Zinc soil and it’s usage in industry

Zinc soil

Zinc soil is the main constituent of zinc production. This compound has a percentage of zinc metal that the producers of zinc metal in a chemical process separate a large percentage of zinc in the soil and turn it into zinc ingots and its residues (cake leach – cobalt cake – nickel cake) which contains a percentage It is less than zinc metal and is used in factories or smaller workshops. The price of zinc soil in the Iranian market varies depending on its purity.

After extraction from the mines, zinc soil is transferred to zinc concentrate production plants and based on the available grade of lead and zinc in it, crushing, heavy media, flotation operations are performed on it and it can be consumed and packaged as concentrate. Shipped in 1.5 to 2.5 ton jumbo bags to zinc leaching plants.

Of course, the type of sulfur or the oxidation of zinc in the soil also determine its extraction operations. The best soils for direct leaching with sulfuric acid in zinc factories are oxidized or carbonate soils. Sulfur soils can also be used in conventional methods such as compaction and desulfurization or leaching under pressure.

Zinc soil contains a percentage of impurities that the impurities in the Iranian zinc industry are elements such as magnesium (Mg), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), iron (Fe) – manganese (Mn) – cobalt (Co) and Other cations and some anions such as chlorine (Cl) and fluorine (F) have a direct effect on the price of zinc.

Iran is a rich country in terms of various mines. Different types of minerals, including zinc soil, are extracted and produced in different mineral regions in Iran.

The main centers of zinc soil production in Iran are the following provinces:

• Qom
• Arak
• Tehran
• Zanjan

These areas are considered as important industrial centers of the country due to having rich metal mines in the heart of their soils.

Zinc soil is usually divided into 3 categories:

• Low grade ( has a percentage of 7 to 12 )
• Medium grade ( has a percentage of 12 to 18 )
• High grade ( has a percentage of zinc 18 and above )

High quality zinc soil has a high value that is used in large factories and is considered as an industry. It is used industrially in Tire manufacturing , plastic , Battery production.

Import of zinc soil from other countries

Despite many mines, especially Angoran mines in Zanjan province, Iran sometimes needs the activities of commercial companies. Zinc soil import from Turkey to Iran is easy so that in cases when the mines do not meet the needs of factories, steps can be taken to meet their needs.

Countries from which zinc soil is imported are :

• middle Asia
• Africa
• Turkey
• Russia
• Italy

Annual soil demand and condition of Angoran mine

The main supplier of soil on our country’s factories is Iran Minerals Production Company, which is mainly extracted from Angoran mine and provided to the country’s factories. The mine has reserves of between 8 and 10 million tons and about 40 million tons of underground sulfur. Due to the current extraction process and its low quality, the life of this mine will not be more than ten years.

At present, there are at least one million tons of low-grade minerals and more than 200,000 tons of high-grade minerals extracted, which are transported to the factories of the country after loading.

Formula for calculating the price of zinc soil

• The daily price of ingots is 99.98, 99.97, 99.95 in the Iranian market
• Factory profit 5000 to 10,000 Tomans
• Calculation of TC production cost: water, electricity, gas, labor, insurance, depreciation based on soil grade

% 8 ~ 10 → 23000 – 24000 Tomans

12 ~ 13 → 20000 Tomans

15 ∼ 20 → 15000 – 16000 Tomans

25 ∼ 30 → 12000 – 13000 Tomans

• Calculation of soil consumption KL ( soil consumption coefficient )

How much soil is consumed per kilo of zinc?

Soil efficiency / ( soil grade / 100 )

Soil efficiency :

8 → % 77

10 → % 80

12 – 13 → % 82 – 83

15 – 20 → % 88

25 – 30 → % 91

• Zinc soil calculation formula :

soil zinc price = ( ingot price – profit – production cost / KL ) / Soil grade ))

Example :

soil % 8 = [ 23000 – 8000 – 70000 ) / ( 1000 / 8 ) / 0 . 77 ) / 0.08 ] = 30.468 ( Thousand ) Tomans