ICE-SRM Armenia—International Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management, Yerevan, Armenia

S. V. Mamyan, President of Public Organization, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, surenmamyan0588@gmail.com

Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Chemical Technologies, National Polytechnic University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
A. T. Bagdasaryan, Acting Head of Department, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, Associate Professor

Ordinary ores, alongside with a basic metal or metals, contain associate components of low value. Currently their content is much lower than the commercial minimal content and these associate components cannot be considered as metals of a commercial value therefore. Such metals are not extracted in separate concentrates as a rule: a part goes to concentrates of basic metals and the rest remains in processing tailings. In the meantime, the large-scale concept of sustainable development and the global green economy transition strategy binds over to utilize maximally fully mineral raw materials and to recover all possible valuable components. The authors substantiate expediency of listing associate components when approving complex ore reserves with a view to their efficient development. Mineral resources can only be approved as proven and probable reserves if their cost is included in the conditional metal calculation. Associate components can only be considered and approved as subeconomic reserves if these associate components are unrecoverable, remain in waste, and are stored or accumulated on waste storage sites, in particular, in tailings ponds. It is suggested to confirm associate components on waste storage sites as the subeconomic reserves. The associate components of the economic value can be approved in two parts: recoverable and usable reserves as the proven and probable reserves, and the material accumulated in waste as the subeconomic reserves. Together with ore and its basic component, it is suggested to include the proven and probable reserves with associate metals if their value coefficient is higher than 1, and with metals which unavoidably enter the basic metals concentrate and, when recovered, have the value coefficient higher than 1.

1. Standards for the integrated analysis of mineral deposits and for the appraisal of associate minerals and components. Moscow : GKZ SSSR, 1982. 20 p.
2. Classification of Solid Mineral Reserves and Forecast Resources : Government of the Republic of Armenia, Resolution No. 274-N dated March 14, 2013.
3. Available at: https://docs.cntd.ru/document/902021575 (accessed: 25.09.2025).
4. Available at: https://docs.cntd.ru/document/9003811 (accessed: 25.09.2025).
5. Available at: http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?ID=4343&lang=rus&sel=show (accessed: 25.08.2025).
6. A/RES/70/1. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015. United Nations, 2015. 35 p.
7. Villa Gomez D., Whitworth A. J., Vaughan J., Sultana U., Ledezma P. et al. Review on developments in technologies for critical metal recovery from mining and processing wastes. Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review. 2024. Vol. 46, Iss. 7. pp. 751–770.
8. Mancini S., Casale M., Tazzini A., Dino G. A. Use and recovery of extractive waste and tailings for sustainable raw materials supply. Mining. 2024. Vol. 4, Iss. 1. pp. 149–167.
9. Rosario-Beltré A. J., Sánchez-España J., Rodríguez-Gómez V., Fernández-Naranjo F. J., Bellido-Martín E. et al. Critical raw materials recovery potential from Spanish mine wastes: A national-scale preliminary assessment. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2023. Vol. 407. ID 137163.
10. Gibson B. A. K. K., Nwaila G., Manzi M., Ghorbani Y., Ndlovu S. et al. The valorisation of platinum group metals from flotation tailings: A review of challenges and opportunities. Minerals Engineering. 2023. Vol. 201. ID 108216.
11. Kursunoglu S. A review on the recovery of critical metals from mine and mineral processing tailings: Recent advances. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy. 2025. Vol. 11, No. 3. pp. 2023–2050.
12. Mutalova M. A., Kholmatova S. U. Technology for extracting tungsten from the stored tailings of the Ingichka processing plant. Universum: tekhnicheskie nauki. 2025. No. 11-3(140). pp. 31–34.
13. Kuznetsov V. B. Critical minerals for low-carbon economy as a new dimension of the energy transition. Sovremennaya mirovaya ekonomika. 2025. Vol. 3, No. 3(11). pp. 127–144.
14. Vasileva A. A., Boduen A. Ya. Mineralogical features and processing of copper zinccontaining concentrates (Uchalinsky mining and processing plant). Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University, Geo Assets Engineering. 2023. Vol. 334, No. 3. pp. 61–72.
15. Mutalova M. A., Ibragimov I. S. Complex copper ore processing: State-of-the-art and trends. European Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development. 2023. Vol. 13. pp. 242–248.
16. Agabalyan Yu. A., Oganesyan A. G., Bagdasaryan A. T. Commercial evaluation and optimization of mining parameters for solid mineral deposits : Textbook. Erevan : NPUA, 2017. 260 p.
17. Mamyan S. V. Bridging principles of the classification of solid mineral reserves and forecast resources in Armenia and the United Nations Framework Classification. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2025. No. 9. pp. 94–98.
18. Deberdt R., Smith N. M., Calderon J. L., McCall S. K. Critical minerals lists for low-carbon transitions: R eviewing their structure, objectives, and limitations. Energy Research & Social Science. 2025. Vol. 127. ID 104252.
19. Hovhannesyan A. G., Baghdasaryan A.T., Mamyan S. V. Justification of the feasibility of obtaining different types of concentrates from multicomponent ores. Izvestiya Natsionalnoy akademii nauk Armenii i Natsionalnogo politekhnicheskogo universiteta Armenii. Seriya tekhnicheskikh nauk. 2023. Vol. 76, No. 2. pp. 175–180.