2014-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS 2014 Volume 7: Energy Production, Environmental & Multiscale
| Editors: | Kongoli F |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2014 |
| Pages: | 528 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-987820-09-6 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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The Viability of the Phosphate Industry: Towards a Sustainable Mineral Mining Policy in Israel
Michael Danon1;1MINISTRY OF NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES, ENERGY AND WATER RESOURCES, Jerusalem, Israel;
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 13
Topic: 8
Abstract:
The phosphate rock resources in Israel are estimated at 2 billion tons, but a large part of these resources is located where mining is prohibited, such as in nature reserves or close to residential areas. Other phosphate resources are not economically viable due to mining depth or technological constraints of industrial processes appropriate to the quality and type of raw material. The presence of various pollutants found naturally in phosphorite, especially organic matter content, is a limiting factor in the enrichment process of phosphate rock and phosphoric acid production.
A committee was mandated by the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Energy and Water Resources to review current status of phosphate exploitation in sight of securing Israel's long-term national phosphate supply needs.
The committee made the following recommendations:
1. Promoting of planning process for mining prioritized high quality proven reserves, facilitating a competitive market of phosphate rock supply to the industry.
2. Decreasing export of enriched phosphate rock and increasing local processing of end-products.
3. Limiting the annual mining rate of high quality phosphates to its current level. However, a 3% growth rate mining low-quality reserves will be allowed, and exploitation of resources currently defined as non-economic will be excluded from the mining quota.
4. Developing technologies for exploitation of non-economic phosphates by establishing an R & D framework with the industry.
5. Using royalties to support governmental policy targets, such as exploiting non-economic phosphate rocks, increasing resource efficiency, boosting local production and clean production.