N. V. Chersky Mining Institute of the North, Siberian Branch, RAS (Yakutsk, Russia)
Zakharov E. V., Senior Researcher, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, zaharoff@igds.ysn.ru

The paper presents experimental data on the effects of humidity on the specific energy intensity of dolomite crushing at the Internationalnaya diamond mine of PJSC AK ALROSA. A previously developed methodology was used to assess the effects of dolomite saturation with distilled water and a 5 % salt solution (NaCl) on the energy intensity of its crushing in the temperature range of +20 to –30 °C. It has been experimentally established that at positive temperatures the specific energy intensity of crushing water- and salt-saturated dolomite samples is 30–40 % lower than in the air-dry state. At lower negative temperatures, the energy intensity of the crushing process starts to increase sharply and is more than twice as high at –30 °C as the energy intensity of crushing air-dry samples. At the same time, the specific energy consumption for crushing air-dry samples monotonically increases with lower temperatures and is 40 % higher at –30 °C than the energy consumption at a positive temperature. For dolomite samples saturated with a 5 % NaCl solution, the energy intensity of crushing at –5 °C is 45 % below that of the air-dry state. At this negative temperature and saturation values, dolomite has a local minimum energy consumption, as established previously for other rocks. A further decrease in temperatures leads to higher specific energy intensities of crushing salt-saturated dolomite samples. The data obtained indicate a significant effect of humidity and medium composition on the specific energy intensity of crushing dolomite samples from the Internationalnaya diamond mine in both positive and negative temperature ranges.
The work was completed within the framework of the state assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (subject No. 0297-2021-0021, number 122011800083-0 in the Unified State Information System for Recording Research, Development, and Engineering Work) using the equipment of the Center for the Shared Use of Scientific Equipment of the Federal Research Center of the Yakut Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences under grant No. 13.TsKP.21.0016.

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