Northern Mining improves the quality of concentrate for the production of pellets

Thanks to the project, the plant increased the quality of pellet production and gained the opportunity to enter new sales markets of iron ore

The Northern Mining and Processing Plant (Northern GOK) improves the quality of iron ore concentrate for the production of pellets. This is stated in the press release of Metinvest.Media.

At the ore processing plant (ROF) №1, a technological chain for the production of iron ore concentrate with an iron content of 68% from the iron ore of the First May Quarry was established. Thanks to the project, the enterprise increased the quality of production of pellets and got the opportunity to enter new sales markets of iron ore.

«From the very beginning, ROF №1 has been one of the main subdivisions of Northern GOK. According to the project, both stages of the factory’s technological sections are designed for the processing of ores from the First May and Ganniv deposits according to a three-stage crushing scheme. The factory’s design capacity allows it to process 30.5 million tons of iron ore per year and produce a concentrate with an iron content of 65.8%. However, new times dictate new requirements. In order to maintain competitiveness on the iron ore market, the workers focused their efforts on improving the quality of the concentrate,» the report says.

To achieve this goal, the plant’s specialists have changed the technological chain and are working on the ore of the First May quarry, which is represented by fine-grained magnetite quartzites. The ore of the deposit goes through an additional stage of opening the mineral, which allows to increase the iron content.

For this purpose, on the first line of the factory, the unification of sections and the installation of new routes for pumping industrial products between them were carried out. At the exit, the concentrators received a concentrate of the highest quality. In the new regime, the first phase of the ROF №1 started working in July 2023. Earlier, in January, the second phase of the factory was put into operation according to the four-stage scheme.

«For now, the Metinvest Group has focused on the production of pellets and products with a high iron content. Northern GOK is also actively working in this direction. We implemented operational improvements at the ore processing plant and changed the process chain to produce a higher quality concentrate. We put the LURGI 552V burning machine into operation and now we have an offer for European steelmakers – pellets with an iron content of 65% and concentrate – 68%,» he said Andriy Skachkov , general director of Northern GOK.

With such products, the company can safely enter more marginal sales markets and have prospects of maintaining production at a sufficiently high level, he added.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Northern GOK completed the repair of electrofilter on the incinerator LURGI 552B. Specialists performed revision of deposition hammers and coronal electrodes, strengthening of support struts, restoration of metal structures of the hull.

Before, the plant carried out a quarterly repair of the LURGI 552A roasting machine in the pellet production shop №2. Metinvest allocated about UAH 20 million for the planned scope of work.

Northern GOK – one of the largest mining and processing plant in Europe. It is part of the Metinvest group.