The Stoilensky mine began to be developed in 1961. This is one of the largest deposits of the Kursk magnetic anomaly. After 20 years, a mining and processing plant (GOK) was built next to the mine. In the 1990s, the enterprise was corporatized and now the mining and processing complex is part of the NLMK group and is one of three main suppliers iron ore in Russia, it accounts for more than 15% of the market. The main products of the plant are iron ore concentrate and iron sinter ore. They are used for .

Stoilensky GOK (NLMK)

Year of foundation: 1961

Location: Stary Oskol, Belgorod region

The number of employees:
more than 6 thousand







To get to rich ore and ferruginous quartzites, millions of cubic meters of clay, loam, sand and chalk must be removed and moved to dumps. Later, the worked-out breed is also put into action. Chalk is used in the production of cement, sand - in construction, crushed stone - in the production of road works.




The quarry employs 24 BelAZ dump trucks with a payload capacity of 136 tons each, nine 55-ton and six 10-ton dump trucks, 39 excavators and 9 drilling rigs, 30 traction units and 12 diesel locomotives.









To crush the rock and ferruginous quartzites, you need to carry out an explosion. This happens about 18 times a year. First, geologists determine the places for explosions - blocks. On the selected blocks, a network of 40–60 wells is drilled, which are staggered at a distance of three to four meters from each other. An explosive in the form of a gel is poured into the wells and detonators are laid. The total mass of explosives reaches a thousand tons. Detonation is transmitted from well to well with a delay of a fraction of a second. This is done in order to reduce the seismic impact on the ground.

The explosion crushes ferruginous quartzites with an iron content of 25–29%. Then excavators are driven to the explosion sites. The volume of their bucket is 10-12 cubic meters. Excavators load crushed ore into BelAZ dump trucks with a carrying capacity of 136 tons. BelAZ trucks transport ore to transshipment warehouses located in the upper third of the quarry depth.

tons of iron ore concentrate- volume of production
in 2013






At the transshipment warehouses, ferruginous quartzites are poured out of dump trucks and loaded into wagons for transportation to the coarse crushing building enrichment plant.







There, the ore from the wagons is poured into coarse crushers, which grind the rock into pieces of 200 millimeters in diameter. The crushed ore is transferred along conveyor belts to the body of medium and fine crushing for further grinding.














Then pieces of ore with a size of 15-20 millimeters fall on the processing plant. In ball mills, the ore is again ground into powder. After classification and separation, it enters the magnetic separators. The separator drums take away the magnetic component from the powder, and the waste rock mixed with water is sent to the tailings.



The result is an iron ore concentrate with an iron content of 66.5%. Before transferring the concentrate to the shipping unit, excess moisture is removed from it using vacuum filters.




Iron ore concentrate with a given moisture content and an iron content of 66.5% is shipped to consumers. It will be used in blast furnaces for steel production along with fluxes, pellets and other iron constituents.

Photos: Ivan Gushchin

It rarely happens that I visit the same production twice. But when I was again called to Lebedinsky GOK and OEMK, I decided that I needed to seize the moment. It was interesting to see what has changed in 4 years since the last trip, besides, this time I was more equipped and, in addition to the camera, I also took a 4K camera with me in order to really convey to you the whole atmosphere, burning and eye-catching shots from the GOK and steel shops of the Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant.

Today, especially for a report on the extraction of iron ore, its processing, remelting and obtaining steel products.


Lebedinsky GOK is Russia's largest iron ore mining and processing enterprise and has the largest iron ore open pit in the world. The plant and quarry are located in the Belgorod region, not far from the town of Gubkin. The enterprise is part of the Metalloinvest company and is the leading iron ore producer in Russia.

The view from the observation deck at the entrance to the quarry is mesmerizing.

It is really huge and growing every day. The depth of the Lebedinsky GOK quarry is 250 m from sea level or 450 m from the surface of the earth (and the diameter is 4 by 5 kilometers), groundwater constantly seeps into it, and if it were not for the operation of the pumps, then it was filled to the very top in a month. It is twice listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest quarry for the extraction of non-combustible minerals.

This is what it looks like from a spy satellite.

In addition to Lebedinsky GOK, Metalloinvest also includes Mikhailovsky GOK, which is located in Kursk region. Together, the two largest plants make the company one of the world leaders in the extraction and processing of iron ore in Russia, and in the top 5 in the world in the production of marketable iron ore. The total proven reserves of these plants are estimated at 14.2 billion tons according to international classification JORC, which guarantees about 150 years of operating life at current production levels. So the miners and their children will be provided with jobs for a long time.

The weather this time was also not sunny, in some places it even drizzled, which was not in the plans, but from that the photos came out even more contrasting).

It is noteworthy that right in the “heart” of the quarry there is an area with waste rock, around which all the ore containing iron has already been mined. For 4 years, it has noticeably decreased, since this hinders the further development of the quarry and it is also systematically developed.

Iron ore is immediately loaded into railway trains, into special reinforced wagons that transport ore from the quarry, they are called dump cars, their carrying capacity is 120 tons.

Geological layers by which one can study the history of the development of the Earth.

By the way, the upper layers of the quarry, consisting of rocks, which do not contain iron, do not go to the dump, but are processed into crushed stone, which is then used as a building material.

Giant machines from the height of the observation deck seem no more than an ant.

By this railway, which connects the quarry with factories, the ore is transported for further processing. This story will be further.

A lot of various equipment works in the quarry, but the most noticeable, of course, are the multi-ton Belaz and Caterpillar dump trucks.

By the way, these giants have the same license plates as ordinary passenger cars and they are registered with the traffic police.

In a year, both mining and processing plants included in Metalloinvest (Lebedinsky and Mikhailovsky GOK) produce about 40 million tons of iron ore in the form of concentrate and sinter ore (this is not the volume of production, but already enriched ore, that is, separated from waste rock). Thus, it turns out that on average, about 110 thousand tons of enriched iron ore are produced per day at two mining and processing plants.

This Belaz transports up to 220 tons of iron ore at a time.

The excavator gives a signal and he carefully backs up. Just a few buckets and the giant's body is filled. The excavator once again gives a signal and the dump truck drives off.
This Hitachi excavator, which is the largest in the quarry, has a bucket capacity of 23 cubic meters.

"Belaz" and "Caterpillar" alternate. By the way, an imported dump truck transports only 180 tons.

Soon the Hitachi driver will be interested in this pile.

Interesting texture in iron ore.

Every day, 133 units of the main mining equipment (30 heavy dump trucks, 38 excavators, 20 burstanks, 45 traction units) work in the open pit of Lebedinsky GOK.

Belaz are smaller

Explosions could not be seen, and it is rare that the media or bloggers are allowed to see them because of safety standards. Such an explosion is done once every three weeks. All equipment and workers, according to safety standards, are removed from the quarry before this.

Well, then the dump trucks unload the ore closer to the railroad right there in the quarry, from where other excavators load it into dump cars, which I wrote about above.

Then the ore is transported to the processing plant, where ferruginous quartzites are crushed and the waste rock is separated by magnetic separation: the ore is crushed, then sent to a magnetic drum (separator), to which, in accordance with the laws of physics, all iron sticks, and not iron is washed off water. After that, pellets and HBI are made from the obtained iron ore concentrate, which is then used for steel smelting.

Pictured is a mill that grinds ore.

There are such drinkers in the workshops, after all, it’s hot here, but there’s no way without water.

The scale of the workshop where ore is crushed in drums is impressive. The ore grinds naturally as the stones hit each other as they spin. About 150 tons of ore are placed in a drum with a seven-meter diameter. There are also 9-meter drums, their performance is almost double!

We went for a minute to the control panel of the shop. It is quite modest here, but the tension is immediately felt: dispatchers work and control the work process on the control panels. All processes are automated, so any intervention, whether it be stopping or starting any of the nodes, passes through them and with their direct participation.

The next point of the route was the complex of the third stage of the shop for the production of hot briquetted iron - TsGBZH-3, which, as you might have guessed, produces hot briquetted iron.

The production capacity of HBI-3 is 1.8 million tons of products per year, the total production capacity of the company, taking into account stages 1 and 2 for the production of HBI, has increased to a total of 4.5 million tons per year.

The TsGBZH-3 complex occupies an area of ​​19 hectares, and includes about 130 facilities: batch and product screening stations, oxidized pellets and finished products ducts and transportation, lower sealing gas and HBI dedusting systems, pipeline racks, a reduction station natural gas, sealing gas station, electrical substations, reformer, process gas compressor and other facilities. The shaft furnace itself, 35.4 m high, is located in an eight-tier metal structure 126 meters high.

Also, within the framework of the project, the associated production facilities were also modernized - a concentrating plant and a pelletizing plant, which ensured the production of additional volumes of iron ore concentrate (with an iron content of more than 70%) and high-quality high-basic pellets.

HBI production is today the most environmentally friendly way to obtain iron. During its production, harmful emissions associated with the production of coke, sinter and pig iron are not formed, in addition, there is no solid waste in the form of slag. Compared to the production of pig iron, energy consumption for the production of HBI is 35% lower, greenhouse gas emissions are 60% lower.
HBI is produced from pellets at a temperature of about 900 degrees.

Subsequently, iron briquettes are formed through the mold or as it is also called “briquette press”.

This is what the product looks like:

Well, now let's sunbathe a little in the hot shops! This is the Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant, in other words OEMK, where steel is melted.

You can’t get close, the heat is felt palpably.

On upper floors hot, iron-rich soup is stirred with a ladle.

Heat-resistant steelworkers are engaged in this.

Slightly missed the moment of pouring iron into a special container.

And this is ready-made iron soup, please come to the table before it gets cold.

And another one just like it.

And we move on down the line. In the picture you can see samples of steel products that the plant produces.

The production here is very impressive.

In one of the workshops of the plant, such steel billets are produced. Their length can reach from 4 to 12 meters, depending on the wishes of customers. The photo shows a 6-strand continuous casting machine.

Here you can see how the blanks are cut into pieces.

In the next workshop, hot blanks are cooled with water to the desired temperature.

And this is how already cooled, but not yet processed products look.

This is a warehouse where such semi-finished products are placed.

And these are multi-ton, heavy shafts for rolling iron.

In the adjacent workshop of OEMK, steel bars of different diameters, which have been rolled in previous workshops, are turned and polished. By the way, this plant is the seventh largest enterprise in Russia for the production of steel and steel products.

After polishing, the products are in a neighboring workshop.

Another workshop, where turning and polishing of products takes place.

This is how they look raw.

Folding polished rods together.

And warehousing with a crane.

The main consumers of OEMK steel products in the Russian market are enterprises in the automotive, machine-building, pipe, hardware and bearing industries.

Like neatly folded steel bars).

OEMK applies advanced technologies, including direct reduction of iron and electric arc melting technology, which ensures the production of metal High Quality, with a reduced content of impurities.

OEMK steel products are exported to Germany, France, USA, Italy, Norway, Turkey, Egypt and many other countries.

The plant produces products used by the world's leading automakers such as Peugeot, Mercedes, Ford, Renault, Volkswagen. They make bearings for these same foreign cars.

At the request of the customer, a sticker is glued to each product. The heat number and steel grade code are stamped on the sticker.

The opposite end can be marked with paint, and for each package to finished goods tags are attached with the contract number, country of destination, steel grade, heat number, size in millimeters, supplier name and package weight.

Thank you for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed it.
Special thanks to the Metalloinvest campaign for the invitation!

Click the button to subscribe to How It's Made!

Today it is difficult to imagine life without steel, from which many things around us are made. The basis of this metal is iron obtained by smelting ore. Iron ore differs in origin, quality, method of extraction, which determines the feasibility of its extraction. Also iron ore is different mineral composition, the percentage of metals and impurities, as well as the usefulness of the additives themselves.

Iron as a chemical element is part of many rocks, however, not all of them are considered raw materials for mining. It all depends on the percentage composition of the substance. Specifically, iron formations are called mineral formations in which the volume of useful metal makes its extraction economically feasible.

Such raw materials began to be mined 3,000 years ago, since iron made it possible to produce better durable products in comparison with copper and bronze (see). And already at that time, the craftsmen who had smelters distinguished the types of ore.

mined today the following types raw materials for further metal smelting:

  • Titanium-magnetite;
  • Apatite-magnetite;
  • Magnetite;
  • Magnetite-hematite;
  • Goethite-hydrogoethite.

Iron ore is considered rich if it contains at least 57% iron. But, developments can be considered appropriate at 26%.

Iron in the composition of the rock is more often in the form of oxides, the remaining additives are silica, sulfur and phosphorus.

All currently known types of ores were formed in three ways:

  • igneous. Such ores were formed as a result of exposure to the high temperature of magma or ancient volcanic activity, that is, the remelting and mixing of other rocks. Such minerals are hard crystalline minerals with a high percentage of iron. Ore deposits of igneous origin are usually associated with old mountain building zones where molten material came close to the surface.

The process of formation of igneous rocks is as follows: a melt of various minerals (magma) is a very fluid substance, and when cracks form at faults, it fills them, cooling down and acquiring a crystalline structure. This is how layers with magma frozen in the earth's crust were formed.

  • metamorphic. This is how sedimentary types of minerals are transformed. The process is as follows: when moving individual sections earth's crust, some of its layers, containing the necessary elements, falls under the overlying rocks. At depth, they are subject to the high temperature and pressure of the upper layers. Over millions of years, such impacts occur here chemical reactions, transforming the composition of the source material, the crystallization of the substance. Then, in the process of the next movement, the rocks are closer to the surface.

Typically, iron ore of this origin is not too deep and has a high percentage of useful metal composition. For example, as a bright example - magnetic iron ore (up to 73-75% iron).

  • sedimentary. The main "workers" of the process of ore formation are water and wind. Destroying rock layers and moving them to lowlands, where they accumulate in layers. Plus, water, as a reagent, can modify the source material (leach). As a result, brown iron ore is formed - a crumbly and loose ore containing from 30% to 40% iron, with big amount various impurities.

Raw materials due to various ways of formation are often mixed in layers with clays, limestones and igneous rocks. Sometimes deposits of different origin can be mixed in one field. But most often one of the listed types of breed prevails.

Having established by geological exploration an approximate picture of the processes taking place in a particular area, they determine the possible places with the occurrence of iron ores. Like, for example, the Kursk magnetic anomaly, or the Krivoy Rog basin, where, as a result of magmatic and metamorphic influences, types of iron ore valuable in industrial terms were formed.

Iron ore mining on an industrial scale

Mankind began to extract ore a very long time ago, but most often it was low-quality raw materials with significant impurities of sulfur (sedimentary rocks, the so-called "swamp" iron). The scale of development and smelting constantly increased. Today, a whole classification of various deposits of ferruginous ores has been built.

The main types of industrial deposits

All ore deposits are divided into types depending on the origin of the rock, which in turn makes it possible to distinguish the main and secondary iron ore regions.

Main types of commercial iron ore deposits

These include the following deposits:

  • deposits various types iron ore (ferruginous quartzites, magnetic iron ore), formed by a metamorphic method, which makes it possible to extract very rich ores on them. Typically, deposits are associated with the most ancient processes of formation of rocks of the earth's crust and lie on formations called shields.

The Crystal Shield is a large, curved lens formation. It consists of rocks formed at the stage of formation of the earth's crust 4.5 billion years ago.

The most famous deposits of this type are: the Kursk magnetic anomaly, the Krivoy Rog basin, Lake Superior (USA/Canada), Hamersley province in Australia, and the Minas Gerais iron ore region in Brazil.

  • Deposits of reservoir sedimentary rocks. These deposits were formed as a result of the settling of iron-rich compounds that are present in the composition of minerals destroyed by wind and water. A striking example of iron ore in such deposits is brown iron ore.

The most famous and large deposits are the Lorraine basin in France and the Kerch on the peninsula of the same name (Russia).

  • Skarn deposits. Usually the ore is of igneous and metamorphic origin, the layers of which, after formation, were displaced at the time of the formation of mountains. That is, iron ore, located in layers at a depth, was crumpled into folds and moved to the surface during movement lithospheric plates. Such deposits are located more often in folded areas in the form of layers or pillars. irregular shape. Formed by magma. Representatives of such deposits: Magnitogorsk (Urals, Russia), Sarbayskoye (Kazakhstan), Iron Springs (USA) and others.
  • Titanomagnetite deposits of ores. Their origin is igneous, they are most often found at outcrops of ancient bedrocks - shields. These include basins and deposits in Norway, Canada, Russia (Kachkanarskoye, Kusinskoye).

Minor deposits include: apatite-magnetite, magno-magnetite, siderite, ferromanganese deposits developed in Russia, Europe, Cuba and others.

Iron ore reserves in the world - leading countries

Today, according to various estimates, deposits with a total volume of 160 billion tons of ore have been explored, from which about 80 billion tons of metal can be obtained.

The US Geological Survey presents data according to which Russia and Brazil account for about 18% of the world's iron ore reserves.

In terms of iron reserves, the following leading countries can be distinguished

The picture of world ore reserves is as follows

Most of these countries are also the largest exporters of iron ore. In general, the volume of raw materials sold is about 960 million tons per year. The largest importers are Japan, China, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, France.

Typically, private companies are engaged in the extraction and sale of raw materials. For example, Metallinvest and Evrazholding, the largest in our country, producing in total amount about 100 million tons of iron ore products.

According to the estimates of the US Geological Survey, mining and production volumes are constantly growing, about 2.5-3 billion tons of ore are mined per year, which reduces its value on the world market.

The markup for 1 ton today is approximately $40. The record price was fixed in 2007 - $180/ton.

How is iron ore mined?

Seams of iron ore lie at different depths, which determines its extraction methods from the bowels.

Career way. The most common quarrying method is used when deposits are found at a depth of about 200-300 meters. The development takes place through the use of powerful excavators and rock crushing plants. After that, it is loaded for transportation to processing plants.

mine method. The pit method is used for deeper layers (600-900 meters). Initially, the mine site is pierced, from which drifts are developed along the seams. From where the crushed rock is fed "to the mountain" with the help of conveyors. Ore from the mines is also sent to processing plants.

Downhole hydraulic mining. First of all, for downhole hydraulic production, a well is drilled to the rock formation. After that, pipes are brought into the target, ore is crushed with a powerful pressure of water with further extraction. But this method today has a very low efficiency and is used quite rarely. For example, 3% of raw materials are extracted in this way, and 70% by mines.

After mining, the iron ore material must be processed to obtain the main raw material for smelting metal.

Since the composition of the ores, in addition to the necessary iron, contains many impurities, in order to obtain the maximum useful yield, it is necessary to clean the rock by preparing the material (concentrate) for smelting. The whole process is carried out at mining and processing plants. TO various types ores, apply their own techniques and methods of purification and removal of unnecessary impurities.

For example, the technological chain of enrichment of magnetic iron ore is as follows:

  • Initially, the ore goes through the crushing stage in crushing plants (for example, jaw crushers) and is fed by a belt conveyor to separation stations.
  • Using electromagnetic separators, the pieces of magnetic iron ore are separated from waste waste rock.
  • After that, the ore mass is transported to the next crushing.
  • The crushed minerals are moved to the next cleaning station, the so-called vibrating sieves, here the useful ore is sifted, separating from the light unnecessary rock.
  • The next stage is the fine ore hopper, in which small particles of impurities are separated by vibrations.
  • Subsequent cycles include the next addition of water, crushing and passing the ore mass through slurry pumps, which remove unnecessary sludge (waste rock) along with the liquid, and again crushing.
  • After repeated cleaning with pumps, the ore enters the so-called screen, which once again cleans the minerals using the gravitational method.
  • The repeatedly purified mixture enters the dehydrator, which removes water.
  • The drained ore again gets to the magnetic separators, and only then to the gas-liquid station.

Brown iron ore is cleaned according to somewhat different principles, but the essence of this does not change, because the main task enrichment - to obtain the purest raw materials for production.

The enrichment results in iron ore concentrate used in smelting.

What is made from iron ore - the use of iron ore

It is clear that iron ore is used to obtain metal. But, two thousand years ago, metallurgists realized that in its pure form, iron is a rather soft material, products from which are slightly better than bronze. The result was the discovery of an alloy of iron and carbon - steel.

Carbon for steel plays the role of cement, strengthening the material. Typically, such an alloy contains from 0.1 to 2.14% carbon, and more than 0.6% is already high-carbon steel.

Today, a huge list of products, equipment and machines is made from this metal. However, the invention of steel was associated with the development of gunsmithing, in which the craftsmen tried to obtain a material with strong characteristics, but at the same time, with excellent flexibility, ductility, and other technical, physical and chemical characteristics. Today, high-quality metal has other additives that alloy it, adding hardness and wear resistance.

The second material that is produced from iron ore is cast iron. It is also an alloy of iron with carbon, which contains more than 2.14%.

For a long time, cast iron was considered a useless material, which was obtained either by violating the technology of steel smelting, or as a by-product that settles at the bottom of smelting furnaces. Basically, it was thrown away, it cannot be forged (brittle and practically not ductile).

Before the advent of artillery, they tried to attach cast iron on the farm different ways. For example, in construction, foundation blocks were made from it, coffins were made in India, and in China, coins were originally minted. The advent of cannons made it possible to use cast iron for casting cannonballs.

Today, cast iron is used in many industries, especially in mechanical engineering. Also, this metal is used to produce steel (open-hearth furnaces and the Bessmer method).

With the growth of production, more and more materials are required, which contributes to the intensive development of deposits. But the developed countries consider it more expedient to import relatively inexpensive raw materials, reducing the volume of their own production. This allows the main exporting countries to increase the production of iron ore with its further enrichment and sale as a concentrate.

Mankind, according to archaeologists, has learned to process iron ore and make various products from it as far back as 3000 BC.

IN different countries Iron ore has been processed with complex techniques, and over the centuries people have only improved in its processing and forging. Over time, the extraction of iron ore increased, and the production of quality products grew to such a level that they became available to everyone.

At each time stage, mankind used iron ores that could be processed with economic benefit on the equipment of that time: in the first millennium, only ores with an iron content of at least 80-90% were processed. But the more perfect the technique and methods of extracting iron ore became, the more poor iron ores were used.

IN modern world Industries where iron ore is constantly used are steelmaking, iron smelting, ferroalloys and pipes.

Currently, all iron ore deposits are divided according to the degree of Fe content into rich (57% iron content in the total ore mass) and poor (at least 26%). And the iron ore itself is subdivided into ordinary (sinter ore), in which the iron content is at an average level, pellets are a raw iron-containing mass, and separated ore with the lowest iron content in the total mass.

A special type of ore is magnetic iron ore with a 70% content of iron oxide and ferrous oxide. The region for the extraction of such iron ore in Russia is the Urals, the Blagodat and Magnitnaya mountains.

Norway and Sweden also have such deposits. In the USA, magnetic iron ore is mined in the state of Pennsylvania, but the best iron ore deposits in this country have actually been depleted, there are deposits with an ordinary ore content (up to 40-50%), the same situation is in the deposits of Ukraine and Russia.

For this reason, many countries leading in the extraction of iron ore have to constantly improve the processing technology of raw materials. Rich deposits in last years found only in Australia, they are available in Canada and Mexico. Wherein North America and Western Europe in the total amount of iron ore production are inferior to Australia, which has been the leader in iron ore production for several years.

Countries such as Germany, Great Britain and Belgium were forced to abandon the development of their own deposits, since the raw materials that are mined there belong to the third group and their further processing is very costly. In these countries, the extraction of iron ore was carried out in an open way. First of all, such development of poor deposits causes great damage to the environment, since for every ton of pure iron mined, there are several tens of tons of industrial waste rock dumps.

Iron ore mining technology

At a quarry where a layer of iron ore rocks lies at a shallow depth, the top layers of the soil are excavated to a depth of about 500 meters. After the top layer is removed, the ore is selected with the help of special equipment and transported from the quarry to processing plants. economic benefit for producers in these countries is declining due to the low quality of the ore requiring beneficiation. This entails additional financial costs, and the need to carry out costly restoration activities at the site of development makes the extraction of such minerals unprofitable.

As a result, countries such as France and Germany have been among the top ten importers of iron ore and iron ore products for many years. primary processing. Deliveries are mainly carried out from Asian countries, as well as Russia.

India has rich deposits in Asian countries. In South America, the main place for the extraction of iron ore is Brazil, which has iron ore deposits with 60% iron ore content and successfully develops specialized enterprises.

The PRC, despite the fact that, according to experts, has large but poor deposits, it still processes this ore. In 2009, China was the leader in iron ore exports. In the total world production of iron ore, this country accounted for 1/3 of all raw materials. In comparison with the middle of the 20th century, the main production of ore for the iron and steel industry has shifted from Western Europe to Asia, South America And Eastern Europe. Asian countries currently account for about 55% of all production.

At the same time, the industry's demand for the extraction of iron ore throughout the world is only increasing year by year. Some countries with developed automobile and industrial production, such as Japan and South Korea do not have their own deposits. For this reason, it becomes important to introduce new technologies to reduce economic costs in the extraction of iron ore. The countries of the world, which have significant reserves of iron ore deposits, are looking for new technologies for enriching the extracted raw materials.

To date, almost 100 countries have such raw materials, potentially ready for development deposits. America (both North and South) accounts for approximately 267 billion tons, Russia - 100 billion tons, Asian countries have deposits of 110 billion tons, Australia and Oceania (together) - 82, in Africa about 50 billion tons, in Europe - 56 billion tons.

At the same time, in terms of the iron content in the ore, Brazil and Russia have the same percentage of the world's reserves. Each of these countries holds 18% of the reserves. The third place in this rating belongs to Australia with 14%, the fourth place is occupied by Ukraine - 11%, China has reserves of 9%, India - 5%. The United States has the smallest reserve in terms of iron content in ore from the current active developers of deposits, only 3%.

The processing of raw materials is carried out in various ways: the countries of Western Europe and the USA, thanks to new scientific and technical methods for enriching poor raw materials, are achieving final product best quality. They carry out the agglomeration of raw materials, but here it should be taken into account that such raw materials cannot be transported and must be processed on the domestic market.

In the issue of iron ore mining, producing countries that export iron ore pellets win, while mining technologies do not differ from generally accepted ones, but raw materials undergo preliminary processing. Iron ore pellets are easy to transport, and then on site, this raw material, thanks to modern technology, is easily reduced into pure iron and enters the further industrial process.

Iron ore is the main raw material for the world metallurgical industry. The economy of different countries largely depends on the market for this mineral, so the development of mines is given increased attention all over the world.

Ore: definition and features

Ores are called rocks, which are used to process and extract the metals they contain. The types of these minerals differ in origin, chemical content, concentration of metals and impurities. IN chemical composition ore contains various oxides, hydroxides and carbonic salts of iron.

Interesting! Ore has been in demand in the economy since ancient times. Archaeologists managed to find out that the manufacture of the first iron objects dates back to the 2nd century BC. BC. For the first time this material was used by the inhabitants of Mesopotamia.

Iron is a common chemical element in nature. Its content in the earth's crust is about 4.2%. But in its pure form, it is almost never found, most often in the form of compounds - in oxides, iron carbonates, salts, etc. Iron ore is a combination of minerals with a significant amount of iron. IN national economy economically justified is the use of ores containing more than 55% of this element.

What is made from ore

iron ore industry— the metallurgical industry, which specializes in the extraction and processing of iron ore. The main purpose of this material today is the production of iron and steel.

All products made from iron can be divided into groups:

  • Pig iron with high carbon concentration (above 2%).
  • Cast iron.
  • Steel ingots for the manufacture of rolled products, reinforced concrete and steel pipes.
  • Ferroalloys for steel smelting.

What is ore for?

The material is used for smelting iron and steel. Today there is practically no industrial sector that does without these materials.

Cast iron It is an alloy of carbon and iron with manganese, sulfur, silicon and phosphorus. Pig iron is produced in blast furnaces, where the ore is separated from iron oxides at high temperatures. Almost 90% of the iron produced is marginal and is used in steel smelting.

Various technologies are used:

  • electron-beam smelting to obtain pure high-quality material;
  • vacuum processing;
  • electro-slag remelting;
  • steel refining (removal of harmful impurities).

The difference between steel and cast iron is the minimum concentration of impurities. For purification, oxidative smelting in open-hearth furnaces is used.

The highest quality steel is smelted in electric induction furnaces at extremely high temperatures.

Ore differs in the concentration of the element contained in it. It is enriched (with a concentration of 55%) and poor (from 26%). Poor ores should be used in production only after enrichment.

By origin, the following types of ores are distinguished:

  • Magmatogenic (endogenous) - formed under the influence of high temperature;
  • Surface - the settled remains of the element at the bottom of sea basins;
  • Metamorphogenic - obtained under the influence of extremely high pressure.

The main compounds of minerals with iron content:

  • Hematite (red iron ore). The most valuable source of iron with an element content of 70% and with a minimum concentration of harmful impurities.
  • Magnetite. Chemical element with a metal content of 72% or more is distinguished by high magnetic properties and mined in magnetic iron ore.
  • Siderite (iron carbonate). noted great content waste rock, the iron itself in it is about 45-48%.
  • Brown ironstones. A group of hydrous oxides with low percentage iron, with impurities of manganese and phosphorus. An element with such properties is distinguished by good reducibility and porous structure.

The type of material depends on its composition and the content of additional impurities. The most common red iron ore a high percentage iron can occur in a different state - from very dense to dusty.

Brown ironstones have a loose, slightly porous structure of brown or yellowish color. Such an element often needs to be enriched, while it is easily processed into ore (high-quality cast iron is obtained from it).

Magnetic iron ore is dense and granular in structure and looks like crystals interspersed in the rock. The shade of the ore is a characteristic black-blue.

How ore is mined

Iron ore mining is a complex technical process that involves diving into the earth's interior in order to search for minerals. To date, there are two ways to extract ore: open and closed.

Open (quarry method) is the most common and safest option compared to closed technology. The method is relevant for those cases when there are no hard rocks in the working area, and there is no nearby settlements or engineering systems.

First, a quarry is dug out up to 350 meters deep, after which iron is collected and removed from the bottom by large machines. After mining, the material is transported by diesel locomotives to steel and iron factories.

Quarries are dug by excavators, but such a process takes a lot of time. As soon as the machine reaches the first layer of the mine, the material is submitted for examination to determine the percentage of iron content and the feasibility of further work (if the percentage is above 55%, work in this area continues).

Interesting! Compared with in a closed way mining in quarries costs half as much. This technology does not require the development of mines or the creation of tunnels. At the same time, the efficiency of work in open pits is several times higher, and material losses are five times less.

Closed mining method

Mine (closed) ore mining is used only if it is planned to preserve the integrity of the landscape in the area where ore deposits are being developed. This method is also relevant for work in highlands. In this case, a network of tunnels underground is created, which leads to additional costs- the construction of the mine itself and the complex transportation of metal to the surface. The main drawback is the high risk to the lives of workers, the mine can collapse and block access to the surface.

Where is the ore mined

The extraction of iron ore is one of the leading areas of the economic complex of the Russian Federation. But despite this, Russia's share in world ore production is only 5.6%. World reserves are about 160 billion tons. The volume of pure iron reaches 80 billion tons.

countries rich in ores

The distribution of fossils by country is as follows:

  • Russia - 18%;
  • Brazil - 18%;
  • Australia - 13%;
  • Ukraine - 11%;
  • China - 9%;
  • Canada - 8%;
  • USA - 7%;
  • other countries - 15%.

Significant deposits of iron ore are noted in Sweden (the cities of Falun and Gellivar). In America, a large amount of ore has been discovered in the state of Pennsylvania. In Norway, metal is mined in Persberg and Arendal.

Ores of Russia

The Kursk magnetic anomaly is a large iron ore deposit in the Russian Federation and in the world, in which the volume of crude metal reaches 30,000 million tons.




Interesting! Analysts note that the scale of mining at the KMA mines will continue until 2020, and then there will be a decline.

The mine area of ​​the Kola Peninsula is 115,000 sq. km. Iron, nickel, copper ore, cobalt and apatite.

The Ural Mountains are also among the largest ore deposits in the Russian Federation. The main area of ​​development is Kachkanar. The volume of ore minerals is 7000 million tons.

To a lesser extent, metal is mined in the West Siberian basin, in Khakassia, the Kerch basin, in Zabaikalsk and the Irkutsk region.