On December 31, 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Ministry of Commerce issued the document titled “...” Implementation Plan for the Key Resource Recycling Project (Technology Promotion and Equipment Industrialization) The relevant section pertaining to the mining industry in the notice (NDRC Environmental Resources [2014] No. 3052) reads as follows (original text):

(3) Resource utilization of industrial waste

1. Co-occurring mineral resources

R&D of Key Technologies and Equipment: Develop technologies for efficient beneficiation and metallurgy of low-grade co-associated ores, as well as technologies for the separation and extraction of rare and precious metals. Develop high-gradient magnetic separation technology for tailings disposal from weakly magnetic iron ores. Promote optimization of flotation desilication processes for low-grade bauxite. And develop advanced technologies for deep separation of sulfides from gold tailings and recovery of valuable components.

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promote technologies such as full magnetic separation of fine-grained magnetite, pre-selection of lean magnetite, and weak magnetic separation–reverse flotation for lean magnetite; advance asynchronous mixed flotation, electrochemical-controlled flotation, pressure leaching technologies for low-grade ores of copper, nickel, lead, zinc, aluminum, and other metals; process technologies including circulating fluidized-bed roasting for complex and refractory gold ores; and popularize high-efficiency mineral processing equipment such as large-scale mechanically agitated air-inflated flotation machines.

2. Tailings

R&D of Key Technologies and Equipment: Developing efficient separation and extraction technologies for valuable non-metallic minerals in tailings; common technologies for bio-based recovery of valuable elements from tailings of colored polymetallic ores; cyanide-replacement technologies for the extraction of residual precious metals from tailings; and continuous backfilling technologies for tailings from black and non-ferrous metal beneficiation processes.

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promoting the comprehensive utilization technology for valuable elements in iron tailings, 9

Technology for the comprehensive utilization of valuable elements in colored polymetallic mine tailings, strengthening the application of technologies for producing ultra-durable, high-strength concrete from silica-rich tailings, and efficient tailing-based backfilling techniques for mined-out areas.

3. Coal gangue

R&D of Key Technologies and Equipment: Development of low-temperature activation technology for coal gangue used as mine filling material, ecological treatment technologies for coal gangue, technologies for producing rock-face insulation materials from coal gangue and extracting ultrafine fibers for papermaking, technologies for preparing environmentally friendly materials from coal gangue and utilizing tailings, technologies for using coal gangue to replace clay in the production of colored tiles, and technologies for producing high-value products such as composite water purification agents from coal gangue.

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promote technologies including coal gangue replacement of coal pillars without lowering them into the mine, coal gangue-based production of aluminosilicate fiber, coal gangue firing of hollow bricks and ceramic pellets, and separation technology for mixed coal gangue containing white gangue (hard rock) and black gangue (combustible coal gangue).

4. Fly ash

Research and Development of Key Technologies and Equipment: Develop technologies for producing concrete pavement materials with high proportions of fly ash; achieve breakthroughs in technologies and equipment for extracting high-value products such as carbon powder and glass microbeads from fly ash; develop technologies for preparing environmentally friendly materials from fly ash; establish complete sets of technologies and equipment for the large-scale production of high-alumina fly ash, co-producing alumina as well as chemical and building material products; and develop low-energy consumption technologies for smelting silicon-aluminum alloys from high-alumina fly ash.

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promote fine processing technologies such as fly ash separation and grinding, fly ash-based highway embankment construction technology, high-volume fly ash concrete technology, low-clinker fly ash cementitious material technology, as well as ultrafine fly ash processing and advanced modification technologies.

5. Industrial byproduct gypsum

R&D of Key Technologies and Equipment: Develop online monitoring technology for the quality of desulfurization gypsum, and strengthen R&D efforts on technologies such as low-energy consumption production of potassium sulfate from phosphogypsum with ammonium chloride as a byproduct, as well as technologies for using byproduct gypsum to improve soil quality. 10

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promote technologies for the control and optimization of wet-process phosphoric acid extraction, low-energy consumption technology for co-producing sulfuric acid and cement from phosphogypsum, technology for producing potassium sulfate with ammonium chloride as a byproduct from phosphogypsum, and technology for manufacturing specialized cementitious materials for mine backfilling using low-quality phosphogypsum.

6. Smelting slag

Research and Development of Key Technologies and Equipment: Developing technologies for thermal energy recovery from smelting slag, technologies for the molten-state utilization of smelting slag, a self-stabilizing treatment process for residual heat in steel slag using pressure-can technology, specialized cementitious materials for micro-expansion-based backfilling mining, deep reduction and magnetic separation technology for iron recovery from cold-state copper-nickel smelting slag, hot-state iron extraction and comprehensive utilization technology for copper-nickel smelting slag, and processes for extracting gold and silver from lead electrolytic anode slime.

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promote the technology for extracting titanium from high-titanium blast furnace slag, the wide-band magnetic separation and purification technology using steel-slag rod mills, the technology for recovering metallic copper from smelting slag via mineral processing, the integrated utilization technologies and equipment for copper smelting anode slimes and waste residues (materials), as well as the technology and equipment for extracting indium from zinc leaching residues.

7. Red mud

Research and Development of Key Technologies and Equipment: Developing low-cost alkali removal technology for red mud, advanced iron extraction technologies for high-iron red mud and red-mud iron concentrates, multi-component recovery technologies from red mud, technologies for rendering alkali-removed red mud harmless and using it to produce eco-friendly building materials and environmental remediation materials, technologies for preparing subgrade consolidation materials from red mud, circulating fluidized-bed desulfurization technologies for red mud, and technologies for producing composite materials from red mud.

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promote the integrated utilization technology for red mud classification via hydrocyclone based on the Bayer process, the red mud cemented backfilling technology, the technology for producing iron-bearing raw materials from high-iron red mud using Bayer-process slurry, the high-efficiency iron separation technology for high-iron red mud from the Bayer process, the technology for preparing new coal-fired desulfurization agents from red mud, and the technology for producing refractory and thermal insulation materials for industrial kilns from red mud.

8. Construction waste 11

R&D of Key Technologies and Equipment: Development of technologies for the demolition of buildings and structures, technologies for the classification of construction waste and the processing of recycled aggregates, key equipment for the resource recovery and recycling of construction waste, and technological processes for the application of new recycled construction materials.

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promote key technologies for the preparation of recycled concrete and its products, key construction technologies for recycled concrete and its products, and application technologies for recycled inorganic materials in road engineering.

9. Waste mineral oil

Research and Development of Key Equipment Technologies: Developing technologies for the efficient separation and comprehensive utilization of heavy-metal additives, physical demulsification technology, microemulsification, solid-phase catalysis and other refining technologies; technology for producing microemulsion diesel from waste oil; and supercritical fluid extraction technology for waste lubricating oils.

Promotion of Advanced Technologies and Equipment: Promote equipment for high-speed centrifugal sedimentation pretreatment of waste oil, equipment for distillation-hydrogenation re-refining of waste mineral oil, waste oil flocculation and adsorption separation technology, equipment for biodiesel production via solid-acid-catalyzed gas-phase reaction of fatty acids from kitchen and food waste oil, and equipment for gas-phase lipophilization of kitchen and food waste oil.

Key Areas

Equipment for resource recycling and utilization. We develop complete sets of equipment for the recovery and reuse of various industrial wastes in fields such as co-associated mineral resources, tailings, fly ash, coal gangue, desulfurization gypsum, red mud, construction waste, and waste mineral oil. We also promote the application of equipment for producing building materials from tailings, as well as equipment for processing and utilizing construction waste and road asphalt.