MINERALI INDUSTRIALI SUM2016

1. SUM 2016
Alessio Lorenzi,
Direttore tecnico Minerali Industriali
Carlo Civati,
Direttore commerciale Minerali
Industriali
Piergiorgio Rossetti DST – UNITO
Giovanna Antonella Dino DST - UNITO

2. MINERALI INDUSTRIALI : WHO WE ARE
MINERALI INDUSTRIALI GROUP (MI) is an Italian independent mid-size company born from
the merger of two historical groups in the mining sector: Maffei, operative since the early 1900,
and Minerali Industriali since the 70s.
Minerali Industriali operates in the extraction, processing and
marketing of raw materials such as silica sand, feldspar, kaolin and
clays, for the Italian and overseas markets.
The main markets for the products of the company are the
agglomerated stones, ceramic sector, glass factory, paints, building
industry and foundries.
Other growing sectors in which MI operates are:
Geological and Mining Research
Design and construction of machines and plants
for both the mining sector and for the recovery of
waste.
Recycling and recovery of waste

3. MINERALI INDUSTRIALI : WHERE
Minerali Industriali’s presence counts: 14 production units in Italy, 4 in Europe, 5 in North
Africa and 6 in Central and South America. The group has approximately 250 human resources
in Italy and 300 abroad, produces and sells about 3 million tons of raw materials per year.

4. MINERALI INDUSTRIALI : R & D
Minerali Industriali has always heavily invested in research and development focusing on mining
treatment for the improvement of the owned mines, that is often translated into active
cooperation with research institutes and universities and also several European projects as main
beneficiary.

5. The company is constantly looking for the best technologies available and over the
years has developed new systems for the treatment of its raw materials.
In the last years the research was particularly focused on methods of treatments for
the exploitation of mining wastes and for the use of secondary raw materials, the need
is to reduce production and optimize the exploitation of raw materials intensifying
the recovery of wastes.
Mining wastes are to be considered as
RESOURCES and RESERVES.
Challenge:
Saving of natural raw materials deposits and preserving landscape
How?
• Reduction of waste for disposal
• Improved management of mining waste materials: recovery and recycling
CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPROACH

6. SONDALO QUARTZ
The access to the quarry, now fully developed underground, is
at an altitude of 1500 m, above Sondalo, which is easily
reachable by a road maintained accessible all year.
The activity of Minerali Industriali - Sondalo is located in Alta
Valtellina, a few kilometers from Bormio, and includes the
quarry and a first treatment plant.
The ore extracted in Sondalo consists of compact quartz
ranging in mass from transparent to gray, milky white.
In some areas, generally distributed in bands along the
contacts, impurities are observable and consist primarily of
small deposits of oxides, iron hydroxides and amber yellow
silts, present along fracture zones, that create colored patinas
on the mineral.
Are distinguished 3 different qualities of mineral (A, B, C),
depending on the degree of contamination visible in the wall,
mainly due to the presence of yellow / ocher patinas: the
extraction is usually planned for "campaigns" of the same
quality ,compatibly with production needs.

7. SONDALO QUARTZ AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
ACTUAL CONTEST
- MINING AND TREATMENT OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION OF RAW MATERIALS
- PRESENCE OF AREAS WITH ALTERED MATERIAL WITH YELLOW-AMBER COLOUR
FIRST TREATMENT ATTEMPTS IN LABORATORY TO RECOVER THE MAIN PRODUCT::
 Optical sorting, by optical sorting machines for large pieces on sizes +120; 40-120; 10-40 mm
 Optical sorting, by optical sorting machines with slides on sizes 4-10 e 1.0-4.0 mm
Potential Recovery: 70-80 %
Fraction < 1 mm tested by washing and acid leaching: potential recovery: 50 %
PERSPECTIVES:
 ADJUSTMENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL PROCESS TO
TREAT ALSO LOWER QUALITY MATERIALS
 R&D AND MARKET RESEARCH TO FIND NEW
MARKETS AND APPLICATIONS FOR "WASTE
MATERIALS".
ZERO WASTE
CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPROACH

8. A representative example of the "spirit" aimed at
recovering that has always marked MI is the
activity Ecomin (Ecology Mining), now Minerali
Industriali Verbania, born in the early 90s .
Na/K - feldspar resulting from the recovery and
treatment of the ornamental stone "wastes“,
obtained from the historical white granite
quarries Montorfano and pink granite Baveno, in
the north of Lake Maggiore. In 1992 (renovated in
2012) the Mining Concessions for the exploitation
of feldspar and associated minerals are issued by
the Mining District of Turin, with mining projects
aimed exclusively at the recovery of the landfills
material.
The result is an innovative project that converts
something considered a mining waste into a raw
material, creating a benefit to the environment
avoiding the opening of new mines.
MONTORFANO GRANIT and ECOMIN
ECOMIN - VB

9. MONTORFANO GRANIT and ECOMIN
ECOMIN - VB
The material from the mine is transported downstream by truck, arrives at the factory,
where it begins a treatment consisting of the following steps: crushing, grinding, size
classification, drying, iron removal.
MAGNETICSF60PB
WHITE GRANITE
Magnetic separation
PLANT WASTES: 300.000 t/year
F60P (main product): 140.000 t/year
SNS, SNG, SF (by-products): 70.000t/year
The non-magnetic mineral F60P(quartz +
feldspar) is used in the production of the
ceramic industry.
The magnetic mineral (mica and biotite)
and other by-products are placed in other
sectors, for example for sandblasting,
premixed materials for building, bitumen
sheets of concrete

10. Together with the constant research to improve raw materials of the owned mines,
Minerali Industriali focusses his reasearch also on the use of secondary raw materials and
on the recycling of industrial and civil wastes, before destined to dumping, to produce
new alternative products, “pre and post-consumer”. A virtuous example: MEIGLASS
PROJECT
SASIL - RECOVERY OF GLASS WASTE

11. SASIL - RECOVERY OF GLASS WASTE
The MEIGLASS PROJECTS developed a very new technology that allows to
reuse the glass cullet rejected by the primary cullet beneficiation units and that,
in the past, was entirely land filled.
SASIL has been able to collect 200.000 ton/year of the above mentioned rejects
achieving an evident and important direct environmental benefit. A secondary
contribution to the environmentis due to the reduction of specific energy
consumption of the glass melting furnaces, who were beneficiaries of 70 % of
these rejects. As a consequence of the lower fossil combustible use and the
reduction of the fire losses of batches fed to the glass containers furnaces, green
house gases emissions were significantly reduced, CO2 with about 54.000
ton/year.
RESULTS ACHIEVED:
•170 milions kg of glass not landfilled;
•Reduction of the emission of CO2 of 33.000
tons, corresponding to the emissions of 20.000
cars a year to 15.000 km / year;
•Reduction of mining in quarries equivalent to a
forest of 10.000 square meters with 1.000 trees

12. SASIL - RECOVERY OF GLASS WASTE
WET TREATMENT: WASHING AND GRINDING
• remove the soluble organic substances in cold water
• separate the following components of the incoming
material: iron, aluminum, plastic, rubber, other
components of various nature
DRY TREATMENT: DRYING AND MILLING
After the wet treatment phases are obtained:
• wet glassy sands with humidity of 6-15%
• Glassy sludges resulting from the recovery of finest sizes
and from the sewage purification treatment

13. DRYING
DRY MILLING
Air Classifier
Size < 0,1 mm
Screening 0,8
mm
Filtration and
fines
separations
SASIL - RECOVERY OF GLASS WASTE
DRY TREATMENT: DRYING AND MILLING
- 0,1
mm
0,1 – 0,8
mm
+ 0,8
mm
+ 0,1
mm
Glass
sand
Glass
sand
mixing
Glass industry, ceramic,
building industry

14. Thank you