Acid Disposal

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 513.

Tishinsky Slime Handling

Arsenic Disposal

The Arsenic contained in Ust-Kamenogorsk's smelter feed is removed in the form of Calcium Arsenate and Arsenite at the Lead smelter. To reduce the risks of a negative environmental impact arising from storage hazards, Kazzinc has constructed a large impregnable clay and concrete lined disposal area, ensuring that toxic impurities are not leached into ground waters.

At the time of its foundation, Kazzinc inherited a sizeable stock of fines in slime form from the heavy media plant of the Tishinsky mine. These had over the years been stockpiled adjacent to the mine, due to the problem of transporting the material to the Ridder concentrator when frozen during the 6-month winter period. To reduce the inherent risk that heavy metals may leach during open air storage, Kazzinc has constructed a filtering station on site to neutralise the materials before their transportation to a separate flotation section.

Kazzinc's experience of a wildly fluctuating market for its Sulphuric Acid over the years has led it to construct an acid neutralisation plant in Ridder, thus enabling it to dispose of acid in times of low market demand by leaching crushed limestone into gypsum pulp form for safe storage. The construction of a pulp drying plant producing saleable gypsum for use by the cement and construction material industries has been completed.