Boosting value of SA-mined minerals

Collaborative efforts undertaken with the mining industry – focusing on developing research and technological expertise – are driving new economic value in various commodities including gold, iron-ore, chrome, lithium and cobalt, highlights minerals and processing research organisation Mintek.

Mintek provides products and services to the metallurgical industry on ore characterisation, unit and flowsheet optimisation, and new technology development. It also conducts pilot plant studies and plant audits, thereby enabling the organisation to improve mineral beneficiation processes and techniques.

Within its mineral processing division, Mintek houses a variety of equipment used to undertake the typical processes that are used to prepare, classify and separate valuable commodities from ores. These are broadly categorised as comminution, encompassing crushing and grinding; physical separation, which is exploiting the ore’s physical characteristics to effect separation; and flotation of materials, which the company also highlights as a process that is generally associated with platinum group metals.

“The mineral processing goal is to exploit the physical and chemical properties of bulk material to separate valuable minerals from waste into a saleable product,” explains mineral processing executive manager Lawrence Bbosa.

He adds that the more Mintek can concentrate valuable minerals, the more it can produce a grade that is then passed on to the subsequent process that derives fairly high economic value.

Embedded Strategy

Mintek emphasises the importance of bolstering its mineral processing expertise through a research-oriented approach that allows the organisation to offer the latest, scientifically proven methodologies for minerals processing and beneficiation.

Maintaining the ability to train the next generation of mineral processing experts and ensuring that the organisation develops the skills of its existing staff to ensure that they can impart their expertise to clients, remain key priorities for Mintek, states Bbosa.

He points out that his team comprises individuals who possess the “highest” academic qualifications, coupled with extensive processing or beneficiation plant experience, and highlights this as a key factor in Mintek’s ability to overcome obstacles relevant to mineral processing.

“In terms of impact, we make sure that we intentionally pursue work that has the potential for scale, from fundamental studies to advanced analytical research involving pilot plant evaluation or site-based activity,” explains Bbosa.

Mintek highlights the significance of ensuring that the research work undertaken throughout its operations is multifaceted and emphasises collaborative work undertaken under the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) umbrella, alongside universities, the private sector and at the community level.

Bbosa also emphasises that Mintek “goes to great lengths” to ensure it has modern equipment and facilities, enabling it to “set the standard” regarding mineral processing techniques, ensuring that the company can test and commercialise the latest technologies available on the market, such as AI and automation systems.

Further, Mintek is also endeavouring to focus efforts on providing access to, and helping to develop a better understanding of, operational sustainability approaches – a key strategic imperative – with particular emphasis on water and energy preservation.

In this regard, Bbosa stresses the importance of ensuring that the water associated with mineral processing can be used in lower volumes, recycled or reused, thereby lowering any negative impact in terms of water use by associated communities near mines or processing plants.

In terms of energy efficiency, one of the significant research areas Mintek focuses on is optimising the energy use associated with different mineral processing activities, particularly crushing and grinding, such as integrating renewable energy into such processes.

Meanwhile, in terms of improving its own approach towards energy, Bbosa tells Mining Weekly that Mintek has embarked on a pathway to use renewable energy in several of its operations to reduce its reliance on the national grid.

Collaborative Efforts, Skills Development

In terms of contract research, Mintek devotes significant attention to working with the DMPR, and Bbosa highlights that such work extends through State entities such as the Council for Geoscience; the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; and the Agricultural Research Council.

Bbosa also notes that because Mintek does not always have the capacity to build and design technological equipment on its own, this creates an opportunity to foster relationships with different equipment suppliers.

In this regard, Mintek is typically supplied with novel technological products which are then tested at its production facilities and evaluated to develop conceptual research, which is built upon and rolled out to commercial clients, thereby facilitating the development of new innovations, and new technologies and services.

“We are starting to see that mining companies are looking for more expansive areas for expertise. Mintek’s role in this is to make sure that we are fostering that expansion, not just in technology, but also in other areas such as business and skills development,” he concludes.