# Complex Processing of Saponite Waste from a Diamond-Mining Enterprise
###### Abstract
According to the material balance, in order to obtain 0.42 g of diamonds from the Arkhangelsk and Karpinsky-1 pipes, 4 tonnes of ore are processed; this drawback is the reason why the environmental aspects of this issue need to be studied thoroughly [5]. The mineralogical and crystal chemical characteristics of saponite create major technological obstacles to solving the problem of organizing a closed water scheme at the company's processing plant. Water is found in nature in three different states: gaseous, liquid, or solid. The physicochemical water treatment system is the combination of substances or bodies used in the technology of processing diamond ores: these are in interaction with and separated from the external environment by real or imaginary boundaries. In this case, water is used as the main technological reactant, which is repeatedly used for water inside a circulating system [6]. The chemical and technological process of grinding the diamond-saponite ore is carried out in aqueous solutions. The operating time of the processing plant is presented in Figure 1 for each month in 2017. The graph depicts four different climatic conditions--winter, spring, summer, and autumn--using the one-component water chart presented in Figure 1 and the temperature climate conditions corresponding to the Arkhangelsk region. The graph shows that from April to October, for the concentrator, the plant is in a liquid state and with a lower content of suspended substances, while from November to April, everything below the 0 line is the formation of ice on the tailings and the natural thickening of a liquid water-slurry into a pulp with a high content of suspended substances. These shortcomings can lead to a decrease in the extraction of diamonds, using the technological processes of dense medium and X-ray luminescent concentrators, and to the need to find clean water for consumption and improve the environmental safety of the enterprise. Research is needed on the mineral and granulometric composition of the pulp after the enrichment of ore at the tailings and water after the tailings when the water enters the enrichment (circulating water). The main distinguishing feature of the deposit from other diamond-bearing ores is the presence of saponite in the host rock. Large-scale saponite accumulation has a negative impact on the environment, especially the ecology. Uponcontact with water, this clay mineral swells (the value of the swelling index corresponds to I = 5 mL/2 g) and all processed pulp entering the tailings pond has a gel-like consistency, which takes a long time to precipitate under natural conditions, thereby reducing the efficiency of diamond enrichment, leading to the premature filling of the tailings pond and to environmental degradation. The aim of the research is to study the mineral, chemical and granulometric compositions of ore and sludge, followed by the synthesis of an active inorganic mineral coagulant based on alkaline aluminosilicate raw materials, with further utilization of the condensed saponite sludge as a secondary product and way of regeneration of the used mineral coagulant.