Shukhov Belgorod State Technological University, Belgorod, Russia:
E. A. Pendyurin, Assistant Professor, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, pendyrinea@yandex.ru
L. M. Smolenskaya, Assistant Professor, Candidate of Chemical Sciences
I. V. Starostina, Assistant Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

Russia’s largest producer of high quality iron ore, Lebedinsky Mining and Processing Integrated Works is located in the Belgorod Region. Ore dressing method of LMPIW is wet magnetic separation that yields iron ore concentrate and tailings. The tailings are slurry with the solid content up to 30%; therefore, the tailings are handled with the hydraulic method. The tailings ponds cover the area of 1520 ha, with the volume of stored tailings of 18.5 Mm³/yr. The tailings are of alluvial type, the tailings storage is divided into 7 sectors and embanked. The sectors are filled in turns by layers 3 m high, with a frequency from 30 to 300 days. The main source of pollution is dusting surface of the tailings ponds. Dusting results from very fine grinding of initial material (content of size fraction 0.04 mm is 75%) and wide (250–300 m) beach zone. The scope of analysis covered a number of methods available to suppress dust from tailings beach: mechanical—moistening of beach surface; chemical—altering of physical properties of beach surface using bischofite and biological—use of plant seeds. It is found that the physicochemical approach enables considerable dust suppression but is expensive due to high cost of reagents. The biological method of dust suppression is best suitable and results in no accumulation of chemical agents and, consequently, no secondary pollution.
The study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in the framework of the Strategic Development Program for the Shukhov Belgorod State Technological University for 2012–2016, No. 2011-PR-146.

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