Microelements in phosphorites of Estonia

The need of the determination of microelements in the phosphate rock is caused by the enormous scale of the fertilizer industry, a chance of valuable microelements loss during the processing of the rock, a danger of environment pollution by toxic microelements.

In the concentrates of the Estonian phosphorites about 30 microelements can be found. They can be divided into groups by their concentrations: 10 g/t; 10-10 g/t and less than 10 g/t. The microelements are classified аs nutritives (Cu, Zn, Mn et), worth to utilize (F, lanthanides, Sr etc.), complicating processing (Fe, Mg, Al, etc.), toxic and radioactive (Pb, Cd, As, U etc.).