overview october 2013. mintek - situated in randburg, on the northern outskirts of johannesburg
TRANSCRIPT
Overview
October 2013
Mintek - situated in Randburg, on the northern outskirts of Johannesburg
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• is one of the largest and oldest mineral and metal technology institutes in the world (80 years old in 2014)
• is a state-owned Science Council, governed by an Act of Parliament, with a board appointed by the Minister of Mineral Resources
• focuses on all aspects of minerals processing and beneficiation, with the exception of iron- and steel making and coal processing
• has a permanent staff of about 750, including 250 engineers and scientists
• undertakes R&D and furnishes commercial testwork and consultancy services to clients worldwide
• Has an annual budget of about €50 million:
– 50% funding from state sources, focused on research– 50% commercial income, derived from various services to
industry (Over 700 commercial projects last year)
Mintek ……
Mintek operates in the latter stages of the Mining Value Chain
Exploration Mining Concentration RefiningValue Addition
Pyrometallurgy
Hydrometallurgy& Biotechnology
MINTEK
CGS CSIR
Mintek’s activities
ClientsState
Mining and metallurgical
companies
Engineering companies
SMMEs
Gold & uranium
Platinum metals
Ferrous metals
Industrial minerals
Non-Ferrous
OutputsSpecialised Services
Products
Routine Services
IP / Know-How
Fields
International projects account for half Mintek’s revenue
Asia; 8%
Australia; 4%
Europe; 12%
North Amer-ica; 21%
Africa; 49%
South Amer-ica; 6%
Mintek’s extensive R&D underpins its commercial services
• Mintek spends €25m annually on applied R&D (~50% of its budget)
• These R&D outputs are transferred to industry either in the form of commercial service work or, on occasion, technology licences
• Mintek undertakes over 700 commercial projects annually, evidence of the high regard industry has for our technology
Mineral Processing Division
Competitive strengths – PGM processing, HPGR, ore sorting
Pyrometallurgy Division
Competitive strengths – DC smelting, laterite, ferroalloys, beach sands, magnesium
Hydrometallurgy Division
Competitive strengths – uranium, PGM and gold processing, IX, Resin in pulp
Biotechnology Division
Competitive strengths – Tank and heap bioleaching, biosynthesis of metal nano-particles and surfactants
Advanced Materials Division
Competitive strengths - metal-based value added products in the following areas:
Biomedical : metal-based drugs for HIV, malaria & cancer (commercial HIV-1 integrase assay kit developed)
Catalysis: precious metals (gold & platinum-group metals) based catalysts & pilot plants (AUROLite™ catalyst range)
Nanotechnology: devices in health and water
Metallurgy: products and services
Often the site work is conducted in very difficult conditions!
Copper heap bioleach test facility in Iran
These test facilities are operated at industrial scale
Tapping of Mintek’s test DC furnace
Extensive re-configuration is required to demonstrate specific technologies
Mintek test facility for magnesium production
Mintek sometimes supplies technology on a turnkey basis
Turnkey gold refinery using Mintek Minotaur® technology
79-year track record of technology transfer
Historically ….
• Uranium recovery in the 1940’s
• Pebble- and run-of-mine milling in the 1950’s
• Carbon-in-pulp in the 1970’s
More recent developments ....
• DC smelting for Koniambo FeNi , and SA beach sands
• METRIX® resin-in-pulp for uranium recovery
• ConRoast® smelting technology for high-Cr platinum
• Cyanoprobe® on-line cyanide monitoring equipment
• Minstral® furnace electrode and FloatStar® flotation control
• Heap leaching design data for a very large Chilean copper project
• Milling/flotation process for UG2 platinum ores
