Institute of Comprehensive Exploitation of Mineral Resources (Russia):

Chanturiya V. А., Chief Researcher, member of the RAS, vchan@mail.ru

Minenko V. G., Leading Researcher, Ph. D. in Engineering Sciences, Vladi200@mail.ru

Samusev А. L., Ph. D. in Engineering Sciences, Andrey63vzm@mail.ru

Timofeev А. S., Junior Researcher, timofeev_ac@mail.ru

Yakutniproalmaz Research and Design Institute (Russia):

Ostrovskaya G. Kh., Head of Laboratory, OstrovskayaGKh@alrosa.ru

Rocks of diamond pipes of the deposit named after M. V. Lomonosov, which is the largest primary diamonds deposit in the European part of the Russian Federation, are almost completely (up to 90 %) substituted by saponite. In water medium this mineral forms fine-dispersed jelly-like suspension, that practically may not be settled even by means of various coagulating reagents and flocculants, leading to upsets in diamonds separation process under the conditions of water recirculation. On the basis of experimental studies of saponite settling rate measurement with employment of various energy effects, a high effectiveness of electrochemical method was established, essentially consisting in application of electrophoretic effect of negatively charged finely-dispersed saponite particles attachment to anode, electroosmosis with clarified water obtained on cathode. An electrochemical separator was developed and tested under full-scale conditions with a view to effectively de-slime saponite-containing waters with solid phase concentration up to 257 g/dm³ at OAO «Severalmaz» facilities. Rational parameters of saponite-containing waters electrochemical separation process were established, providing for saponite recovery over 80 % and clarified overflow with solid phase concentration within 20 g/dm³, energy consumption being 4?7 kWh per 1 m³ of feed water. A possibility for effective de-sliming of re-circulated waters at OAO «Severalmaz» facilities was substantiated, permitting to solve an environmental problem through efficient organization of water recirculation system and providing for diamonds separation processes stabilization, as well as commercial production (up 1 million tons per year) of saponite of desired product range.

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