Our Company has licenses for extraction and processing of bentonite clay in three best deposits on the territory of Russia and Azerbaijan with commercial reserves make about 120 million tons:
For to ensure consistent quality of extracted bentonite, on each deposit a geological and engineering mapping has been carried out on each deposit. A constant additional in-mine exploration is conducting as well.
Bentonite clay mined from Russian deposits contains from 75% to 80% of montmorillonite. Calcium and magnesium cations are prevailing in its exchange complex calcium cations and magnesium cations are prevailing in its exchange complex. When wet bentonite is activated with soda ash, calcium and magnesium cations are replaced by sodium cations after which properties of bentonite are near to properties of native sodium bentonite.
Bentonite clay extracted from the Dash-Salakhly deposit contain from 80 % to 95 % of montmorillonite. This deposit is one of high-quality native sodium deposits in the world.
Chemical composition of bentonite clay from three deposits is listed in the Table:
| Chemical composition, % | Deposits | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th Khutor | Zyryanskoye | Dash-Salakhly | |
| SiO2 | 59,68 | 57,37 | 58,60 |
| Al2O3 | 18,63 | 19,40 | 13,40 |
| Fe2O3 | 3,93 | 5,97 | 4,70 |
| FeO | 0,67 | 0,94 | 0,18 |
| TiO2 | 0,59 | 0,15 | 0,39 |
| CaO | 2,76 | 1,81 | 2,05 |
| MgO | 2,43 | 3,01 | 2,30 |
| P2O5 | 0,12 | 0,04 | 0,11 |
| SO3 | 0,16 | 0,10 | 0,25 |
| K2O | 1,62 | 1,03 | 0,39 |
| Na2O | 0,98 | 0,78 | 2,30 |
| ППП | 8,38 | 9,4 | 15,33 |
