Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Résumé Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Puziewicz, J. Articles by Bril, H. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

PRIMARY PHASES IN PYROMETALLURGICAL SLAGS FROM A ZINC-SMELTING WASTE DUMP, WITOCHOWICE, UPPER SILESIA, POLAND

Jacek Puziewicz^1,, Katarzyna Zainoun² and Hubert Bril³

¹ Instytut Nauk Geologicznych, Uniwersytet Wrocawski, ul. Cybulskiego 30, 50–205 Wrocaw, Polska
² Instytut Nauk Geologicznych, Uniwersytet Wrocawski, ul. Cybulskiego 30, 50–205 Wrocaw, Polska and Équipe "Metallic Trace Elements", U.M.R. 6532 CNRS, HydrASA, Université de Limoges, 123, avenue Albert Thomas, F–87060 Limoges Cedex, France
³ Équipe "Metallic Trace Elements", U.M.R. 6532 CNRS, HydrASA, Université de Limoges, 123, avenue Albert Thomas, F–87060 Limoges Cedex, France

E-mail address:: jpuz{at}ing.uni.wroc.pl

Zinc smelting at witochowice, in Upper Silesia, Poland, produced a 15 ha waste dump, which is dominated by silicate slags, representing 1200–1300°C silicate melt generated during zinc extraction. The high ratio of silicate network-modifying to network-forming cations resulting in low viscosity of the melt enabled the crystallization of a holocrystalline assemblage of phases. The main phases present in the slag are silicates, mostly synthetic analogues of olivine, melilite, pyroxene, feldspars, willemite and of the oxides zincite and spinel-group phases. The silicate and oxide phases contain variable amounts of Zn, and melilite and K-feldspar also contain Pb. Willemite was the first phase to crystallize in Zn-rich slags, which are thus considered to be "Zn-saturated". The Zn poor ("Zn-undersaturated") slags do not contain any Zn-phase, and zinc is preferably concentrated in melilite. Pyroxene is a sink for Zn where the composition of the melt does not allow melilite to crystallize. The phase assemblages occurring in the slags from witochowice are similar to those described in other Zn-smelting slags. Two "facies", "Zn-saturated" and "Zn-undersaturated", relating bulk-slag composition to phase assemblages, can be defined for the witochowice and other Zn-smelting slags.

Keywords: Zn extraction, slag, viscosity, crystallization, phases, composition, witochowice, waste dump, Poland.