enhanced when other useful components are extracted from waste rock along the way. For example, when enriching the ore of the Eno-Kovdorskoye deposit, in addition to iron ore concentrate, apatite concentrate is obtained, which is a raw material for the production of mineral fertilizers. Such a complex processing of iron ore mined from the depths significantly increases the profitability of the development of the deposit.
6. The main physical properties that affect the metallurgical value of iron ores include: strength, granulometric composition (lumpiness), porosity, moisture capacity, etc. Direct use of low-strength and silty ores in blast furnaces is impossible, since their fine fractions greatly impair the gas permeability of the column of charge materials . In addition, the blast-furnace gas flow removes ore particles smaller than 2-3 mm in size from the working space of the furnace, which then settle in the dust collectors. When processing low-strength ores, this leads to an increase in their specific consumption for iron smelting. The extraction of loose silty ores is associated with the need to build expensive sinter plants for their agglomeration, which significantly devalues ​​such ores. The amount of fines is especially large in the extraction of brown iron ore and hematite ores. Thus, the rich ores of the Kursk magnetic anomaly during mining give up to 85% of the fines that need to be agglomerated. The average yield of a fraction larger than 10 mm (suitable for blast-furnace smelting) from rich Krivoy Rog ores does not exceed 32%, and the yield of a fraction larger than 5 mm from mined Kerch ores is no more than 5%. According to the conditions of blast furnace smelting, the lower limit of the size of the ore loaded into blast furnaces should be 5-8 mm, however, due to the difficulty of screening such fine fractions, especially wet ores, on screens, it rises to 10-12 mm. The upper limit of the size of the pieces is determined by the reducibility of the ore and should not exceed 30-50 mm, but in practice it is also 80-100 mm.
7. Strength of ores during drying, heating and reduction. Due to the fact that the composition of the ores includes mineral components with different coefficients of thermal expansion, when heated, significant internal stresses arise in the pieces of the ore, causing their destruction with the formation of fines. Too much quick drying can cause the destruction of pieces of ore under the action of released water vapor. The decrease in the strength of iron ore materials during drying and heating is called decrepitation.
8. An important technological quality of iron ores is their softening. In a blast furnace, doughy masses of slag formed during the softening of the ore part of the charge create great resistance to the passage of gases. Therefore, it is desirable to use ores with the highest softening onset temperature. In this case, the ore does not soften in the blast furnace shaft, which favorably affects the gas permeability of the charge column. The shorter the ore softening interval (the temperature difference between the beginning and end of softening), the faster the softened pasty masses turn into a liquid mobile melt that does not present much resistance to the flow of gases. Therefore, ores with a short interval and a high softening point are of great metallurgical value.
9. The moisture content of an ore determines its moisture content. For various types of iron ores, the permissible moisture content, taking into account their moisture capacity, is established by technical conditions: for brown iron ore - 10-16%, hematite ores - 4-6%, magnetites - 2-3%. An increase in humidity increases the transportation costs for transporting ore, and in winter time requires the cost of drying to eliminate its freezing. Thus, with an increase in humidity and moisture capacity of ores, their metallurgical value decreases.
10. The nature of the porosity of the ore largely determines the reaction surface of the interaction of gaseous reducing agents with iron oxides of the ore. Distinguish between general and open porosity. With the same value of the total porosity, with a decrease in the pore size, the reaction surface of the ore pieces increases. This, ceteris paribus, increases the reducibility of the ore and its metallurgical value.
11. The reducibility of an ore is its ability to release oxygen bound to iron into its oxides to a gaseous reducing agent with a greater or lesser rate. The higher the ore reducibility, the shorter its residence time in the blast furnace can be, which makes it possible to speed up the smelting. With the same residence time in the furnace, easily reduced ores give the furnace gases more oxygen associated with iron. This makes it possible to reduce the degree of development of direct reduction and the specific consumption of coke for iron smelting. Thus, from any point of view, the increased reducibility of the ore is its valuable property. The greatest reducibility is usually loose, highly porous brown iron ore and siderites, which, when CO 2 is removed in the upper horizons of the blast furnace or as a result of preliminary firing, acquire high porosity. They are followed in decreasing order of reducibility by denser hematite and magnetite ores.
12. The size of an iron ore deposit is an important criterion for its assessment, since with an increase in ore reserves, the profitability of its development increases, the efficiency of construction and operation of the main and auxiliary structures (quarries, mines, communications, housing, etc.) increases. The blast furnace shop of a modern metallurgical plant of average capacity smelts 8-10 million tons of pig iron per year, and its annual demand for ore is 15-20 million tons. In order to compensate for construction costs, the plant must operate for at least 30 years (amortization period). This corresponds to the minimum field reserves of 450-600 million tons.
13. A significant influence on the determination of the rejection limit for iron content is exerted by mining conditions, depending on the nature of the occurrence of the ore body. The deep occurrence of ore layers requires the construction of expensive mines for their development, high operating costs (for ventilation, lighting of mines, pumping out water, lifting ore and waste rock, etc.). An example of extremely unfavorable mining and geological conditions for the occurrence of an ore body is the Yakovlevskoye deposit KMA, in which the height of the roof above the ore reaches 560 m in some areas. There are eight aquifers in the roof, which creates difficult hydrogeological conditions for mining and requires the removal of groundwater from area of ​​an ore deposit or artificial freezing of soil in this area. All this requires large capital and operating costs for ore mining and reduces the value of ores. The location of the deposit close to the daytime surface of the earth and the possibility of mining ore in an open way (in quarries) significantly reduce the cost of ore mining and increase the value of the deposit. In this case, it becomes profitable to extract and process ores with a lower iron content than underground mining.
14. Along with data on the quantity and quality of iron ore, an important factor in assessing a particular deposit is its geographic and economic location: remoteness from the consumer, the presence of transport communications, labor resources, etc.

Industrial types of deposits

The main industrial types of iron ore deposits

• Deposits of ferruginous quartzites and rich ores formed on them

They are of metamorphic origin. The ore is represented by ferruginous quartzites, or jaspilites, magnetite, hematite-magnetite and hematite-martite (in the oxidation zone). Basins of the Kursk magnetic anomaly (KMA, Russia) and Krivoy Rog (Ukraine), Lake Superior region (English) Russian(USA and Canada), Hamersley iron ore province (Australia), Minas Gerais region (Brazil).

• Stratum sedimentary deposits. They are of chemogenic origin, formed due to precipitation of iron from colloidal solutions. These are oolitic, or legume, iron ores, represented mainly by goethite and hydrogoethite. Lorraine basin (France), Kerch basin, Lisakovskoye and others (former USSR).
• Skarn iron ore deposits. Sarbaiskoye, Sokolovskoye, Kacharskoye, Mount Blagodat, Magnitogorskoye, Tashtagolskoye.
• Complex titanomagnetite deposits. The origin is magmatic, the deposits are confined to large Precambrian intrusions. ore minerals- magnetite, titanomagnetite. Kachkanarskoye, Kusinskoye deposits, deposits of Canada, Norway.

Minor industrial types of iron ore deposits

• Complex carbonatite apatite-magnetite deposits. Kovdorskoye.
• Iron ore magno-magnetite deposits. Korshunovskoye, Rudnogorskoye, Neryundinskoye.
• Iron ore siderite deposits. Bakalskoye, Russia; Siegerland, Germany, etc.
• Iron ore and ferromanganese oxide deposits in volcanic-sedimentary strata. Karazhalskoe.
• Iron ore sheet-like lateritic deposits. Southern Urals; Cuba and others

Stocks

The world's proven reserves of iron ore are about 160 billion tons, which contain about 80 billion tons of pure iron. According to the US Geological Survey, iron ore deposits

6. In terms of the total (as of 01.01.2003 - 100 billion tons - 16.1% of the world) and explored (56.1 billion tons - 18.6% of the world) iron ore reserves, Russia steadily ranks first in the world , fully satisfies its needs for iron ore raw materials and annually exports significant volumes of commercial iron ores, concentrates, pellets, hot briquetted iron.

7. Iron ore deposits of industrial importance are very diverse. They are known in endogenous, exogenous, and metamorphogenic rock complexes. Taking into account the genesis, it is customary to distinguish the following main industrial types.

8. Magmatic deposits:

a) titanomagnetite and ilmenite-titanomagnetite, which are zones of concentrated dissemination (with schlieren and vein-lenticular segregations) of vanadium- and titanium-bearing magnetites in intrusions of gabbro-pyroxenite-dunite, gabbro, gabbro-diabase and gabbro-anorthositic formations (Kachkanarskoe, Kopanskoe, Pervouralskoye in the Urals, Pudozhgorskoye in Karelia, Chineyskoye in the Chita region, deposits of the Bushveld complex in South Africa, Routivara, Taberg in Sweden, Allard Lake (Lak Tio) in Canada, etc.);

b) baddeleyite-apatite-magnetite, forming a series of lenticular and vein-like bodies in ultrabasic alkaline intrusions with carbonatites (Kovdorskoye on the Kola Peninsula, Palabora in South Africa).

Titanium-magnetite and baddeleyite-apatite-magnetite ores account for 6.6% of the world's proven reserves and 5.6% of commercial ore production. In Russia, they account for 12.9% in reserves and 18.2% in the production of marketable ores.

9. Metasomatic deposits (deposits of skarn-magnetite ores) are represented to varying degrees by mineralized skarns and skarnoids, which form complex layer- and lenticular deposits of magnetite ores in sedimentary, volcanogenic-sedimentary and metamorphic rocks (Sokolovskoye, Sarbayskoye, Kacharskoye in Kazakhstan; Vysokogorskoye, Goroblagodatskoye and others in the Urals; Abakanskoye, Teyskoye in the Krasnoyarsk Territory; Sheregeshevskoye, Tashtagolskoye and others in Gornaya Shoria; Tayozhnoye, Desovskoye in Yakutia; Markona in Peru, deposits of the Chilean iron ore belt; Chogart, Chador-Malyu in Iran; Maanshan in China). The share of skarn-magnetite ores accounts for 9.5% of the world's explored reserves and 8.3% of the production of marketable ores. Ores of this type in Russia account for 12.2 and 12.9%, respectively.

10. Hydrothermal deposits:

a) genetically associated with traps and represented by vein-columnar and various complex-shaped deposits of magnomagnetite ores in sedimentary, pyroclastic rocks and traps (Korshunovskoye, Rudnogorskoye, Neryundinskoye, Kapaevskoye, Tagarskoye in Eastern Siberia);

b) hydrothermal-sedimentary siderite, hematite-siderite, represented by sheet-, vein- and lenticular concordant and secant deposits of siderite, hematite-siderite (oxidized in the upper horizons) ores in sedimentary rocks (Bakalskoye ore field in the Urals, Berezovskoye in the Chita region, Huenza, Bou Kadra, Zakkar Beni Saf in Algeria, Bilbao in Spain).

The share of ores of this type in the explored reserves and production of marketable ores in the world is insignificant and does not exceed 1%, in Russia it is 5.4% in reserves, and 2.9% in the production of marketable ores.

11. Volcanic-sedimentary deposits - conformable layers and lenses of hematite, magnetite-hematite and hematite-magnetite ores in volcanogenic-sedimentary rocks (West Karazhalskoye in Kazakhstan, Kholzunskoye in Altai). The share of ores of this type in the explored reserves and production of marketable ores in the world is insignificant. In Russia, such deposits are not yet being developed.

12. Sedimentary marine deposits formed in marine basins and represented by weakly dislocated reservoir deposits of leptochlorite and hydrogoethite oolitic ores in marine terrigenous-carbonate Meso-Cenozoic deposits (Kerch iron ore basin in Ukraine, Ayatskoye in Kazakhstan, brown iron ore deposits of the Lorraine iron ore basin (on the territory of France, Belgium, Luxembourg), UK, Germany, Newfoundland Canada and Birmingham area in the USA). The share of ores of this type in the explored reserves in the world is 10.6%, in the production of marketable ores - 8.9%. In Russia, such deposits have not been explored and are not being developed.

13. Sedimentary continental deposits formed in river or lake basins and represented by bedded and lenticular deposits of leptochlorite and hydrogoethite oolitic ores in fossil river sediments (Lisakovskoye in Kazakhstan). The share of ores of this type in the explored reserves and production of marketable ores in the world is insignificant. In Russia, such deposits have not been explored and are not being developed.

14. Metamorphosed ferruginous quartzites are widespread on ancient shields, platforms, and on some median massifs of the Phanerozoic folded regions. Most of them are of Early Proterozoic and Archean age; Late Proterozoic and Early Paleozoic deposits are much less common. Ferruginous quartzites form huge iron ore basins. Ore deposits of quartzites within deposits usually have large dimensions: kilometers along strike, a few hundreds or tens of meters in thickness. The stratified form of ore bodies, thin-striped textures and a similar mineral composition of ores at various deposits are characteristic (the Krivoy Rog basin in Ukraine, in Russia - deposits of the Kursk magnetic anomaly, Olenegorskoe on the Kola Peninsula, Kostomuksha in Karelia, Tarynnakhskoe and Gorkitskoe in Yakutia, in Australia - the Hamersley basin , in Brazil - the region of Carajas and the "Iron Quadrangle", in the USA - the region of Lake Superior, in Canada - the Labrador Trough, in China - the Anshan-Benxi basin, etc.). Large and unique deposits in terms of reserves, easy dressing of ores, the possibility of open-pit mining in large quarries using powerful mining and transport equipment make it possible to consider them favorable objects for the extraction of iron ore in all basins of the world. The share of ores of this type in the explored reserves and production of marketable ores in the world exceeds 60%, in Russia in reserves it is 55.9%, in the production of marketable ores - 64.5%.

15. Deposits of weathering crusts, represented by rich hydrohematite- and siderite-magnetite, martite-magnetite ores, are formed during the transformation of ferruginous quartzites as a result of supergene processes. In accordance with this, in their distribution they are associated with areas and areas of development of ferruginous quartzites, confined to areal and linear weathering crusts developing along them (Mikhailovskoye, Yakovlevskoye, Gostishchevskoye, Vislovskoye, Razumenskoye in Russia, deposits of rich ores of Krivoy Rog in Ukraine, iron ore regions Australia, Brazil, India, USA). The deposits of this type account for 12.5% ​​of the explored reserves of Russia and 1.3% of the production of marketable ores. In total, the share of deposits of the last two types - ferruginous quartzites and polygenic rich iron ores developing on them - makes up 70.9% of explored reserves in the world and 74.4% of commercial ore production, i.e. these are the most important industrial types of deposits. The share of ores of the last two types of deposits in Russia is 68.4% in reserves, in the production of marketable ores - 65.8%.

16. Other supergene iron ores:

a) brown iron ore associated with weathering crusts of siderites (Bakalskaya and Zigazino-Komarovskaya groups of deposits in the Urals, Berezovskoye in the Chita region);

b) intermittent mantle-like deposits of chromium-nickel goethite-hydrogoethite ores, common in the weathering crust of ultramafic rocks (laterite ores of Cuba, the Philippines, Indonesia, Guinea, Mali, in the Urals - Serovskoye and deposits of the Orsk-Khalilovsky region). Such ores are usually alloyed with nickel and cobalt.

The share of other supergene iron ores in explored reserves in the world is 2.4%, in the production of marketable ores - 2.0%, in Russia, respectively, 1.1 and 0.2%.

17. Depending on the conditions of formation, the mineral composition of iron ores is also extremely diverse, which largely determines their industrial value. Iron ores are divided into 11 main industrial types(Table 2).

Iron ore is a rock, which includes a natural accumulation of various minerals and, in one ratio or another, iron is present, which can be smelted from the ore. The components that make up the ore can be very diverse. Most often, it contains the following minerals: hematite, martite, siderite, magnetite and others. The quantitative content of iron contained in the ore is not the same, on average it ranges from 16 to 70%.

Depending on the amount of iron content in the ore, it is divided into several types. Iron ore containing more than 50% iron is called rich. Common ores include at least 25% and not more than 50% iron in their composition. Poor ores have a low iron content, it is only a quarter of the total number of chemical elements included in the total content of the ore.

From iron ores, in which there is a sufficient iron content, they are smelted, for this process it is most often enriched, but can also be used in pure form, it depends on the chemical composition of the ore. In order to produce, an exact ratio of certain substances is necessary. This affects the quality of the final product. From the ore, other elements can be smelted and used for their intended purpose.

In general, all iron ore deposits are divided into three main groups, these are:

Magmatogenic deposits (formed under the influence of high temperatures);
exogenous deposits (formed as a result of sedimentation and weathering of rocks);
metamorphogenic deposits (formed as a result of sedimentary activity and subsequent influence high pressure and temperature).

These main groups of deposits can, in turn, be subdivided into some more subgroups.

It is very rich in iron ore deposits. Its territory contains more than half of the world's deposits of iron rock. The Bakcharskoye deposit belongs to the most extensive field. This is one of the largest sources of iron ore deposits not only in the territory Russian Federation but all over the world. This field is located in the Tomsk region in the area of ​​the Androma and Iksa rivers.

Ore deposits were discovered here in 1960, while searching for oil sources. The field is spread over a very large area of ​​1600 sq. meters. Iron ore deposits are located at a depth of 200 meters.

Bakchar iron ores are 57% rich in iron, they also include other useful chemical elements: phosphorus, gold, platinum, palladium. The volume of iron in enriched iron ore reaches 97%. The total ore reserve at this deposit is estimated at 28.7 billion tons. For the extraction and development of ore, technologies are being improved from year to year. Career production is expected to be replaced by borehole production.

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, about 200 km from the city of Abakan, in a westerly direction, the Abagas iron ore deposit is located. The predominant chemical element that is part of the local ores is magnetite, it is supplemented by musketovite, hematite, pyrite. The total composition of iron in the ore is not so great and amounts to 28%. Active work on the extraction of ore at this deposit has been carried out since the 80s, despite the fact that it was discovered back in 1933. The field consists of two parts: South and North. Every year, an average of just over 4 million tons of iron ore is mined in this place. The total amount of iron ore reserves at the Abasskoye deposit is 73 million tons.

In Khakassia, not far from the city of Abaza in the Western Sayan region, the Abakanskoye field has been developed. It was discovered in 1856, and since then ore has been mined regularly. During the period from 1947 to 1959, special enterprises for the extraction and enrichment of ores were built at the Abakanskoye deposit. Initially, mining was carried out in an open way, and later they switched to an underground method, having arranged a 400-meter mine. Local ores are rich in magnetite, pyrite, chlorite, calcite, actinolite, andesite. The iron content in them ranges from 41.7 to 43.4% with the addition of sulfur and. The average annual production level is 2.4 million tons. The total reserve of deposits is 140 million tons. In Abaza, Novokuznetsk and Abakan there are centers for the extraction and processing of iron ore.

The Kursk magnetic anomaly is famous for its richest deposits of iron ore. This is the largest iron pool in the world. More than 200 billion tons of ore lie here. This amount is a significant indicator, because it is half of the iron ore reserves on the planet as a whole. The deposit is located on the territory of the Kursk, Oryol and Belgorod regions. Its borders extend within 160,000 sq. km, including nine central and southern regions of the country. The magnetic anomaly was discovered here a very long time ago, back in the 18th century, but more extensive ore deposits became possible to discover only in the last century.

The richest reserves of iron ore began to be actively mined here only in 1931. This place holds a stock of iron ore equal to 25 billion tons. The iron content in it ranges from 32 to 66%. Mining is carried out both by open and underground methods. The Kursk magnetic anomaly includes the Prioskolskoye and Chernyanskoye iron ore deposits.

In addition to the well-known oil and gas, there are other equally important minerals. These include ores that are mined for ferrous and by processing. The presence of ore deposits is the wealth of any country.

What are ores?

Each of the natural sciences answers this question in its own way. Mineralogy defines ore as a set of minerals, the study of which is necessary to improve the extraction of the most valuable of them, and chemistry studies the elemental composition of ore in order to identify the qualitative and quantitative content of valuable metals in it.

Geology considers the question: "what are ores?" from the point of view of the expediency of their industrial use, since this science studies the structure and processes occurring in the bowels of the planet, the conditions for the formation of rocks and minerals, and the exploration of new mineral deposits. They are areas on the surface of the Earth, on which, due to geological processes, a sufficient amount of mineral formations has accumulated for industrial use.

Ore formation

Thus, to the question: “what are ores?” The most complete answer is this. Ore is a rock with an industrial content of metals in it. Only in this case it has value. Metal ores are formed when the magma that contains their compounds cools. At the same time, they crystallize, distributing according to their atomic weight. The heaviest ones settle to the bottom of the magma and stand out in a separate layer. Other minerals form rocks, and the hydrothermal fluid left from the magma spreads through the voids. The elements contained in it, solidifying, form veins. Rocks, being destroyed under the influence of natural forces, are deposited at the bottom of reservoirs, forming sedimentary deposits. Depending on the composition of rocks, various ores of metals are formed.

Iron ores

The types of these minerals vary greatly. What are ores, in particular, iron? If the ore contains enough industrial processing amount of metal, it is called iron. They differ in origin chemical composition, as well as the content of metals and impurities that may be useful. As a rule, these are associated non-ferrous metals, for example, chromium or nickel, but there are also harmful ones - sulfur or phosphorus.

The chemical composition is represented by its various oxides, hydroxides or carbonic salts of iron oxide. The developed ores include red, brown and magnetic iron ore, as well as iron luster - they are considered the richest and contain more than 50% metal. The poor include those in which the useful composition is less - 25%.

Composition of iron ore

Magnetic iron ore is iron oxide. It contains more than 70% pure metal, however, it occurs in deposits together with and sometimes with zinc blende and other formations. is considered the best of the used ores. Iron shine also contains up to 70% iron. Red iron ore - iron oxide - one of the sources of extraction of pure metal. And brown analogues have up to 60% metal content and are found with impurities, sometimes harmful. They are hydrous iron oxide and accompany almost all iron ores. They are also convenient for the ease of mining and processing, but the metal obtained from this type of ore is of low quality.

According to the origin of iron ore deposits, they are divided into three large groups.

1. Endogenous, or magmatogenic. Their formation is due to geochemical processes that took place in the depths of the earth's crust, magmatic phenomena.
2. Exogenous, or surface, deposits were created as a result of processes occurring in the near-surface zone of the earth's crust, that is, at the bottom of lakes, rivers, and oceans.
3. Metamorphogenic deposits were formed at a sufficient depth from the earth's surface under the influence of high pressure and the same temperatures.

Iron ore reserves in the country

Russia is rich in various deposits. The largest in the world is containing almost 50% of all world reserves. In this region, it was noted already in the 18th century, but the development of deposits began only in the 30s of the last century. The ore reserves in this basin are high in pure metal, they are measured in billions of tons, and mining is carried out by an open or underground method.

The Bakchar iron ore deposit, which is one of the largest in the country and the world, was discovered in the 60s of the last century. The ore reserves in it with a concentration of pure iron up to 60% are about 30 billion tons.

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory there is the Abagasskoye deposit - with magnetite ores. It was discovered back in the 30s of the last century, but its development began only half a century later. In the North and Southern zones in the basin, open-pit mining is carried out, and the exact amount of reserves is 73 million tons.

Discovered in 1856, the Abakan iron ore deposit is still active. At first, the development was carried out in an open way, and from the 60s of the XX century - by an underground method at a depth of up to 400 meters. The content of pure metal in the ore reaches 48%.

Nickel ores

What is nickel ores? Mineral formations that are used for the industrial production of this metal are called nickel ores. There are sulfide copper-nickel ores with a pure metal content of up to four percent and silicate nickel ores, the same indicator of which is up to 2.9%. The first type of deposits is usually of the igneous type, and silicate ores are found in the weathering crust.

The development of the nickel industry in Russia is associated with the development of their location in the Middle Urals in the middle of the 19th century. Almost 85% of sulphide deposits are concentrated in the Norilsk region. The deposits in Taimyr are the largest and most unique in the world in terms of richness of reserves and variety of minerals, they contain 56 elements of the periodic table. In terms of the quality of nickel ores, Russia is not inferior to other countries, the advantage is that they contain additional rare elements.

About ten percent of nickel resources are concentrated in sulfide deposits on the Kola Peninsula, and on the Middle and Southern Urals silicate deposits are being developed.

The ores of Russia are characterized by the quantity and variety necessary for industrial applications. However, at the same time, they are complex natural conditions production, uneven distribution on the territory of the country, discrepancy between the region where resources are located and the density of the population.

When they say “iron” about something, they mean - strong, strong, indestructible. It is not surprising to hear: “iron will”, iron health” and even “iron fist”. What is iron?

Name history

Iron in its purest form is a silvery metal, in Latin it is called Fe (ferrum). Scientists argue about the origin of the Russian name. Some believe that it originated from the word "jalja", which in Sanskrit means metal, others claim that this is the word "jelly", meaning "shine".

How did people get iron?

For the first time, iron found itself in the hands of a man, falling from the sky. After all, many meteorites were almost completely iron. Therefore, objects made of this metal were depicted in blue - the colors of the sky. Many peoples have myths about the heavenly origin of iron tools - supposedly they were given by the gods.

What is the Iron Age?

When man discovered bronze, the Bronze Age began. Later he was replaced by "iron". So they called the time when the Khalibs, the people who lived on the Black Sea coast, learned to melt special sand in special furnaces. The resulting metal was a beautiful silver color and did not rust.

Have gold items always been valued higher?

In those days when iron was smelted from meteorites, it was mainly used to make jewelry that only people of a noble family could wear. Often these ornaments had a gold frame, and in Ancient Rome even wedding rings were iron. A letter written by one of the pharaohs of Egypt to the king of the Hittites has been preserved, where he asked to send him iron, promising to pay in gold in any amount.

World wonders made of iron

In India, in Delhi, there is an ancient column more than seven meters high. It was made of pure iron as early as 415 AD. But now on it there is no trace of rust. According to legend, touching the column with your back gives the fulfillment of a cherished desire. Another grandiose iron building is the Eiffel Tower. It took more than seven thousand tons of metal to make the symbol of Paris.

Where does iron come from?

To get iron, you need iron ore. These are minerals, stones, in which iron is combined with various other substances. Purifying iron from impurities, and get the desired metal. For example, the raw material can be magnetic iron ore, which contains up to 70% iron. Ironstone is a black or dark gray stone. In Russia, it is mined in the Urals, for example, in the bowels of the mountain, which is called Magnetic.

How is ore mined?

There are iron ore deposits not only in Russia, but also in Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, the USA and some other countries. The reserves of this mineral are not the same everywhere, they begin to extract it only if it seems profitable, because development is expensive and will not pay off if the iron is too small.

Most often iron ore mined by open method. They dig a huge hole called career. It is very deep - half a kilometer deep. And the width depends on how much ore is around. Special machines scoop out the ore, separating it from waste rock. Then trucks take it to the factories.

However, not every field can be developed in this way. If the ore is deep, you have to make mines to extract it. For the mine, they first dig a deep well, which is called a shaft, and below it, corridors - drifts depart from it. The miners are coming down. it brave people, they find ore and blow it up, and then transport it piece by piece to the surface. The work of miners is very dangerous, because the mine can collapse, and there are dangerous gases below, and people can get hurt in the explosion, although they are very careful and follow the safety rules.

How is iron obtained from ore?

But mining ore isn't everything! After all, obtaining iron from ore is also a difficult process. Although they learned to smelt iron from ore a long time ago. In ancient times, blacksmiths were engaged in smelting it, they were very respected people. Ore and charcoal were placed in a special furnace, called a forge, and then set on fire. However, the usual combustion temperature is not high enough for smelting, so the fire was fanned using bellows - a device that blows air with great force. At first they were moved by hands, and later they learned to use the power of water. As a result of heating, a sintered mass was obtained, which the blacksmith then forged, giving the iron the desired shape.

Alloys

More often it was used (and is still used) not pure iron, but steel or cast iron. It is an alloy of iron and carbon dioxide. If the alloy contains more than 2% carbon, then cast iron is obtained. It is fragile, but it melts easily and can be given any shape. If carbon is less than 2%, then . It is very durable and is used to make many necessary things, machines, weapons.

Now, of course, other methods are used, although their principle is the same: smelting with the addition of carbon dioxide at a high temperature. Currently, electricity is used for this purpose.

Why does the human body need iron?

If a person lacks iron, he gets sick. This metal is needed for the formation of hemoglobin, which delivers oxygen to every cell in the body. Therefore, you need to eat foods rich in iron - liver, legumes, apples.

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