Khrunina N.P., Cheban A.Yu. Assessment of the effect of water saturation on disintegration of sands with high clay content when mining precious metal placers

Abstract

The article deals with the results of exploration of precious metal placer sands with high clay content in Pospelihka settlement, Primorsky Krai. Sands of the gold placers under study have proved to be difficult to disintegrate because of iron oxides and clay minerals of a montmorillonit group. The behaviour of elastic characteristics of the sands under water saturation conditions has been determined with the help of experimental analysis. The article presents data on the water saturation effect on difficult-to-wash clay sands to ensure further desintigration. The authors propose an assessment of the water-saturation effect at high-clay sands mining based on the elasticity dynamics calculation. The article considers a method of the sand-desintigration preparation control allowing for the proposed dynamic sand characteristics under water saturation conditions. The authors note that exploration of this area of focus, including pilot and analytical studies, requires further development.

Keywords

Water saturation, elemental composition, phase analysis, wave impedance, disintegration, ultrasound speed, longitudinal tensile module, elasticity dynamics.

Khrunina Natalia Petrovna – Senior researcher, Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (DVO RAN IGD), Khabarovsk, Russia. Phone: +7 (4212)- 32-79-27. Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Cheban Anton Yurievich – Senior researcher, Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (DVO RAN IGD), Khabarovsk, Russia. Phone: +7 (4212)- 32-79-27. Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

1. Litvintsev V.S. Obosnovanie parametrov geotekhnologii kompleksnogo osvoeniya tekhnogennykh mestorozhdenij Dal'nego Vostoka: dissertatsiya doktora tekhnicheskikh nauk [Justification of geotechnology parameters of a comprehensive development of technogene deposits in the Far East. D.Sc. dissertation]. Khabarovsk: Mining Institute, FEB RAS, 2000, 282 p.

2. Mamaev Yu.A., Van-Van-E A.P., Sorokin A.P., Litvintsev V.S., Pulyevsky A.M. Problemy ratsional'nogo osvoeniya zolotorossypnykh mestorozhdenij Dal'nego Vostoka (geologiya, dobycha, pererabotka) [Issues of sustainable development of gold placers in the Far East (Geology, mining, processing)]. Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 2002, 200 p.

3. Myazin V.P. Povyshenie ehffektivnosti pererabotki glinistykh zolotosoderzhashhikh peskov. Chast' 2 [Improving the efficiency of clay gold-bearing sands processing. Part 2]. Chita: СhitGTU, 1996, 119 р.

4. Chanturia V.A., Bunin I.Zh., Lunin V.D. and others. Use of powerful electromagnetic pulses in disintegration processes and stripping of hard gold raw materials. Fiziko-tekhnicheskie problemy razrabotki poleznykh iskopaemykh [Physical and technical issues of mineral resources development]. 2001, no 4, pp. 95–105.