High-energy ultrasound using to improve the quality of iron ore particles purification in the process of its enrichment

Abstract

Iron ore is the main raw material for the metallurgical industry worldwide. The iron ore market largely affects many economies. It is known that today 98 countries of the world have deposits of iron ore of varying quality. Experts estimate that the world reserves of iron ore may be about 790 billion tons. To date, the total reserves of iron ore worldwide are equal to 464 billion tons, of which about 200 billion tons have been already confirmed [1, 2]. Ukraine is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of iron ore reserves, and it has a strong ore mining industry. Significant reserves of iron ore have been discovered on the territory of Ukraine, and their total volume exceeds 32 billion tons. The main volume of ores is concentrated in 52 deposits. Today, mining is carried out in Ukraine in 25 fields: 21 in the Kryvyi Rih basin, 3 in Kremenchuk, and 1 in Bilozerske. The total volume of extracting commodity iron ore exceeds 1 billion tons per year, with 55–58 % of the raw material being used for smelting metal. Today, iron products are manufactured in 50 countries of the world, with more than 85 % of the output of commodity products being accounted for in 8 countries (Brazil, Australia, China, the USA, India, Canada, Venezuela, and Japan). Ukraine holds the 7th place in the world for producing commodity iron ores (4.9 % of the world output), only behind China, Brazil, Australia, India, the Russian Federation, and the USA [2].