Kachkanar mining and processing plant

The first descriptions of Mount Kachkanar were made in 1770 by academician P. S. Pallas in the book “ Traveling to Different Provinces of the Russian State ”, 1771-1801 ^[4] . In the original, the mountain is named Kushanar , the translation indicates the name Keskanar ^[5] .

Mount Keskanar lies from Palkina much more than thirty miles on the left side of Issus , which is near the village, and then moved under the mountain itself. Having left early in the morning, I had quite some time, having examined the mountain and the iron mines in Keskanar, having also collected a fair amount of magnet pieces, I would return back in the evening.

...

Mile 5 from Magnitnaya Mountain was dug on the high southern part of the uplifting Keskanar, which is a slope, a cross digging, from which they began to mine fat, containing up to 59 percent iron ore. The whole mountain is dotted with signs of this iron ore; although the sticking stones are made up of a gray wild mountaineer. Only one cliff from the cross pit fathom 20 stretched to the west, consisting directly of hard iron ore, and that fathom was 4 tall and wide: the Vogulians had long been informed of the ore places and magnetic holes by the grace of the Kushvinsky authorities, from which they and were busy.

- ^[6]

The greatest contribution to the geological study of the region was made by A.P. Karpinsky (Augitic rocks of the village of Muldakaevo and the Kachkanar mountains in the Urals, 1869), A.A. Krasnopolsky (Geological sketch of the environs of the Verkhne- and Nizhne-Turinsky plants and Kachkanar mountains ", 1909), E.N. Barbot de Marni (" Mount Kachkanar and its deposits of magnetic iron ore ", 1902) and N.K. Vysotsky (" Platinum deposits of the Isovsk and Nizhny Tagil regions in the Urals ", 1913), first compiled the first detailed map of the array at a scale of 1:42 000 ^[7] . However, due to the low iron content, Kachkanar ores were of little interest to industry, and therefore detailed exploration was not carried out for a long time ^[8] . There are also references in the literature to iron-rich Kachkanar ores, which were used as magnets to separate gold and platinum from iron impurities ^{[9] [10] [11] [12]} . For example, Barbot de Marni provides data on the iron content in the ore from the vein from 52.82 to 58.93%, indicates high contamination with waste rock and calls the deposit “generally unreliable” ^[13] .

In 1786, the Bisersky iron smelter was built on the Biser river (a tributary of Koiva 50 kilometers from Mount Kachkanar). The land cottage of this plant with an area of ​​354,858 acres belonged to A.S. Stroganov , then by inheritance - the widow of Baroness Maria Stroganova, her stepdaughter Princess Anna Golitsyna and her daughter V.P. Shakhovskaya (Butero-Rodali). Later, she passed on to the Shuvalovs ^[14] . In 1818, the dacha of the Bisersky factory, to which Kachkanar also belonged, was dissociated by the land surveyor Ivanov. This caused a protest of the mountain authorities - it was believed that the Kachkanar lands were state-owned. The lawsuit began, and only in 1839, by three decisions of the Senate, Kachkanar remained in the Bead cottage. After 30 years, the trial of ownership of Kachkanar began again. In 1868, the land surveyor of the Ural Mining Administration, Shvalyov, delimited three mines of the Bisersky summer residence: Magnitny, Kachkanarsky and Medny to the Nikolo-Pavdinsky plant. In 1873, the Perm district court considered the distinction incorrect and decided the case in favor of P.P. Shuvalov . Disputes over the ownership of Mount Kachkanar negatively impacted exploration work. Both parties did not conduct reconnaissance at this time ^[15] .

In 1875, mining engineer Obodovsky, manager of the Perm estate of Count Shuvalov, laid an adit at the exit of olivine rock with a rich dissemination of magnetic iron ore (more than 40%) on the southern slope of Kachkanar. Passed it with a length of about 8 fathoms (2 meters 13 centimeters). Work ceased on barren pyroxenites due to significant costs. The adit has survived to date under the name "Obodovsky adit". In addition to the adit and numerous pits on the top and slopes of the mountain from the Is river, there are traces of reconnaissance near the so-called Magnetic Pit. Their origin remains unknown, but the nature of the workings shows that magnetic iron ore was mined in these places, and the initials and dates of 1811 were preserved on the old larch growing near the mine ^[15] .

In 1888, K. Oborin, the platinum mine keeper of Count Shuvalov, conducted an exploration of a core of magnetic iron ore near Obodovsky's adit. But to no avail, since exploration in hard rocks required gunfire and high costs. The eastern slopes of Mount Kachkanar, where the Gusev Mountains are located, were part of the Nizhny Turin cottage of the Goroblagodatsky okrug . The mining department also conducted exploration work to find rich ores. They were led by mining engineers Zemlyansky, Berner, Mostovenko, Zhmakin, Lebedzinsky, Tsymbalenko (1895), Adolf (1896). The work of the last two engineers led to the conclusion that the Gusevy Gore deposits are unpromising and represent small accumulations (nests) of magnetic iron ore in augite rock ^[16] . Extensive exploration work in Kachkanar at the request of Count Shuvalov was carried out by mining engineer E.N. Barbot de Marni in 1899. He divided the deposits of magnetic iron ore in Kachkanar into the following types: 1) placer ore placers; 2) interspersed in pyroxenites, in gabbro , in olivine rock; 3) stocks and veins of continuous magnetite ^{[17] [18]} .

The exploration of boulder ores was carried out by log along the southeastern slope of the southern Kachkanar, where ore was mined and smelted in the Bisersky plant from the 30s of the XX century according to the archives of the Lysvensky Directorate. 570 holes were completed on 17 exploration lines, one mine and one well drilled. Explored placer with a width of 40 and a length of 800 sazhens. Reserves amounted to 400,000 pounds. In the area of ​​the Obodovsky adit, they explored rich disseminated magnetic ores in olivine rock. 7 wells were drilled by manual drilling with diamond crowns and one by mechanical drilling. An ore body of irregular shape was revealed - a stratiform stock in pyroxenite rock, lying according to the slope of the mountain. Reserves amounted to 55 million pounds with an average iron content of 27% ^[19] .

Solid magnetic iron ore met in three places. In particular, on Mount Magnetic Pit. In 1898, under the direction of mining engineer N. A. Shamarin, 6 wells were drilled and a number of pits were drilled. The ore body was in the form of a stock or a vein, reserves are small. A kilometer from Obodovsky’s adit to the north during drilling, an ore stock was found about 13 meters long with a fall inside the mountain. The third continuous ore yield in pyroxenites near the Obodovsky adit has a vein shape, but its dimensions are small. Ore is similar to boulder ^[20] . At the same time, Barbot de Marni for the first time in Russia conducts geophysical surveys on Kachkanar. The entire area of ​​Kachkanar (Shuvalovskaya) was divided by a network of sighting lines with a grid of 100 × 100 fathoms. At the points of their intersections, observations were made with a Tiberg-Talen magnetometer. 58 sighting lines cut through 271 kilometers long. Observations were made at 1358 points. Between the mountains of Spruce Mane and the Magnetic Pit, significant magnetic deviations were obtained. Four wells were drilled, one of which was up to 100 meters deep. They did not meet continuous rich ores; they discovered ore impregnation in pyroxenites. The search for rich ores in Kachkanar turned out to be negative. Barbot de Marni concluded: pyroxenites are the predominant Kachkanar breed ^[21] . Count Shuvalov took for unlimited use the Alexandrovsky mine (near Mount Grace ) and paid a quarter of a penny for each pound of ore.

From 1900 to 1905, the area was studied for the presence of platinum by the geologist N.K. Vysotsky. He compiled a map of the Isov Platinum Region at a scale of 1:42 000. He practically did not deal with iron ore issues. In 1931, the party of the Ural Geological Administration under the direction of A.I. Medvedev, the entire Kachkanar massif is covered by magnetometric survey, including the Gusev mountains. Only 136 square kilometers on a grid of 100 × 40 and in places - 50 × 20 meters. Against the general background of the massif, two abnormal areas stood out. One is confined to Kachkanar, the other to the Gusev mountains. In 1932, V. Ya. Ilyasov on the Gusevy Gory conducted a more detailed magnetometric survey on a 50 × 20 meter grid — an area of ​​12.96 square kilometers. The pits were drilled to check for anomalies. For an unknown reason, these works were not carried out in full. In 1931-1932, the Kachkanar complex was examined from the Ural Institute of Applied Mineralogy I. I. Malyshev , P. G. Panteleev , A. V. Peck , who assessed the ore prospects of the Kachkanar massif and estimated the reserves of poor disseminated ores to a depth of 50-100 meters of several hundred million tons ^{[22] [18]} .

In 1946-1953, a detailed exploration of the deposits of the Kachkanar group was carried out (in 1946-1948, by the party of the Uralchermetrazvedka trust, and from 1949 by the Ural Geological Administration) ^{[23] [24]} . In 1961, a geological survey was completed at the field ^[25] .

At the time of designing the plant in domestic and world practice, there were no precedents for developing deposits with low (16-17%) iron content. The feasibility of developing the Kachkanar deposits has been the subject of controversy and debate. Among the many problems in the design of the plant, the theme of transportation of wet magnetic separation tails, which are formed in large quantities, given the low iron content in ^[26], stood out. Economic efficiency was achieved due to the integrated use of ore (extraction of iron and vanadium) and an efficient ore transportation and processing scheme. Profitability was also ensured by good ore dressability, minimal content of harmful impurities (sulfur and phosphorus), and a low stripping ratio ^[27] .

The design of the mining and transport complex was carried out by specialists of the Uralgiprorud Institute; factories crushing, enrichment , pelletizing and agglomeration - Institute Uralmekhanobr ^[28] . In 1956, the directorate of the plant under construction was organized, in 1957 the Kachkanarrudstroy trust was established. In 1958, the construction of the Main quarry of the Kachkanra GOK began. The bulk of mining operations were carried out in 1961-1962. In 1960, the construction of an enrichment plant, a reinforced concrete plant, and a thermal power plant began. On September 30, 1963, the first phase of the GOK was put into operation. Even earlier, on June 8, 1963, the first concentrate was obtained. In a short time was built sinter plant. December 28, 1964 received the first agglomerate ^[29] .

The general project envisaged the construction of the Main (18 million tons per year) and Northern (15 million tons per year) quarries. When the plant was already commissioned and the concentrator was giving out concentrate, data were received on additional exploration of the Western deposit. In 1964, the Uralgiprorud Institute decided to build a Western quarry, in 1966 its capacity was determined at 8.25 million tons per year (up to 15 million tons were specified in 1968). In fact, the Western quarry, the most convenient for transportation, was commissioned earlier than the North - at the end of 1969 ^[30] . Mining operations at the Main Quarry began in 1959, ore mining - in 1963 ^[31] .

At the end of 1966, the second phase of the plant was commissioned at 16.5 million tons of crude ore per year. In 1968, the third quarter of the processing plant, the mechanical repair plant, were commissioned. In 1970, the first two roasting machines of the pellet factory were put into operation, and in 1971, two subsequent roasting machines ^[32] . By the end of 1973, the plant reached its design capacity of 33 million tons of ore per year ^[33] . In May 1967, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR decided to assign the name of Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov to the Kachkanarsky mining and processing plant of the Middle Ural Sovnarkhoz ^[34] . In April 1974, the plant extracted 200 million tons of ore ^[35] . By 1976, the plant reached its design capacity for processing 40 million tons of ore per year ^[36] . In 1985, designs were completed for OK-1-228 roasting machines with a working area of ​​228 m ² designed to replace OK-6-108 roasting machines. Four cars were manufactured at Uralmashzavod in 1986-1990 and put into industrial production in 1987-1993. ^[37]

On October 25, 1968, a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR On the Awarding of the Kachkanar City Komsomol Organization with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor “For the great contribution of Komsomol members and youth to the construction and development of the Kachkanar mining and processing plant and the city of Kachkanar, active work to educate youth and in connection with The 50th anniversary of the Komsomol ” ^[38] .

In 1993, the GOK went through the privatization process, and received the name Open Joint Stock Company Kachkanar Mining and Processing Plant Vanadium . The main shareholders of the company were Linex LLC (Moscow), AOZT System of Communications and Technologies (Moscow), Panorama (Moscow) ^[39] .

In 2006, the mining and processing enterprise received the eponymous deposit and in May 2008 began its development. In 2011, the company was renamed into JSC "EVRAZ Kachkanarsky mining and processing plant" ^[40] .

Mastering blast furnace

The experimental smelting of the Kachkanar sinter was carried out at the Chusovsky Metallurgical Plant (September 1963) and the Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (November 1963). Industrial blast furnace smelting of Kachkanar raw materials was mastered at the Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Combine and was associated with certain difficulties. The contradiction lies in the fact that for a more efficient extraction of vanadium into cast iron, it is necessary to maintain a low silicon content in it - this is achieved when conducting melting at low temperatures. On the other hand, a low melting temperature leads to the fact that the slag containing titanium oxides becomes viscous and makes it difficult to discharge from the furnace ^[41] .

Accidents

On November 2, 1999, at 5 p.m., an accident occurred at the plant - excessive water pressure broke through the tailings dam and more than 20 million cubic meters. meters of pulp went to the city of Kachkanar and the surrounding settlements. As a result of the destruction of the spillway structure No. 13 from the Rogalevsky compartment into the Intermediate, the adjacent section of the Separation Dam was eroded, a hole was cut up to a depth of 20 m and a width of up to 130 m with an outflow of water from the pond. The concrete structures of the spillway canals No. 12, 13 were completely destroyed. Proran was eroded to bedrock. As a result of the accident, about 60 m of the road in the vicinity of the village of Bushuevka is blurred, as well as approaches to the bridge over the Vyya River , which interrupted the communication on the Kachkanar - Nizhnyaya Tura - Yekaterinburg highway. The economic damage from the accident amounted to 209,247 million rubles ^[42] .

The spillway No. 13 of the Rogalevsky compartment operated until the fall of 1991. Subsequently, water was passed from the Rogalevsky compartment to the Intermediate channel through a temporary open channel by creating banquet spillways from rocky soil with a shift towards the root bank and pioneering dumping of rocky soil overburden of the quarry, from the destruction of which and the erosion of the Separation Dam of the tailing dump began. The causes of the accident were that the construction of a temporary canal and jumpers was carried out without an approved project and an indication of their useful life with limited parameters. A significant increase in the duration of operation of the temporary spillway channel caused the destruction of the material, a decrease in its strength and deformation properties, which led to a weakening of the structure in individual sections of the structure and destruction. Changing the operating mode of the spillway canal in October 1999, that is, significant (up to 0.6 m) and sharp fluctuations in the water level in the pond and on the threshold of the canal that occurred when the technological regime of the pulp supply was violated due to interruptions in the power supply of the enterprise ^{[39] [ 42]} .

The iron content in the ores of the deposit ranges from 14-16%, vanadium pentoxide (V ₂ O ₅ ) - 0.12-0.14%. The main ore mineral is magnetite in the form of impregnations of up to 90% of the volume of the ore part. Ore and overburden are represented by rocky rocks and are developed using blasting . Ore mining is carried out in an open way with loading by excavators in dump cars . Ore transportation from the face to the crushing plant is carried out by rail ^{[43] [1]} .

Ore crushing is carried out by cone crushers . Finely crushed ore is conveyed by belt conveyors to the processing plant . At the concentration plant, the crushed ore is pre-enriched by dry magnetic separation with the separation of different classes of crushed stone in the tailings of the rock. Pre-enriched ore undergoes two to three stages of grinding in rod and ball mills and 4-5 stages of wet magnetic separation with the release of iron-vanadium concentrate . Then the concentrate is dehydrated and shipped by conveyors to the charge preparation workshop. Tails of wet magnetic separation with a volume of over 40 million tons per year are transmitted via tailings in the form of pulp to the pumping station of the tailings workshop. The tailings of wet magnetic separation in the form of pulp with a solid content of about 10% through the slurry lines are pumped to the tailings dump . Tails are stored here, and clarification of water occurs in the settling ponds, which is then used as recycled water in the enrichment process and for other technological purposes ^{[44] [45]} .

The agglomeration of the concentrate includes: preparation of solid fuel and limestone , dosed blending of the concentrate with solid fuel and limestone, mixing the components of the charge with hot return, pelletizing and sintering of the mixture on two sintering machines . The pellet production process includes: preparation of bentonite clay powder, dosed concentrate blending, mixing of the charge components with the return of raw pellets, pelletizing the mixture in bowl granulators , screening raw pellets on roller feeders and firing on four conveyor roasting machines ^[46] . Shipment of commodity agglomerate and pellets is carried out through loading bins in railway cars ^[47] .

• Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works - 57.68% of the authorized capital
• West Siberian Metallurgical Plant - 39.95% of the authorized capital

• Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant
• Chusovskoy Metallurgical Plant

• Highly basic agglomerate
• Unfluxed Pellets
• Crushed stone of various fractions

EvrazHolding LLC - Management Organization ^[48]

Dynamics of ore mining and concentrate production ^{[49] [50] [2]} :

^* ore processing.

In 2010, 50,002 thousand tons of crude ore were mined and processed. The concentrate production amounted to 9,300 thousand tons. 8 656 thousand tons, including pellets of 5 616 thousand tons, were produced by sinter raw materials. In 2016, EVRAZ KGOK produced 3.4 million tons of sinter and 6.5 million tons of pellets ^[51] .

Revenues in 2010 amounted to 24,308 million rubles. Net profit reached 11 013 million rubles.

Issued shares - 381,864,252 shares. From 2001 to 2007, shares were quoted on the RTS Board . Exchange ticker - KGOK.

• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (04/29/1986).

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  Traction unit on the line

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  View from Mount Kachkanar to the industrial site of the plant

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  Technological road. In the background - chimneys of pelletizing and agglomeration factories

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  Sump pond for recycled water

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  Spillway connecting the Kachkanar pond and the clarified water compartment of the sludge storage

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  The building of the mine administration administration in the village of Valerianovsk

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  A stele in the form of a rope-shock drilling machine and a bucket of an EKG-5A excavator next to the mine control building

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  Traction unit OPE1AM-098 against the background of a quarry

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  Coarse Crushing Housing

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  Processing plant of the plant - span of core mills

• Eremin N. Ya. , Grachev N.S. Nov. Pitmen of Kachkanar. - Sverdlovsk: Middle Ural Book Publishing House, 1976. - 72 p.
• The author is Yu. P. Medvedev. Kachkanar. - Yekaterinburg: Publishing House of the Ural University, 1999. - 500 p. - ISBN 5-7525-0718-9 .
• Zakharov A.F., Evening N.A., Lekontsev A.N. et al. Kachkanarsky vanadium / Under. ed. V.I.Dovgopol and N.F. Dubrov. - Sverdlovsk: Middle Ural Book Publishing House, 1964.
• Ch. ed. E.A. Kozlovsky. Mountain Encyclopedia in five volumes. Volume 2. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1985. - 575 p.
• Ch. ed. V.V. Alekseev. Metallurgical plants of the Urals XVII — XX centuries. Encyclopedia. - Yekaterinburg: Academic book, 2001 .-- 536 p. - ISBN 5-93472-057-0 .
• Kokorin L.K. , Leleko S.N. Production of oxidized pellets. - Yekaterinburg: Ural Center for PR and Advertising, 2004. - 280 p. - ISBN 5-85247-027-9 .
• Fominykh V. G. , Samoilov P. I. , Maksimov G. S. , Makarov V. A. Pyroxenites Kachkanara / ed. ed. Steinberg D. S. and Efimov A. A. .. - Sverdlovsk: Printing house of the publishing house "Ural Worker", 1967. - 84 p.
• Dobrokhotov F.P. Ural Northern, Middle, Southern. - Petrograd: Publishing House of V. A. Suvorin, 1917 .-- 811 p.
• Barbot de Marni E.N. Ural and its wealth. - Yekaterinburg: Printing house of the newspaper "Ural Life", 1910. - 437 p.
• Kachkanar problems: based on materials from the conference on the integrated use of Kachkanar titanomagnetite ores / Dovgopol V. I .. - Sverdlovsk: Central Bureau of Technical Information, 1959. - 84 p.
• Barbot de Marni E.N. Mount Kachkanar and its deposits of magnetic iron ore (Russian) // Mining Journal : Journal. - 1902. - June. - ISSN 0017-2278 .

• The Iron Chain is a historical essay on the 40th anniversary of the plant (YouTube, 2003)
• 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - “Iron Character”, Russia Today Documentary series of films about the plant (YouTube, 2015)