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Bentonite has vide variety of uses. Sepecial use of bentonite, where its absorbing properties are employed to provide water-tight sealing is for an underground repository in granites. In this paper, bentonite processing and beneficiation are described.

Da bi se dobila kvarcna sirovina koja svojom kvalitetom udovoljava specifičnim zahtjevima pojedinih industrija, rovni pijesak mora proći odgovarajući proces oplemenjivanja. Mogućnost dobivanja koncentrata kvarcnog pijeska odgovarajuće kvalitete ovisi o značajkama rovnog pijeska, u prvom redu o vrsti i sadržaju mineralnih primjesa u pijesku, te značajkama primjenjenih oplemenjivačkih postupaka. Kada se primjese javljaju u obliku oksidnih prevlaka na površini kvarcnih zrna, primjenjuje se atricijsko čišćenje. Odstranjivanjem oksidnih prevlaka, kvaliteta pijeska značajno se može poboljšati. S ciljem utvrđivanja mogućnosti oplemenjivanja kvarcnog pijeska perspektivnih hrvatskih ležišta (“Vrtlinska”, “Štefanac” i “Španovica”) i postizanja koncentrata čija kvaliteta ispunjava zahtjeve domaće industrije, provedena su laboratorijska ispitivanja s tri različita uzorka rovnog pijeska. Ispitivanjima su utvrđene osnovne značajke (granulometrijski, kemijski i mineralni sastav) rovnih uzoraka kvarcnog pijeska, te mogućnost poboljšanja njihove kvalitete primjenom postupaka pranja, klasiranja i mehaničkog atricijskog čišćenja., To meet high quality requirements defined for specific industrial applications, the raw sand often has to be subjected to extensive physical and chemical processing. The possibility of achieving silica sand concentrate of required quality depends mostly on raw sand properties, primarily mineral impurity types and contents, and features of applied beneficiation methods. When the impurities occur in the form of oxide coatings on the surfaces of the single sand grains, attriton scrubbing is applied. By reducing the proportion of oxide coatings on the grains, the quality of sand can be improved. With the aim to determine the possibilities of the beneficiation of silica sand from significant Croatian deposits (“Vrtlinska”, “Štefanac” and “Španovica”) and achieve concentrate grade complying with the requirements of domestic industry, laboratory tests were conducted on three raw sand samples with different SiO2 and impurity contents. Grain size distribution, chemical and mineral composition of raw sand samples, and the possibility of their quality improvement by applying the washing, classification and attrition scrubbing were defined by analysis of test results.

Silica sand is an important non-metallic mineral raw material within the resources of the Republic of Croatia. Croatian silica sand reserves could meet industrial needs over the long term. The 15 exploitation fields are registered, and the average annual production in the last 10 years is about 240, 000 tonnes. Depending on quality i.e. specific physical and chemical properties (grain size distribution, chemical and mineral composition, moisture content, etc.), silica sand is used as the basic mineral raw material for many industrial applications. To meet defined chemical and physical specifications according to intended application, the raw sand often has to be subjected to extensive physical and chemical processing. The paper describes main beneficiation methods used in the processing of sand intended for industrial uses. Beneficiation procedure applied at the silica sand deposit "Jerovec" located in north-western Croatia is presented, as well as the results achieved under field conditions.

Mining activity in the Republic of Croatia is based mainly on the exploitation and production of non-metallic mineral raw materials. Since carbonate rocks are predominant in the geological structure of Croatia, in the majority of quarries limestone and dolomite are exploited. Dolomite is widely used in various industries e.g. construction industry, building material industry, metallurgy, glass industry, etc. In glassmaking it is added to raw material mixture in the form of dolomite grits (- 1 mm) as one of the essential components for the input of glass modifiers that is CaO and MgO. To be used for this purpose, dolomite has to meet certain standard specifications established by the glass industry. In most cases, dolomite exploited in quarries does not satisfy demanding specifications and, therefore, its further processing is needed. The paper describes processing technology for dolomite intended for use as a raw material in container glass production. Fe2O3 content in exploited dolomite before beneficiation varies in range from 0.052% to 0.07%. By beneficiation procedure applying dry magnetic separation, dolomite grits with Fe2O3 content less than 0.05%, which meets the requirements of container glass industry, are obtained. The results presented in this paper are achieved under field conditions.

The paper presents the results of attrition cleaning obtained by testing the samples of quartz sand under laboratory conditions. The tests were carried out in two types of laboratory attrition cell – with circular and octagonal cross section, at different values of operating parameters which are supposed to have the main influence upon the attrition efficiency: suspension density, attrition time and stirrer speed. In each type of attrition cell two series of tests were conducted on two quartz sand samples with different SiO2 i.e. impurity contents. Indicators of attrition efficiency were the content of the particles – 0.063 mm and content of main impurities (Al2O3, Fe2O3) removed through the attrition process. By comparing the results of both series of tests conducted in mentioned types of attrition cells, information on dependence of attrition efficiency on feed material composition, operating parameters and attrition cell construction were obtained.

The quality of quartz sand can be improved by reducing the oxide coatings on the quartz grains. In this direction, a study has been made to consider the possibility of coatings removal from quartz sand by attrition cleaning. Tests were conducted in a laboratory attrition cell at different values of operating parameters: suspension density, attrition time and stirrer speed. Indicators of attrition efficiency were the content of the particles – 0, 063 mm and content of main impurities (Al2O3, Fe2O3) removed through attrition process.

The investigation of possibilities of electric slag beneficiation was carried out in two phases. In the first phase magnetic methods were applied, during which dry high-intensity and wet low-intensity magnetic separators were used. In the second phase gravity concentration methods were applied, with treatment on concentrating tables. The iron content in the slag was established by atomic absorbtion spectrophotometry.