Hindustan Zinc's Central Research and Development Laboratory is working on methods to extract zinc from mining residue. This was one of the research findings presented at 3 day conference on Mineral Processing Technology' organized jointly by Hindustan Zinc and Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers in Udaipur.

The research on the residue is expected to improve extraction rates of zinc, lead and silver from ore. In addition to reducing wastage, such measures are also expected to reduce the impact of mining on the environment.

One of the key themes discussed at the conference that ended on Saturday and had over 12 parallel technical sessions was novel methods for the utilization of tailings, lower grade ore ferrous and nonferrous ore and waste material generated from mining operations. These materials have traditionally been discarded in the mining cycle adding little value to the environment or companies.

Another major theme discussed in the conference was iron ore benefication. This is the process by which grades of iron ore containing relatively lower amount of iron are processed into raw materials containing higher amounts of iron.

Over 60% of India's estimated iron ore reserves are in the form of fines. This variant requires a great deal of processing compared to the more easily usable iron ore lumps. Participants including researchers from Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SAIL and Sesa Goa, covered methods to process and utilize iron ore fines and tailings in steel making.

Topics such as coal preparation nonferrous and mineral processing were covered by the Indian Bureau of Mines and participants from national and global universities. The opening day of the conference saw Mr G Srinivas joint secretary, Ministry of Mines; Mr MS Mehta CEO of Vedanta; Mr Akhilesh Joshi COO of Hindustan Zinc; Mr R Venugopal president of IIME; Mr CS Gundewar of IBM and Mr Rahul Guha deputy MD of Mines and Safety make the case for aggressive prospecting of India's mineral reserves, greater investments in the space, dispelling misconceptions on the impact of mining and the role of research in enhancing mining practices.

(Sourced from www.thehindubusinessline.com)