Apatity (Murmansk region) – An R&D centre to study the further processing of apatite-nepheline ores has been established, with support from PhosAgro, at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Kola Research Centre.
The R&D centre was created based on a 2020 research cooperation agreement between the Kola Research Centre and PhosAgro as well as a trilateral cooperation agreement signed by Russia’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Kola Research Centre and PhosAgro in June 2023 on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The new centre will conduct research aimed at enabling the processing plants at the Kirovsk branch of Apatit to extract as much commercial component as possible from ore with a variety of mineral compositions while ensuring the consistent high quality of phosphate rock.
The centre will carry out its own scientific and applied research and formulate research tasks in order to engage specialised higher educational institutions as well as research and industry institutes to solve complex interdisciplinary problems involved in the enrichment of apatite-nepheline ores. In addition, the centre will carry out mineralogical studies, develop optimal practices for ore preparation, map ore reserves and develop new technologies for the use of effective and environmentally friendly flotation reagents.
The ceremony marking the opening of the research centre was attended by Gennady Krasnikov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Elena Diaghileva, Deputy Governor of the Murmansk region; Sergey Krivovichev, Director of the Kola Research Centre; Mikhail Rybnikov, CEO of PhosAgro; and Andrey Abrashitov, Director of the Kirovsk branch of Apatit (part of PhosAgro Group).
During the ceremony, Mr Krasnikov stressed the importance of communication between industry, leading companies and academia, and highlighted the significance of the new R&D centre in this regard.
“I would like to congratulate everyone present on the opening of the new R&D centre. It is important that industry in the region operates in close cooperation with the scientific community. The result of the consolidation of efforts is the opening of this new R&D centre. In the year of the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, this is an especially notable and valued accomplishment,” said Deputy Governor Diaghileva. “PhosAgro invested around RUB 500 million to build the R&D centre and to outfit it with laboratory and testing equipment, furniture and office equipment.”
“I am confident that the new R&D centre will enable us to guarantee, for many years to come, the high quality of our product not only at the Kirovsk branch of Apatit but also, as a result, to preserve the unique features of the mineral fertilizers produced by PhosAgro, and it will help us continue to be a guarantor of Russia’s food security,” said Mr Rybnikov, PhosAgro’s CEO. “Plans are in place for the R&D centre to analyse no fewer than 100 process samples of apatite-nepheline ore and 2,500 samples for their mineral composition every year, and to provide competent and highly qualified scientific support for the main industrial processes at our production facilities.”
Following the opening ceremony, the participants visited the Kola Research Centre’s Museum and Exhibition Centre, the Kirovsky mine at the Kirovsk branch of Apatit, the N. A. Avrorin Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden Institute and facilities at the Tirvas ski resort, one of the anchor sites of the Khibiny mountain tourism cluster, which is being developed thanks to long-term investments by PhosAgro.
In addition, a meeting took place in Apatity with the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the potential for further developing the Kola Scientific Centre.