Launching the unique production of branded selenium Kazakhmys Progress has opened a new chapter in the history of Kazakh science
A unique workshop for producing the rough selenium of Kazakhmys Progress company has been opened in Balkhash. This is a great holiday for Kazakh science - on this day, scientists celebrate the confidence of production in domestic science and developments. This event is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of innovative production in our country.
This is the first and only production in the world using technology that empowers to obtain refined selenium of very high purity, and provide them with the needs of not only the domestic market, but also the foreign one.
Selenium is a rare material in demand in all world metal markets, which is difficult to extract and even more difficult to clean. The technology’s peculiarity is that it allows to obtain pure selenium with the content of more than 99.5% of the main component in one stage in a cheap non-reactive way. This means that the cost of pure selenium produced in Kazakhstan will be significantly lower than the cost of similar foreign products.
A new, unique method for producing the branded selenium was developed by scientists of Metallurgy and Enrichment Institute at Satbayev University, and Russian scientist professor, doctor of technical sciences Sergey Nekhamin also took part in the project. The planned annual volume of processed raw materials is 75 tons of rough selenium. The first batch of metal has already been received.
The beginning of the developments that allowed this to happen were laid in 2007, the first results were obtained within the framework of grant and program-targeted funding of Science Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the tests after many years of research and development took place at Metallurgy and Enrichment Institute. After discussing the results and studying all the nuances, with the active support of the local executive body of Karaganda region and Kazakhmys Corporation company’s management, a pilot production was launched in Balkhash on the industrial areas of Kazakhmys Progress company. The technology has proven its effectiveness and has been tested on many types of materials, which allowed it to be put into commercial operation in the short time.
- The new production is a modern production site where technological innovations of the world standard are implemented, the project includes two independent technologies – vacuum-thermal refining of rough selenium, introduced for the first time in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the second technology - processing of dump slag of the precious metal shop by the method of reducing the electric melting, - said Nurakhmet Nuriyev, Chairman of Board at Kazakhmys Corporation.
Thus, vacuum distillation technology of selenium production makes it possible to produce metal not only from traditional raw materials, but also to use man-made waste, increasing the production efficiency and having a positive impact on the environment, creating new jobs and opening up new opportunities for the region and the whole country.
Kazakhmys Progress is a Kazakhstani company engaged in elaborating and implementing the innovative technologies in metallurgy field. The company actively cooperates with the leading scientific centers of the country and the world, carrying out research and development aimed at improving the efficiency and environmental friendliness of production. One of the company's areas of work is the production of high-demand materials, such as selenium, which is used in the glass industry for glass coloring, the radio-electronic industry for producing the semiconductors, in steel production, in solar energy for production of solar panels, as well as in medicine.
The opening of a new and modern production broadly characterizes the integration of science and production, which fully corresponds to the priorities voiced by State’s Head - Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in his address to Kazakhstan’s people, and will enable the expansion of modern high-tech industries, the achievement of the fifth and sixth levels of technological structures, as well as become the forefront in the process of modernizing the national economy.
