# Complex Processing of Saponite Waste from a Diamond-Mining Enterprise
###### Abstract  
The solution of the sludge utilization problem and yield increase at processing plants have great importance today all over the world. Disasters associated with the tailings dams failures have madeus develop technologies of tailings sludge utilization as a commercial product, reducing the environmental damage on the regions of mineral extraction. This research aimed to provide new data, methods and an analytical approach to solve the saponite sludge accumulation problem on mining enterprises with silicate coagulant to increase the rate of cycle water clarification for the enrichment process and the recycling of sludge to reduce its hazardous effect. Samples were taken in the deposit located in the north of the European part of Russia, where diamond bearing ore contain montmorillonite minerals, mostly saponite, which is considered to be a perspective secondary product. The content of this mineral in the sludge is above 20 wt.%. Saponite is a clay mineral with the general chemical formula (Ca,Na)\({}_{0.3}\)(Mg, Fe\({}^{2+}\))\({}_{3}\)(Si, Al)\({}_{4}\)O\({}_{10}\)(OH)\({}_{2}\)-4H\({}_{2}\)O. The mineral has high adsorption, ion exchange, and catalytic and filtration properties; due to the developed diffuse layer, saponite particles are highly stable in an aqueous medium--the resulting suspension is highly stable and has slow sedimentation. During the research, a positive effect on the sedimentation process of clay saponite particles was established, due to the introduction of a coagulant containing 70% of tricalcium silicate, at a dosage of 2 g/dm\({}^{3}\) coagulant; the degree of purification of water containing the saponite clay suspension is 99%. The condensed sediment after the thermal drying and with the limestone addition can be used again as a coagulant or secondary product with enhanced properties;therefore, the sludge will be processed, and not stored. s pacs: 11 June 2021 15 July 2021 15 JulyDrainage from underground mining and quarries, which generates intensive, extended scattering streams in water systems. * Effluents from processing plants after treatment facilities, polluting water systems. It is very important to note that, due to the problems of environmental degradation, most countries around the world are developing technologies involving a completely different principle for handling resources and waste related to processing, including mining. This is the 3R principle [2,3]:  
* Reduce: cutting waste generation. * Reuse: employing waste materials. * Recycle: processing the waste. As increased attention has been paid to the scarcity of natural resources and the problem of waste pollution over the past few years, interest in investigating the effects of these issues and preventing the damage they cause have forced the further development of safe technologies for rational resource use [4]. The Russian enterprise has one of the main important unresolved environmental problems: it lacks a highly efficient closed water cycle. This reduces the efficiency of the process used to enrich the diamond-bearing ore.  
At the Lomonosov deposit, saponite predominates in the composition of the kimberlites (more than 70 wt%). The deposit is located in the central part of the White Sea Kuloi plateau on the bend of the Zolotitsa River, which flows into the White Sea. This deposit is shaped by six limberlite pipes: \"Pomorskaya\", \"Arkhangelskaya\", \"Karpinsky 1\", \"Karpinsky 2\", \"Pionerskaya\" and \"Lomonosov\". The ore dressing technology created by Russian specialists at enrichment plants corresponds to the global standard and exceeds that level in terms of individual technical characteristics. At the same time, the main flaw of enrichment in diamond mining in the Arkhangelsk diamond province (ADP) is the lack of understanding of the material costs required to eliminate the shortcomings of the existing method of enrichment and waste disposal at the processing plant.