Hindustan Zinc's Central Research and Development Laboratory is working on methods to extract zinc from mining ‘residue.' This was one of the research findings presented at a three-day conference on ‘Mineral Processing Technology' organised jointly by Hindustan Zinc and Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers in Udaipur.

The research on the ‘residue' is expected to improve extraction rates of zinc, lead and silver from ore. In addition to reducing wastage, such measures are also expected to reduce the impact of mining on the environment.

Making money from scrap

One of the key themes discussed at the conference that ended on Saturday and had over 12 parallel technical session was novel methods for the utilisation of tailings, lower grade ore ferrous and non-ferrous ore and waste material generated from mining operations. These materials have traditionally been discarded in the mining cycle adding little value to the environment or companies.

More iron

Another major theme discussed in the conference was iron ore benefication. This is the process by which grades of iron ore containing relatively lower amount of iron are processed into raw materials containing higher amounts of ‘iron.'

Over 60 per cent of India's estimated iron ore reserves are in the form of ‘fines.' This variant requires a great deal of processing compared to the more easily usable iron ore ‘lumps.' Participants including researchers from Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SAIL and Sesa Goa, covered methods to process and utilise iron ore fines and tailings in steel-making.

Topics such as coal preparation non-ferrous and mineral processing were covered by the Indian Bureau of Mines and participants from national and global universities. The opening day of the conference saw Mr G. Srinivas (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines); Mr M.S Mehta (CEO, Vedanta); Mr Akhilesh Joshi (COO, Hindustan Zinc); Mr R.Venugopal (President, IIME); Mr C. S. Gundewar (IBM), and Mr Rahul Guha (Deputy Manager, General Mines and Safety) make the case for aggressive prospecting of India's mineral reserves, greater investments in the space, dispelling misconceptions on the impact of mining and the role of research in enhancing mining practices.

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