MOSCOW, March 19 A research center for studying the processing of refractory apatite-nepheline ores was created at the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Apatity with the support of PhosAgro, the company reports.
The creation of the center is provided for by an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation between the KSC RAS and PhosAgro dated 2020, as well as a trilateral agreement on interaction, which was signed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, KSC RAS and PhosAgro on the sidelines of SPIEF-2023.
“The unique connection between industry, leading Russian companies and academic science is very important for the economic independence of the country and for the development of science in general. Today, more than ever, it is very important that scientific research is in demand and, in particular, by large Russian companies. The problem of enriching difficult-to-enrich apatite is nepheline ores today is extremely relevant not only for the PhosAgro company, but also for the country’s economy as a whole,” the message quotes the words of RAS President Gennady Krasnikov at the opening ceremony of the center.
As noted in PhosAgro, the goal of research in the new scientific complex will be to achieve the maximum possible extraction of a useful component with a consistently high quality of apatite concentrate at the processing plants of the Kirov branch of Apatit JSC in conditions of variability in the mineral composition of the ore.
The research center will conduct scientific and applied research and formulate tasks to attract specialized universities, academic and industry institutes to solve these problems. In addition, the center will engage in mineralogical research, development of optimal ore preparation regimes, mapping of ore reserves and the development of new technologies for the use of flotation reagents. It is planned to annually analyze at least 100 technological samples of apatite-nepheline ore and 2,500 samples for mineralogical composition, providing scientific support for basic technological processes in production.
PhosAgro allocated about 500 million rubles for the construction and equipping of the new building of the center.
«I am confident that the new Research Center will allow us in the long term to guarantee the high quality of products not only from the Kirov branch of Apatit JSC, and will help us continue to remain a guarantor of food security in Russia,» emphasized the General Director of PhosAgro PJSC Mikhail Rybnikov.