Materiały konferencyjne SEP 2025

3 19% belonging to the heavy rare earth elements (HREE and the remaining 80% classified as light rare earth elements (LREE). KGHM– Żelazny Most (Poland) KGHM operates one of the world’s largest copper ore deposits in the "Rudna." "Lubin." and "Polkowice-Sieroszowice" mines. The area covers 468 km². Ore (1.7% Cu) is found in sandstones. shales. and dolomites and it contains four copper sulfides: chalcocite. bornite. chalcopyrite. and covellite. Ore beneficiation is necessary. it includes crushing. grinding. flotation. thickening. filtration. and drying. The waste from ore beneficiation is deposited in Żelazny Most. Europe’s largest tailings reservoir (13.94 km² ). built in 1974 . Żelazny Most holds 652 million m³ and 8 million m³ of water (in 2020), ith an annual waste increase of 20 million tons [6] . Estimated REE content: 60–210 ppm . 2.2. Analyses of REE content in the selected secondary sources The collected material samples were prepared in a single laboratory for analytical determinations. Preparation included drying at 30°C , crushing aggregates if necessary, grinding and homogenization. The analyses were conducted using: X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) . Mineralogical characterization was performed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) on powdered samples. XRF Analysis XRF is a low-cost and rapid analytical method for identifying many chemical elements. It was used for preliminary, indicative analysis of samples. The results of the analysis are shown in table 1 and in figure 1. Table 1. XRF analysis results [7] Location Label La Ce Pr Nd Sm REE sum New Kankberg S Swe 5 78.7 140.2 8.9 26.9 - 254.7 Covas P B3 17.8 38.5 6.4 16.5 4.4 83.6 B4 9.9 20.1 - - 5.1 35.1 Cumieira P D1 15.4 35.7 - 17.6 - 68.7 D2 20.4 42 6.5 17 - 85.9 Ervideira P Mest 2 15.9 29.4 6.6 15.9 - 67.8 KGHM PL Pol 1 2.3 33.9 84 20.3 - 140.5 Rudki PL Pol 4 16.5 9.1 - 17.2 4.8 47.6 Rozna CZ Cz 143 28.3 56.3 63 25.9 4.8 178.3 Retgepoort SA SA 132 256.2 417.4 15.2 45.3 9.5 743.6 SA 133 212.3 433.1 11.9 52.4 21.3 731 SA 134 79.6 147.2 7.7 26.5 5.9 266.9