Based on an introduction of the background and operational effectiveness of the Central Geological Exploration Fund, the important role of the fund in mineral exploration and its profound significance to the market-oriented reform of the geological exploration industry are elaborated. Then, the main problems to be solved urgently are analyzed based on the implementation of the fund project. Some thoughts for promoting reform of the fund are finally put forward in consideration of the current development of the mining sector, actual situation of state finance, as well as the characteristics of the Central Geological Exploration Fund.

In order to improve the effect of deep-hole bench blasting in open-pit mines, a buffer blasting technique was proposed based on the on-site investigation of existing bench blasting parameters and rock fragmentation. In combination with simulation study by using LS-DYNA software and theoretical calculation, optimal borehole parameters and buffer thickness were finally determined, which were applied into the field blasting experiment. With buffer thickness of 5 m, borehole spacing of 5 m and burden of 4 m, the field blasting experiment brought an average fragmentation of less than 7%, showing a good blasting effect.

In order to achieve utilization of antimony and alkali in arsenic-alkali slag and solidification of arsenic, a new processing technique, consisting of separation antimony by water leaching, arsenic precipitation by hydrothermal reaction with lime, and alkali extraction by evaporation, was proposed to treat arsenic-alkali slag. Results show that water leaching at 90 ℃ for 5 h with liquid-solid ratio of 3∶1 can result in the leaching rate of arsenic up to 97.96% and the leaching rate of antimony just 0.72%. The obtained leaching residue only contains 0.09% arsenic, presenting effective separation between antimony and arsenic. With calcium and arsenic in a molar ratio of 1.43, hydrothermal reaction at 170 ℃ for 2 h can lead to an arsenic precipitation rate up to 99.68% and the solution after precipitation with arsenic and alkali in a mass ratio of 1.65‰, also presenting a good separation effect. Finally, the concentration and crystallization process by evaporation can generate crystalized alkali containing only 0.14‰ arsenic, which can meet the technical requirement for alkali in antimony refining.

20CrMnTi alloy steel was precisely cut by turning instead of grinding using a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tool. Based on analysis of the form and mechanism of PCBN tool wear during the cutting process, the influences of different cutting parameters on tool life and surface roughness of workpiece were studied. The results show that the tool is subjected to diffusion, chipping and severe oxidative wear. Among those three elements of hard material cutting, both feed rate and cutting speed bring great influence to tool wear, and feed rate has great influence on the surface roughness of machined workpiece.

A process consisting of direct reduction roasting and magnetic separation was adopted to separate and recover iron and titanium from ilmenite rough concentrate. A single factor experiment was conducted to explore effects of several factors, including reduction temperature, reduction time, coal powder dosage, borax dosage, bentonite dosage, grinding fineness, and magnetic field intensity, on the grades and recovery of iron concentrate and titanium concentrate. Then, the optimal processing parameters were finally determined. A reduction roasting runs at 1 200 ℃ for 2 h by adding coal powder at an amount of 40%, borax at 2% and bentonite at 2%, with a grinding fineness of 84% -38 μm, followed by a magnetic separation with field intensity of 79.62 kA/m, resulting in an iron concentrate grading 82.57% Fe at 83.59% recovery, and a titanium concentrate approaching 49.23% Ti grade at 85.18% recovery. It is shown that good beneficiation and smelting indicators are obtained.

With Ca (NO₃)₂·4H₂O and Al (NO₃)₃·9H₂O as raw materials and urea as precipitant, a precursor Ca-Al-LDHs was prepared by microwave heating and hydrothermal synthesis. A product of Ca-Al hydrotalcite (Ca-Al-LDOs) was obtained after roasting, and it was used to adsorb fluorine in wastewater. It is found that Ca-Al-LDOs are of typical layered structure similar to hydrotalcite. With pH of 2, initial concentration of F^- ion at 500 mg/g, adsorbent dosage of 2.5 g/L and reaction time of 180 min, the adsorption capacity reaches 173.9 mg/g and the removal rate of fluorine reaches 92.01%. It is found that the process of adsorption conforms to the Freundlich adsorption isotherm mode, and its kinetics conforms to the quasi-second-order kinetic model. The adsorbent Ca-Al-LDOs can be reused after desorption, with defluorination rate keeping at 68.92% after 8 cycles of regeneration.

Based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, a multiphase VOF model and Realizable k-εturbulence model were used to simulate flow characteristics of a large bottom-blown furnace with different blowing modes, and analyze a pre-stabilization process, motion characteristics of blown gas, gas-matte-slag interaction characteristics and mixing effect in molten pool. The results show that the large bottom-blown furnace has two oxygen lances for blowing, which can altogether generate an enhanced pneumatic agitation zone, resulting in a remarkable gas-matte-slag interaction in the furnace, thus providing good dynamic condition for the large bottom-blown furnace. The furnace with double lances blowing at an angle of 9° can bring a better agitation effect, leading to the gas content at a rate of 2.70%, average speed of 0.20 m/s and average turbulence energy of 0.059 m²/s² in the molten pool. There is severe internal disturbance and less splashing of melt in the molten pool, which is beneficial to improving smelting efficiency.

The adsorption mechanism of La³⁺ and NH₄⁺ ions on (001) and (00-1) planes of kaolinite has been studied based on the first-principle calculation of plane-wave pseudopotentials of density functional theory. The results show that La³⁺ ions are mainly adsorbed on kaolinite surface through electrostatic interaction, while NH₄⁺ ions are adsorbed thereon through both electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding, with more electrons transferred onto kaolinite surface than La³⁺. The absolute values of adsorption energy for ions on (001) plane of kaolinite are in the following descending order: La³⁺ > NH₄⁺ > H₂O, while on (00-1) plane in the following descending order: NH₄⁺ > La³⁺ > H₂O. It is found that La³⁺ ions are prone to be adsorbed on (001) plane, while NH₄⁺ ions are prone to be adsorbed on (00-1) plane. When ammonium sulfate is used as a leaching agent, rare earth ions like La³⁺ adsorbed on the (001) plane can only be effectively displaced with the leaching agent at a certain concentration.

The advantages and disadvantages of several technologies for recycling spent LiFePO₄ batteries, including pre-treatment, hydrometallurgical process, and direct regeneration and repairing, were presented in terms of recovery efficiency, economic and environmental benefits, and commercial feasibility. The development trend of each technology is also analyzed. All these can serve as reference for optimizing and improving the technologies to recycle spent LiFePO₄ batteries in the future.

In order to explore the influence of ultrafine grinding using high-pressure grinding roller (HPGR) on the separation performance of copper-bearing iron ore, mineral separation tests were carried out for HPGR milled ore. The results show that HPGR products are usually smaller and more uniform in size compared to jaw crushing products. Furthermore, obvious grain boundary cracks in HPGR products can be observed. Based on the comparison with jaw crushed ore, a test on magnetic separation of HPGR milled ore for tailings discarding led to the obtained product with iron grade up by 0.4 percentage points and iron recovery down by 0.8 percentage points, while both copper grade and recovery up by 0.01 and 2.11 percentage points respectively. A flotation test resulted in the roughing concentrate with copper grade and recovery up by 0.21 percentage points and 1.84 percentage points, respectively. The following magnetic separation test of the obtained roughing tailings led to the final iron concentrate with grade and recovery up by 1.11 and 2.45 percentage points, respectively. It is concluded that compared with jaw crushing, HPGR grinding is more conducive to improving copper grade and recovery of iron concentrate.