Author 1:
Name & Surname: Sokolov V. I.
Company: Institute of Mining, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Ekaterinburg, Russia)
Work Position: Head of laboratory
Scientific Degree: Doctor of Engineering Sciences
Contacts: e-mail: geotech@igduran.ru

Author 2:
Name & Surname: Kornilkov S. V.
Company: Institute of Mining, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Ekaterinburg, Russia)
Work Position: Director
Scientific Degree: Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences

Author 3:
Name & Surname: Sashurin A. D.
Company: Institute of Mining, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Ekaterinburg, Russia)
Work Position: Head of department
Scientific Degree: Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences

Author 4:
Name & Surname: Kuzmin V. G.
Company: Kyshtym Mining and Processing Integrated Works (Kyshtym, Russia)
Work Position: General Director
Scientific Degree: Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences

Author 5:
Name & Surname: Shemyakin V. S.
Company: Tekhnogen Research and Production Company (Ekaterinburg, Russia)
Work Position: General Director
Scientific Degree: Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences

The unique Kyshtym deposit of highly valuable granular quartz is an exclusive stable source of feedstock for new product manufacture (quartz glass, advanced ceramics etc.) in Russia. The currently used room-and-pillar mining features high loss of in-place quartz reserves (29.6%). Blasting adds the loss with more 15.6% of in-place quartz due to overgrinding and defect. Furthermore, the applied methods and technologies of ore pretreatment and concentration allow the throughout yield of highpure quartz concentrates barely within 21–24% of the extracted in-place quartz reserves. Consequently, the life of the unique deposit is harshly abridged. To achieve substantial reduction in the mineral reserves loss and to improve the throughout yield of high-pure quartz concentrates, it is required to find solutions to a few scientific and technical problems set within the framework of three key trends of theoretical and experimental research:
— development of a combination mining method to ensure reduction in mining loss of in-place quartz to 12–14%.
— justification of ore blasting technique with yield of the offgrade fraction not higher than 10–14%;
— development of quartz pretreatment methods by integration of screening, X-ray radiometric and optic separation toward the offgrade quartz yield not higher than 10–12%.
Scientific researches were carried out with the financial State support by Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation (unique identifier of the project RFMEF160714X0026).

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