# Ceramic Products from Mining and Metallurgical Waste
## 1 Introduction  
Processing of waste into building materials is aimed at addressing social and environmental problems, improving the living conditions of the local residents by creating jobs. In the production of building materials from recycled waste, economic efficiency can be measured as the environmental damage avoided. The use of recycled materials will reduce the need for primary mineral resources; there will be no need for dedicated clay quarries, and disturbance of natural landscapes will be avoided. The proposed materials and processes can be cost-effective since MM waste will be used as the process input, and the cost of the final product will be reduced compared to the conventional technology. Accumulated stocks of mining and metallurgical (MM) waste in Russia are commensurate with the demand for the building materials industry for mineral raw materials. However, the recycling rate rarely exceeds 10% [1]. One of the promising directions in waste recycling is processing the waste into construction ceramics--wall, facing, and paving materials. Recycling industrial and agricultural waste into construction ceramics is of great importance [2; 3; 4]. Multiple publications examine the feasibility of recycling MM waste into construction ceramics: oreconcentration tailings and slag [5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14]. For example, a method for producing high-quality construction ceramics from a composition based on a mixture of tailings of three different industrial sites in Murmansk Region, Russia's major mining region, is shown in [6; 12]. The region is experiencing growing problems caused by the accumulation of mining waste, such as copper-nickel ore concentration tailings and slag (JSC Kola MMC), apatite ore concentration tailings (JSC Opatit), and iron quartzic concentration tailings (JSC Ollon). Granular copper-nickel slag dumps at Pechenganickel smelter (JSC Kola MMC) contain roughly 50 million tons of mineral feedstock. The predominant size of granules is \(-3+0.5\) mm. The slag is mostly composed of magnesia-ferruginous olivine glass containing 1-2% of crystalline olivine, as well as finely disseminated magnesioferrite (magnetite) and sulfides. The total stock of apatite-nepheline ore concentration tailings (ANT) at JSC Apatit is currently more than 750 million tons [15]. The tailings constitute medium-grained sand measuring \(-0.5\) mm. The primary mineral in the apatite-nepheline ore concentration tailings is nepheline and its secondary minerals (up to 60%). The tailings also contain aegirine, feldspars, titanite, and titanomagnetic. Ferruginous quartzite concentration tailings (FQT) at JSC Ollon (\(-300\) million tons) mainly consist of quartz (SiO\({}_{2}\) content ranges from 60% to 75%), feldspars, amphiboles, pyroxenes, and mica. The tailings constitute coarse-grained sand measuring \(-1.25\) mm. The goal of this study is to examine the possibility of using copper-nickel slag (CNS) from JSCKola MMC as a component of a multicomponent charge in the production of construction ceramics. Concentration tailings of apatite-nepheline ore from JSC Apatit and concentration tailings of ferruginous quartzites from JSC Ollon were used as other components of the charge. One of the areas of nickel slag recycling is the production of different building supplies. Thus, [16] examined the possibility of utilizing the slag for the production of glass-ceramics. Reference [17] focused on the utilization of nickel slag as a raw material in the production of Portland cement for road construction. Geopolymer prepared with high-magnesium nickel slag was obtained [18]. The influence of nickel slag powders properties of magnesium potassium phosphate cement paste was examined [19]. The aim of our research is to provide reasoning for obtaining environmentally friendly ceramic building materials with improved qualities, which are made exclusively of tailings and slag waste without using traditional raw material--clay.