The Kovdorskoye field is a large iron ore deposit in the Murmansk Region. Kovdorskiy ores have a diverse structural and textural nature and composition, for example, the core minerals found there are staffelite, apatite, mica, magnetite, etc. Apatite-staffelite ores are an important source of raw materials for phosphate concentrate production and account for 34% of the deposit's reserves. These ores contain an average of 8.3% iron and are subdivided into dense, hard, stony, friable, unstable and semiconsolidated. Their efficient beneficiation is an important step, but due to the frequent changes in feedstock composition and properties, there is often a significant reduction in beneficiation performance. The challanges are aggravated by significant hypergenesis of apatite-staffelite ores making them hard to enrich, they are prone to structural failures and slagging in case of phosphates.
In October 2021, for the first time in history, it became possible to wash apatite-staffelite ore from clay on a vibrating screen. We developed a solution based on PRIME-3061 horizontal screen. Ore capacity 500 t/h. Engineering has made the enrichment of such material possible. The screen has been successfully tested and continues to operate effectively in current production.