Where is the most Apatity in the world?

Every person should have access to safe and nutritious food. This provision is enshrined in the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, adopted in 1996. The right to quality food is the same inalienable human right as the right to housing or rest. The work of the Kirov branch of Apatit JSC helps ensure food security not only in Russia, but also in many other countries of the world. The company mines apatite concentrate in the Khibiny Mountains. It is used to produce environmentally friendly fertilizers with a high phosphorus content, which are used on all inhabited continents. Apatit is the world leader in the production of apatite concentrate. There is no alternative to the unique Khibiny ores in Russia. Therefore, the company is introducing the latest technologies that can ensure constant growth in production volumes. The first ton of apatite-nepheline ores in the Khibiny Mountains, rising in the center of the Kola Peninsula, was mined in 1929. At the same time, to develop one of the largest and richest deposits in the world, the first mining and processing plant was built and the Apatit trust was created. With the development of the enterprise, it became a city-forming city for two polar cities – Kirovsk and Apatity. Today, the Kirov branch of Apatit JSC, the legal successor of the Soviet Apatit trust, remains the only producer of nepheline concentrate in Russia. Alumina is obtained from it, without which the work of the aluminum industry is impossible. And modern agriculture cannot do without fertilizers containing phosphorus. The main raw material for their production is apatite concentrate, another main product of the mining enterprise. The Kirov branch of JSC Apatit is the world’s largest producer of apatite concentrate. Apatite-nepheline ores from the Khibiny Mountains are of the highest quality. From phosphate raw materials mined in the Arctic Circle, a concentrate with a phosphorus content of at least 37,5% is obtained. But the main thing is that polar ores are among the best in the world in terms of purity: they contain virtually no cadmium or other harmful impurities. Therefore, they are used to produce environmentally friendly fertilizers of the highest quality. They allow you not only to manage yields, but also to take care of maintaining the fertility and health of the soils into which they are introduced. The use of environmentally friendly fertilizers is a guarantee that both the soil and the plants that grow on it will be just as clean. This means that nothing will threaten people’s health. This is the main reason why environmentally friendly fertilizers from Khibiny ore are in great demand not only in Russia, but also abroad. Today, the Kirov branch of Apatit JSC is part of the PhosAgro group, which ranks first in Europe and third in the world in the production of fertilizers containing phosphorus. The polar enterprise fully supplies the flagship of the Russian chemical industry with raw materials for the production of phosphorus-containing fertilizers. Every third ton of fertilizer applied to Russian fields is produced from Khibiny apatite concentrate. Fertilizers originating from the Kola Peninsula are supplied to more than one hundred countries of the world on all inhabited continents. And the highest quality of the products of the Russian manufacturer is best evidenced by this fact: the corporate standards for the environmental purity of mineral fertilizers adopted by PhosAgro are recognized as an international standard. Today, the Kirov branch of Apatit JSC is developing six fields: Kukisvumchorrskoye, Yuksporskoye, Apatite Circus, Rasvumchorr Plateau, Koashvinskoye and Nyorkpakhkskoye. Over 90 years of work in the Khibiny, more than two billion tons of apatite-nepheline ores were mined and processed. To imagine the real scale behind this figure, suffice it to say that transporting the mined ore would require 19 million dump cars – special freight cars. And if they formed a train, its length would be more than 286 thousand km – seven times longer than the length of the Earth’s equator. It took the polar enterprise more than 30 years to extract the first hundred million tons of raw materials. It took 500 years to reach the figure of 15 million tons. It took just 10 years to extract the next half billion. The continuous growth of production volumes ensures the constant introduction of the latest technologies. In 2014, the Kirov branch of Apatit JSC began implementing a comprehensive investment program. Over 5 years, by 2019, the total investment in the development of mining and processing facilities exceeded 53 billion rubles. And the total amount of investment in increasing the production of apatite-nepheline ore until 2035 will be 86,6 billion rubles. Many of the investment projects being implemented have no analogues in Russia. Thus, in August 2018, remote drilling of deep wells began. Modern technologies allow just one operator to simultaneously control several drilling rigs at two mines at once – Kirovsky and Rasvumchorrsky. This drilling method increases work efficiency by 20%. The introduction of cyclic-flow technology for their crushing, transportation and storage will allow reducing the cost of overburden transportation by 15%. Three conveyors with a total length of about 5 km will replace an entire fleet of dump trucks. And unmanned dump trucks and excavators will soon operate in open-pit mines. Using the best equipment available is PhosAgro’s principled position. Phased modernization is also being carried out at two apatite-nepheline factories, where ore is enriched. The transition to ceramic filters for filtration of apatite concentrate helped to spend less fuel oil on its drying. And the installation of modern crushers will reduce the size of ore from 30 to 16 mm, and it will become easier to crush it. Using exclusively technologies and equipment that minimize damage to the environment is another PhosAgro priority. Over the past 5 years, 18 billion rubles have been allocated for the implementation of environmental programs of the enterprise. The company also invests huge amounts of money in the social sphere of cities for which the Kirov branch of Apatit JSC is a city-forming branch. Large social programs in the field of education and healthcare, support for sports and public initiatives, implementation of a corporate housing program. Annual expenses for these purposes exceed 2,5 billion rubles. Social responsibility for a mining company is not just words, but a guide to action. Infrastructure Air crossing In Chukotka, a resident of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation plans to build a rope aerobridge The word “apatite” and its most important useful quality are well known to all of us living on the Kola Peninsula. But is it possible to learn about an old acquaintance from a new perspective? Let’s try! In the old days, mineralogists mistook apatite for aquamarine, peridot, tourmaline, fluorite, greenish and violet quartz, similar in color and shape. It is interesting that the first indications that apatite is an independent mineral species appeared in 1776 and 1778, but then it was still unnamed. The name apatite from the Greek word “apatao”, that is, “I deceive”, was first introduced by A.G. for its great similarity with other minerals. Werner in 1788. But at the same time, the author retained the original common name “asparagus stone” for its greenish variety. In the same 1788, the first analysis of apatite was carried out, which showed the similarity of its composition with burnt bone. But even then it was not considered an independent chemical compound. However, it was found that fibrous phosphate from Spain was identical in chemical composition to apatite, and in 1789 this was also proven for asparagus stone.
In 1794, the name “phosphorite” was introduced for the deposition of calcium phosphate in sedimentary rocks from Spanish deposits in Estramadura. And in 1798, another name appeared – moroxite from the Greek word “dumb”. It was used for crystals of bluish-blue apatite from the town of Arendal in Norway, which had blunted rounded edges. By the way, this name, along with apatite and phosphorite, was included in the tables of minerals published in 1800. For some greenish apatites, researchers continued to use other names, for example, for the asparagus stone from Spanish Murcia, the term asparagolite was introduced. In 1800, the chemist Trommsdorf discovered “new lands” in apatite from Saxony, which he mistook for beryl, and called the mineral itself augustite. It was soon proven that the “new lands” found by Trommsdorf contained yttrium, and the mineral itself was apatite. Then fluorine and chlorine were first discovered in fibrous phosphorite from Estramadura, in 1807 fluorine was found in earthy apatite from Hungary, and twenty years later it was proven that fluorine and chlorine were present in all apatite samples studied by that time from various deposits of Spain and Norway , Germany and Switzerland. The study of the mineral continued – the first crystallographic study was carried out in 1842, its first synthesis in 1851. But when did people realize the valuable properties of this many-sided mineral? Let’s get back to. the bones! They, namely bone meal along with bird droppings, were used by people long before the discovery of phosphorus and the production of phosphorus fertilizers. In the 30s, it was discovered that adding sulfuric acid to natural phosphate produces a water-soluble substance called “superphosphate,” a term that has long been used as a general term for phosphate fertilizers. It turned out that nitrogen and phosphorus added to the soil help plants produce faster and more abundant harvests. In 1843, the world’s first factory opened in Great Britain, where animal bones were treated with sulfuric acid. Soon bone meal was replaced by mineral phosphorus-containing substances – sedimentary rock phosphorite and apatite itself. Well, the first apatite mine was an enterprise opened in 1854 in the Norwegian Kragero. After 20 years, apatite began to be mined in Canada, and Norwegian and Canadian raw materials were processed in factories in Great Britain, France and Sweden. In the Khibiny Mountains, which would later become almost synonymous with the word “apatite,” this mineral was first discovered by the French geographer Charles Rabaud during his travels in 1885. By the way, apatite had other synonyms. In addition to asparagus stone and moroxite, epichroite is known in the literature; it was assigned to fibrous phosphate from Grone Point (New York, USA). Talkapatite was the name given to altered, magnesium-containing apatite from Kusinsk in the Urals. Francolite is the name given to Devonshire apatite containing calcium carbonate. Dallit is a name introduced in 1913 for carbonate apatite from Norway. Falkerite also appeared in 1913 for apatite containing calcium oxide. Blue apatite from the Baikal region was called azure-apatite. Manganapatite is apatite with manganese, and the content of manganese oxide in it reached 10 percent. Apatites rich in rare earths were called cer-apatite and yttrium-apatite. Years passed, and in 2010, the International Mineralogical Association developed the “Nomenclature of Minerals of the Apatite Supergroup,” which included varieties that became separate mineral species – fluorapatite (exactly what is mined in the Khibiny Mountains), chlorapatite, hydroxyapatite, strontioapatite, carbonate-apatite. Moreover, according to crystal chemical characteristics, the apatite supergroup is divided into five groups: the apatite group, the gedifan group, the belovite group, the britholite group and the ellestadite group. Thus, officially the word “apatite” is not the name of a mineral – it serves as the name of a supergroup and group of minerals. And yet we are accustomed to calling apatite a mineral, so let’s continue! Apatite is a calcium phosphate salt. It dissolves in hydrochloric, nitric and sulfuric acids, as well as in molten table salt. It melts hard. Apatite is one of the most common biominerals – its microcrystals are found in the teeth and bones of vertebrates and humans. It is found in all forms of life – bacteria, invertebrates and plants.
Apatite occurs in the form of well-formed crystals, small prisms, needles and grains, and forms granular masses. Colored predominantly in light shades of greenish, it is also found in blue, red, yellow, gray, white and colorless. Among all natural phosphorites, apatite is the most common mineral. Mainly found in igneous and metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks account for only five percent. It is found in the form of tiny particles in crystalline shales and limestones, can be found in granites, gabbros, peridotites, but most of all in alkaline rocks. Despite the high total content of apatite in the earth’s crust, its concentrations are rare. Because special favorable physicochemical conditions are needed under which phosphorus could accumulate in igneous rocks and concentrate in the form of apatite, creating large industrial deposits. In 1931, academician Fersman proposed a classification of apatite deposits depending on their different scale and method of formation. He mentioned deposits in India, South Africa, Canada and the USA, Australia and Spain, Norway, Finland and Chile. In Russia – the Northern Urals and the Southern Baikal region. But even in 1934, the academician definitely states that “. among all currently known apatite deposits, the largest and richest in content are our Khibiny deposits. ” Then come the deposits of Northern Sweden and Brazil, where apatite can be obtained as a by-product during the enrichment of iron ores. Today, ninety years later, the world’s phosphate resource base is primarily represented by sedimentary phosphate rocks, which account for more than 90 percent of the world’s resources. The most significant reserves are concentrated in North Africa, the Middle East and China. Very significant volumes of young and modern phosphorites have been discovered on the shelves of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but their resource potential has not yet been assessed. Apatite reserves are of limited distribution, they are mainly concentrated in Russia, Brazil, Canada, Finland and South Africa, Vietnam, China and Tanzania. However, industrial deposits of apatite are still rare. The largest in the world remains Khibiny, where apatite nepheline ore is mined. There are two deposits in Buryatia, and three in Yakutia. Apatites were found in Kazakhstan, in the Ilmen Mountains of the Urals. Large apatite crystals of contact origin are found in the Baikal region (Slyudyanka). Russia plays an important role in the phosphate market. Russian apatite concentrates are a product of unique quality, have high value and are suitable for processing into all types of phosphorus-containing fertilizers. Despite the fact that on a global scale, Russian reserves of phosphate raw materials are relatively small, the country is the fourth in the world (after China, Morocco with Western Sahara, and the United States) producer and exporter of commercial phosphorus concentrates and one of the key suppliers of complex fertilizers. Prepared by EVD specialist Natalya Chernova. _{Sources: A.N. Labuntsov, article “Apatite and its main world deposits”, collection “Khibiny Apatites”, volume VII; article “Khibiny apatite. The beginning of history”, G. S. Ilyin; State report on the state and use of mineral resources of the Russian Federation gd2021.data-geo.ru.}