Factors justification for stimulation of valuable non-ferrous and rare metals extraction from power enterprises ash dumps in Kemerovo region

Advancing scientific and technical progress, and new scientific achievements in various industries (aerospace, etc.), have led to an increased demand for many non-ferrous and rare metals, especially in the steel industry, which produces about 70 various metals, as well as in the engineering industry. The planned increase in production in the Russian Federation confirms the severity and urgency of the problem of supplying the industry with scarce metals and suggests, in connection with a reduction in the quantity and quality of Proved Ore Reserves, an increase in activities for the integrated use of ores, as well as exploiting man-made deposits. It should also be taken into consideration that huge amounts of man-made waste have been accumulated. For example, more than 2 billion tons of ash and slag from thermal power stations and metallurgy enterprises have already been accumulated in the Russian Federation, and the Kemerovo region annually collects about 3 million tons of ash and slag waste (ASW). Currently, there exist about 100 million tons worth of ash dumps. At the same time, the reserves of a number of valuable, scarce metals (titanium, zirconium, strontium, vanadium) in these dumps could be thousands or tens of thousands of tons. Therefore, a basis for effective means of processing these waste reserves is an essential task. Prospects for the integrated use of valuable non-ferrous and rare metals from the ASW of the Kuznetsk Coal Basin should be based on the dynamics of metal consumption in the world and the Russian Federation, as well as by accounting for the influence of factors from the distribution of mining and metallurgical production. In addition, the prospects for socio-economic development of the region (Kemerovo region) that allow for the designation of specific directions for the usage of rare metals in competitive markets and the optimization of options for their extraction should be considered. The optimization of the integrated uses of precious metals presupposes: the exploration of man-made objects and the transfer of metals reserves to the “balanced” category; an increase in the profitability of scarce metal extraction projects from ASW; and a prognosis for metal consumption and perspectives for socio-economic development in the region. To make a decision about beginning to develop anthropogenic deposits, which result from the ASW of energy companies and contain precious metals, both external and internal factors, as well as the cumulative effect of the project’s implementation must be taken into account. As a result, the optimal option for the extraction of metals from ASW can be selected. Additional considerations should be made for the rationality of the plan for metals extraction, allowing for the extraction of the maximum amount of metals from ash dumps and ash spillover into the concentrate, as well as the optimality of extraction method from the ash concentrate, preferably using the same technology in order to get the widest range of crude metals. In addition, a rational plan for ASW processing must coordinate the production of metallic and nonme-tallic products. However, a number of non-metallic products could significantly increase the profitability of man-made object processing projects, especially if one intends to manufacture only metal concentrates. In some cases, even the sale of ASW is possible if processing is unprofitable. In this case, the resulting social and environmental effect (ecological improvements, the reduction in the costs of storing man-made waste, improvements to the health of the population, a reduction in medical bills, etc.) could make such a decision sensible. One of the options for the development of small high-tech enterprises in the Kemerovo region is to create compact plants to process man-made waste and extract valuable metals. They could be created as part of mining companies on the basis of technological and economic cooperative ties between energy and coal mining companies. Small high-tech companies would receive financial support for the use of innovative methods to extract precious metals, as well as government support (e.g., tax exemptions, preferential energy tariffs, etc.). The diversification of production will increase their financial stability in an unstable field in difficult geological conditions. The competitiveness of production in the Kemerovo region is promising due to the influence of four parameters: the strategy of the regional development, the demand for non-ferrous and rare metals, production factors (technology, equipment, raw materials from the waste of mineral products), and related supporting industries (the mining and metallurgical complexes). In general, the results of the investigation into the problem of the economic evaluation of non-ferrous and rare metals contained in coal and ash slag waste have led to a conclusion about the prospects for the integrated use of a number of non-ferrous and rare metals in ash dumps at energy plants in the Kemerovo region. The reserves of a number of these scarce metals can be assessed as potentially economical. By implementing cost-effective techniques to extract metals from ash and slag dumps, it is possible to optimize the use of titanium and zirconium, and later the use of polymetals in a complex with strontium, gallium, germanium and other rare metals. By taking into consideration the original production volume, there could be a demanded for these metals in the metallurgical and machine-building enterprises in the Kemerovo region and Siberia. Thus, complex extraction of precious metals is one of the ways to create a coal cluster.

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