All about palladium mining in Russia

One of the most sought-after metals in industry is palladium. It is used not only in mechanical engineering, but also in other areas. For example, in medicine - for the manufacture of a variety of medical devices. They make palladium pacemakers, dentures. In jewelry, it is used even more often - it is added to other alloys and produced earrings, pendants and men's bracelets.

However, few people know where and how this metal is mined. This will be discussed in this article.

Palladium is a member of the platinum group of elements; it is a limited quantity metal throughout the world. It is mined in the same place as platinum, nickel, and copper. Large stocks of palladium are available in countries such as:

• Russia;
• SOUTH AFRICA;
• Canada;
• Colombia;
• Austria.

In Africa, palladium is mined in placers, while in Canada it is extracted from copper and nickel ore.

The Russian Federation ranks first, along with South Africa, in the primary production of palladium. Russia has large reserves of this metal, which are mainly in the Urals. Palladium in our country is not further processed - it is exported in its original form.

Not so long ago, rich deposits of copper-nickel ores were discovered in the Arctic, in particular in Norilsk (the city of Talnakh). Palladium can also be extracted from them. In the ore, this metal is 3 times more than platinum.

Palladium mining in our country is ongoing on the Taimyr and Kola Peninsulas, as well as in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. On the Taimyr Peninsula, sulfide ores, which contain large amounts of palladium, are mined in the richest deposit.In the Republic of South Africa there is the Bushveld complex, which is the next largest source of platinoids in the world.

Since Russia is one of the leaders in the extraction of this metal, there are companies that are engaged in its development and use for industrial purposes.

Undoubtedly, in the Russian Federation the leading company engaged in the development of palladium metal is Nornickel. About 99 percent of all platinum metal deposits existing in Russia are controlled by this producer. The most significant part of the company's development is precisely palladium.

The company is also one of the largest in the world. In 2003, a deal took place, and the only company in the United States "Stillwater Mining Company", which supplied palladium and platinum, was acquired by Norilsk Nickel.

Manufacturer Krastsvetmet takes first place in our country in the production of refined PGMs. Here is the manufacture of a variety of goods from metals of platinum groups, which are used in chemical and other industries.

With palladium also work:

• Ecoalliance;
• Johnson Matthey Catalysts LLC;
• LLC "RosEco".

These companies specialize in the manufacture of catalytic converters. They are used by automobile enterprises in order to reduce the release of hazardous substances into the air. Ecoalliance It is the largest among the named plants. This company supplies such converters to assembly lines. All Russia uses the services of Ecoalliance.

Large banks of Russia, which have a special license, offer customers to invest their funds in palladium. For this, anonymized metal accounts are created. These operations are performed by banks such as Sberbank, SMP Bank and others.

Pure mineral production takes place in 3 stages. First carried out ore miningwhich contains platinum, further mined ore must be enriched, and only after it is extracted from it pure palladium.

Deposits are divided into 2 types: primary (primary) and secondary (loose). In primary deposits, raw materials are extracted from ore that contains platinum. When the ore undergoes decomposition, placer deposits of palladium are created. It is from them that metal can be extracted in its natural form.

To extract such a valuable metal, it is necessary to develop a deposit. This is done in two ways: career and mine.

The first method involves the development of a clay pit. Using a huge variety of techniques, palladium is dug out of the bowels. Then the transport delivers all the ore seized for processing.

In order to extract metal in a closed way, it is necessary mine undergroundth. Small holes are cut in the formation containing ore. Explosives are placed in them. After the explosion, the soil is modified either by hand or by machinery.

The conveyor belt sends all the refinement results (ore) to the surface. There, ore is stored and stored in warehouses that are open. After that, all the extracted and accumulated mass is transported to the place where the processing will be carried out.

To obtain pure palladium from different types of ores, it takes a lot of time and effort. The process of extracting such a valuable metal is based on first separate the individual compounds, and then each metal is removed from the composition of these compounds.

You can learn about what palladium can be obtained from below.