NUST MISiS College of Mining, Moscow, Russia:

T. I. Yushina, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Mineral Processing and Technogenic Raw Materials, e-mail: yuti62@mail.ru
A. R. Yergeshev, Post-Graduate Student
A. M. Dumov, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, Department of Mineral Processing and Technogenic Raw Materials
А. R. Makavetskas, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mineral Processing and Technogenic Raw Materials

The need for lead-zinc ore mining and processing has recently increased significantly due to the ever-increasing use of lead and zinc in various industries. Lead-acid batteries alone account for about 80% of lead consumption, while electroplated steel coatings account for about 50% of zinc use. The presence of a significant number of explored but undeveloped deposits allows the Republic of Kazakhstan to develop the mining and processing of lead-zinc ores. The article presents the results of the material composition’s study of lead-zinc ore at the Shalkiya deposit, whose total zinc reserves account for more than 30% of all reserves in the Republic of Kazakhstan and are the fifth largest in the world. Proven and probable reserves amount to 6.5 million tons of zinc by JORC classification. The proportion of galena in the free particles is 47.42%, sphalerite — 39.52%. The particle sizes of galena and sphalerite are less than 5 and 10 μm, respectively, indicating a low prospect of separation by gravity method, which was confirmed during beneficiation at the spiral separator. Analysis of the material composition showed that the ores of the Shalkiya deposit belong to the category of hard-to-beneficiation ores.

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