There is a worldwide trend of increasing the share of extraction and processing of low-grade minerals, but their extraction and processing volumes are still low. There are several reasons for this: high mining and transportation costs, imperfect techniques and technological difficulties in enrichment and processing of refractory and low-quality minerals. Due to the depletion of reserves of easily beneficiated raw materials and to compensate for the growing shortage of high-quality minerals, the Russian mining industry development strategy provides for the involvement of new and unconventional types of deposits into production. Examples of such deposits are deposits of carbonaceous raw materials (black shale, refractory sulphide carbon-bearing ores, impactites, etc.) containing carbon of varying degrees of metamorphism. On the basis of the most modern mineralogical, physical, nuclear and chemical methods of research of composition, structure and properties of the carbonaceous raw materials at the micro- and nanolevel, the composition of the productive mineral matter, physical, chemical and thermodynamic laws of separation of valuable mineral components and the basic technological processes to obtain the finished product for valorization of the unconventional carbonaceous mineral raw materials were determined with maximum reliability. One of the possible reasons of
difficulty of beneficiation of carbonaceous raw materials is the fine phenocrysts in graphite which can be solved by using the flotation process. Contrast of surface properties of minerals with similar technological properties can be increased by application of different energy effects (MEMI, MIO, microwave, electrochemical treatment etc.) at successive stages of raw material transformation, regulation of pulp conditioning conditions (duration and intensity of agitation, heat treatment of pulp) as well as by development and application of selective reagent regimes. The special feature of flotation as a method of extraction of noble and rare metals is the ability to extract valuable metals not only in their native free form, but also in close association with sulphides and carbon. Flotation with the use of intensifying influences made it possible to transfereven low-sized structures of noble and rare metals, which are not extracted by conventional methods of cyanidation, gravitation enrichment and amalgamation, into the concentrate. One of the ways to increase the efficiency of the flotation process is preliminary modification of the additive which is introduced in addition to the main reagents of the sinter - “carrier material”.

The development of mineral resources of solid mineral resources goes mainly together with problems because
of natural factors, which determines current position of modern technological mineralogy. We paid particular attention to problems of mineralogical study of refractory ores of natural and technogenic genesis, associated with technical, technological and economic factors. We showed that many provisions of “Strategy for the development of Russian industry for the processing, utilization and disposal of industrial and consumer wastes for the period up to 2030” are related to the field of technological mineralogy. Intensive development and improvement of physical methods of mineralogical analysis resulted in need for their metrological support. Creation of a strict metrological basis for quality control of mineralogical works ensures the reliability of results of performed researches. The formation of new methods and techniques, both research tools and technologies for studying the composition, structure and properties of solid minerals, contribute to understanding interrelationships of mineral phases and resulting spatial and temporal patterns of coexistence of minerals in rocks, ores and other natural and technogenic formations. We considered achievements, problems and prospects for the development of technological mineralogy, an algorithm for the application of its methods and approaches in the management of complex processing of mineral raw. The main emphasis is placed on the development of scientific and methodological prerequisites for solving problem of rational development of mineral raw, the maximum possible extraction and integrated use of all minerals (both main and accompanying), expansion and strengthening of the mineral resource base in the light of the global challenges
of the economic and environmental doctrines of modern civilization. The studies of complex mineral systems increasingly use information technologies “big data”. For the best solution of complex tasks of geological and technological mapping and mineragenic research, methods of remote sensing using the Landsat program are becoming popular. We emphasized importance of interactive forms and methods of teaching mineralogical research for specialists from organizations of different departmental affiliation.

The need to decide the problem of growing accumulation of waste for the purposes of sustainable development and the creation of a closed-loop economy, improving the rational use of natural resources stimulate the creation of conditions for improving the efficiency of the use of waste generated during subsoil use – the main and separate group of production and consumption waste. The Considered legislative initiatives of the Government of the Russian Federation on improving the state regulation of the use of subsoil waste are considered. Technological and environmental limitations of involvement in the development of subsoil use waste are considered. The article provides an overview of modern technologies and equipment for processing mineral raw materials that are promising for involving in the processing of subsoil use waste. Examples of the development and commercial implementation of technologies for extracting valuable components from subsoil use waste are presented. Improving the processes of processing mineral raw materials and the experience of processing man-made raw materials in Russia and the world provide prerequisites for the creation of new non-waste (or) low-waste methods for processing subsoil use waste ensuring high extraction of valuable components and the use of non-metallic components.

The Murmansk region is a region with the largest enterprises of the mining complex of the Russian Federation:
KF JSC “Apatit”, JSC “Kola MMC”, JSC “Olkon”, JSC” Kovdorsky GOK”, JSC” North-West Phosphorus Company”, LLC”Lovozersky GOK”. They provide the majority of the country’s demand for phosphate ores, zirconium raw materials (baddeleyite), niobium, tantalum, and rare earth metals. In addition, the mining and processing of copper-nickel, iron and chrome ores, nepheline and ceramic raw materials, facing stone and building materials is carried out. At the same time, the activities of enterprises have a very negative impact on the environment. The issues of environmental safety in the extraction and processing of minerals, storage of mining waste in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation are of particular relevance. The definition of sustainable development in relation to the mining industry is given. The concepts of available best technologies, circular economy, and “green growth” are considered from the point of view of their contribution to sustainable development. It is shown that the sustainable development of enterprises at the present stage is impossible without improving the environmental friendliness of production. The article analyzes the legislation of the Russian Federation and the practice of its application to identify mechanisms that promote sustainable development and eliminate barriers to the implementation of this concept in the mining industry. New technological solutions have been developed for mining enterprises of the Murmansk region, aimed at reducing aero-technogenic emissions, cleaning waste (mine) water, processing tailings of enrichment as man-made deposits, which allows both to minimize man-made environmental impacts and to increase the full use of mineral raw materials. Thus, the expediency of using the principles of “green growth” for the development of economic development policies in the Arctic is justified.

At the present stage of development of the mineral resource base of precious metals, the wider involvement of refractory ores and technogenic products in the mineral processing is playing a very important role. It is due to these types of mineral resources the main Russian and foreign companies plan to get the increase in the production of gold and other precious metals. Refractory ores are characterized by low content and uneven distribution of valuable components, emulsion dissemination of gold, complex material composition, flotation active silicate and carbonaceous rock components. The main technologies for their processing include combined schemes that provide intensive preliminary preparation of ore, fine and ultrafine grinding. Creation of effective reagents for flotation of fine classes of noble metals, selective depression of gold-free sulfides, like pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and rock minerals is one of the recognized innovative solutions for intensifying the enrichment process of this type of raw material. The studies performed at IPKON RAS in the framework of the scientific school of Academician V.A. Chanturiya helped to develop and substantiate the novel selective reagents-collectors of dithiocarbamate type (DEDTCm, OPDTC, DBDTC, MDTC) and herbal modifiers that possess complexing properties in relation to noble metals and provide an increase in the recovery of valuable components of gold by 5-7%. A set of analytical methods - scanning electron (LEO 1420VP, Carl Zeiss) and laser microscopy (KEYNCE VK-9700, Shimadzu), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (ARL ADVANT’X), ICP –MS (Agilent 725 ICP-OES, Agilent Technologies), X-ray diffractometry (DRON-2.0, XRD 7000, Shimadzu), potentiometry, titrimetric analysis, methods of mathematical statistics helped to study the adsorption layer of the reagents on natural minerals and model sulfides with micro- and nanosized gold. Using an original technique for quantitative assessment of the reagent coating by image analysis (SLM), the surface area of the mineral occupied by the reagent was calculated. A method for selective flotation of gold-containing sulfides using OPDTC and oak bark extract has been developed and tested in the separation of the collective gold-arsenic concentrate of the Olympiada deposit. It showed the possibility of obtaining a gold-pyrite concentrate with an arsenic content of less than 2%. The prospect of using plant modifiers for gold recovery during flotation of complex ores has been substantiated.

Morphotectonic indices are useful instruments for investigating the effect of tectonic activity in a certain region. Calculation of these indicators using the advantages of Geographical Information System, GIS, in a large area is useful for detecting potential disorders related to active tectonics. This method is useful in regions on which few morphotectonic studies have been conducted. An example of such areas can be the watersheds of the Sirch mountainous region. The watersheds of the Sirch region located in Central Iran’s zone in the southeast of Iran are a very ideal zone to evaluate the concepts of these indicators in the prediction of the relative tectonic activity according to the investigation of drainage systems or mountain fronts. Based on the values of the calculated indices including Form Factor (FF), Compaction Coefficient (CC), Ratio of Circularity (RC), Ratio of Elongation (RE), relative Basin Height (BH), and Ruggedness Number (RN), a final indicator called Active Tectonic Indicator (ATI) is obtained. The latter is a combination of the abovementioned indicators and evaluates the morphotectonic activity based on the shape of the watersheds. By measuring and combining these indicators, the tectonic activity stage of the Sirch region was determined by analyzing the watersheds of this region.

In the work, on the basis of our own field and laboratory studies of the components of the environment, the regularities of the natural and technogenic metal content of the territory of the Middle Urals were established; the mining complex was assessed as a source of pollutant flows into the environment; the formation of flows of pollutants in the environment under the influence of technogenic and mineral formations has been investigated; it is proposed to divide all pollutants, according to their source of entry into the environment, into atmospheric and hydrogenic flows of mining complexes. The problem is that the methodologies for setting maximum permissible emissions (MPE) and normative permissible discharge (NPD) are practically the same. They cover the assessment of the background concentrations of pollutants in the studied media, the assessment of pollution sources, the establishment on the basis of the dilution (mixing) processes of the predicted concentrations (at the border of the sanitary protection zone or in the control section) and the development of the permissible level of the impact of source into the element of the environment in g / h or in t / year with guaranteed quality assurance). Unfortunately, the methodologies used in standardizing the impact of mining and metallurgical complexes on the environment do not take into account a number of aspects, mainly geochemical, which often leads to the formalization of this process with subsequent negative environmental consequences. The objects of research considered in this work were the mining and metallurgical complexes of the Urals, located on its eastern slope in the basin of the river. Tours and including iron ore (the cities of Kachkanar, N. Tagil), copper ore (the cities of Krasnouralsk, Kirovgrad, Pervouralsk) complexes and environmental components (atmosphere, geo-hydro- and biosphere)) within them. The subject of research is the most characteristic ore and associated metals of the Ural deposits: Fe, Cr, Mn, V, Ni, Co, Zn, Cu, Pb, As, Hg, Cd. The aim of the work was to study the flows of pollutants in natural and man-made geosystems of the Middle Urals and to develop a methodological basis for assessing the impact of mining complexes on the environment.

Innovative processes of deep and complex processing of technogenic raw materials in the context of sustainable development of the mining industry and the economic challenges facing the mining industry should ensure the transition to a circular economy and the maximum use of natural resources. The article reflects the priority scientific and technological research on the involvement of technogenic mineral resources in efficient processing. Presented, developed at ICEMR RAS, including jointly with universities, research and production organizations and enterprises, modern innovative processes of deep and environmentally friendly processing of refractory mineral raw materials of complex material composition (tailings of enrichment of non-ferrous and noble metal ores, poor off-balance ores, slags ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, sludge of metallurgical production) and hydro-mineral technogenic resources (acidic mineralized bottom-dump waters of mining enterprises of the copper-zinc complex of the Urals, saponite-containing circulating waters of diamond processing factories). Among other things, new directions in the field of selective disintegration of finely dispersed mineral raw materials based on energy effects and deep processing of slags are outlined; increasing the selectivity of enrichment processes; combined processing of technogenic raw materials; resource-saving processing of technogenic and hydro-mineral resources, obtaining secondary products from processing waste. It is shown that in the face of new economic challenges, Russia has sufficient scientific and technological potential in the field of deep and environmentally safe processing of technogenic raw materials in the form of developed and, to varying degrees, tested innovative resource-saving technologies that correspond to the world level, and in a number of technologies are superior to it.

The main deposits of kimberlite ores located in the regions of Western Yakutia are enriched at the ALROSA diamond extraction factories using a similar technology, in which the maximum completeness of extraction and safety of diamond crystals is ensured by the stages of schemes. The bulk of diamond crystals is extracted in the processes of heavy medium, sticky and foam separation, the effectiveness of which is determined by the properties of diamonds, kimberlite minerals and the media separating them. The article presents the results of theoretical and experimental studies carried out by ICEMR RAS together with the largest universities in Russia, scientific and industrial enterprises of ALROSA. It is shown that the use of combined energy methods of destruction and removal of hydrophilizing formations on diamond crystals provides hydrophobization of their surface in the processes of sticky and foam separation. It has been established that the efficiency and economic indicators of the process of dense medium separation of diamond-containing raw materials are due to the stability of the technological properties of the weighting agent of the ferrosilicon medium and the suspension prepared on its basis. The method for modifying the corrosion resistance of ferrosilicon by nitriding its surface has been substantiated and tested. The proposed method makes it possible to create a protective shell on the surface of the granules, preventing their destruction upon contact with corrosive components of the water-air environment. Semi-industrial tests have established the possibility of increasing the extraction of diamonds into concentrates for sticky and foam separation by 4 and 5.2%, respectively. The results of laboratory tests have confirmed the possibility of reducing the corrosion rate of ferrosilicon by 5-6 times in the process of dense medium separation.

The purpose of this article is to present the results of a study of the mutual influence of groundwater flow and results of human activities in the upland and lowland areas of Central Asia. The need for research was determined by the serious consequences of anthropogenic activities, which in recent years have required the inclusion of these tasks in the category of national security problems of the Central Asian States. Such tasks include, first of all, the extensive use of existing water resources in the Syrdarya and Amu Darya river basins, which was reflected in the well – known tragedy of the Aral Sea, the pollution of water resources during peaceful nuclear weapons tests, which negatively affected the state of the environment in East Kazakhstan, in addition-in the irrational use of water resources, including groundwater, on irrigated lands in Central Asia. These and other factors have determined the need to develop capabilities for predicting the state of both the  aquatic environment and the influencing factors of human activity themselves. The solution of the problem presented in this article is based on the new fundamental scientific concepts developed by the authors, their own and attracted material of the results and is expressed in the proposed specific solutions.