SOME FEATURES OF TECHNOLOGY OF DIFFERENT BAUXITES PROCESSING INTO ALUMINA
Lapin, A.A., Suss, A.G., Tikhonov, N.N.
There is only one good deposit of high-grade bauxite in Russia - from the Northern Ural. This deposit has been for more than 50 years the main bauxite supplier for the two Ural alumina refineries - BAZ and UAZ. Now the deposit is significantly depleted and ore mined from the depth about 800 m. Moreover productivity of the mine has decreased causing the shortage of bauxite in the Ural alumina refineries. It is a similar situation in other CIS states (Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan). That is why an alternative bauxite source is essential and urgent.
The main results of a technological investigation of bauxites from Guinea, Australia, Jamaica, Greece are described in this paper, along with some current consumption indexes. A comparison of investigated bauxites is discussed also, taking into account Russian alumina refining technology.