BENEFICIATION OF SHUNGITE ORE
G. Dodbiba, T. Aoki, T. Fujita
Department of Systems Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT
Shungite is carbonous ore from Pre-Cambrian sediment (about two billion years ago), which contain a lot
of carbon. It is mainly mined in Karelia, Russia. Shungite has four major properties: high density due to the
strong bond with carbon and silica, porous structure, relatively high electrical conductivity, and relatively
high reactivity during oxidation-reduction reaction. Average composition of shungite is carbon 30%, and
silica 70 %. However, the main problem, associated with the beneficiation of shungite, is that is contains
relatively large amount of impurities, such as iron, sulphur, etc. that should be removed, prior to further
processing. Thus, the objective of this research is to remove iron and sulphur from shungite sample, and
therefore purify carbon for industrial use. First physical properties of the sample were investigated by using
XRD, XRF, and TG-DTA. Then three different methods were considered for beneficiation of ore, namely:
flotation, magnetic separation, and acid leaching. The main finding of this word is that acid leaching is the
most effective method for beneficiation of shungite, especially when compared with flotation or magnetic
separateon.
KEYWORDS
Shungite, Flotation, Magnetic separation, Leaching, Carbon, Iron, Sulfur