All About Palladium Mining in Russia

Palladium is one of the most popular metals in the industry. It is used not only in mechanical engineering, but also in other areas. For example, in medicine - for the manufacture of various medical devices. Palladium is used to make pacemakers and 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 is what will be discussed in this article.

Palladium is a member of the platinum group of elements and is a limited metal worldwide. It is mined in the same place as platinum, nickel, copper. Large stocks of palladium are found 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 ores.

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

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

Palladium mining in our country is being carried out on the Taimyr and Kola Peninsulas, as well as in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. On the Taimyr Peninsula, in the richest deposit, sulfide ores are mined, which contain large quantities of palladium.The Republic of South Africa has the Bushveld complex, which is the next most important source of platinoids in the world.

Since Russia is among the leaders in the extraction of this metal, there are companies that develop and use it for industrial purposes.

Undoubtedly, the leading company in the development of palladium metal in the Russian Federation is Norilsk Nickel... This producer controls about 99 percent of all platinum metal deposits existing in Russia. The most significant part of the company's development falls on 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" ranks first in our country for the production of refined PGMs. Here, a variety of goods are manufactured from platinum group metals, which are used in the chemical and other industries.

Also work with palladium:

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

These companies specialize in the manufacture of catalytic converters. They are used by automobile enterprises in order to reduce the emission of hazardous substances into the atmospheric air. Ecoalliance is the largest among the named plants. This enterprise is engaged in the supply of such neutralizers to car assembly conveyors. All of Russia uses Ecoalliance services.

Large Russian banks, which have a special license, offer clients 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 mining of orewhich contains platinum, then the mined ore must be enriched, and only after that pure palladium must be extracted from it.

Deposits are divided into 2 types: primary (primary) and secondary (loose). In deposits of the primary type, raw materials are mined from ore that contains platinum. When the ore decays, 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: open-pit and mine.

The first method involves the development of an open pit. With the help of a huge variety of techniques, palladium is dug out from the bowels. Then the transport delivers all the seized ore for processing.

In order to mine metal in a closed way, you must lay mines under the groundth. Small holes are cut in the seam containing the ore. Explosives are placed in them. After the explosion, the soil is modified either by hand or by technology.

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

It takes a lot of time and effort to extract pure palladium from different types of ores. The process of extracting such a valuable metal is based on the fact that first separate individual compounds, and then remove each metal from the composition of these compounds.

You can find out how palladium can be obtained from below.