Overview
October 2013
Mintek - situated in Randburg, on the northern outskirts of Johannesburg
Mintek ……
•
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)
3
Mintek operates in the latter stages of the Mining Value Chain
Hydrometallurgy
& Biotechnology
Exploration
Mining
Concentration
Refining
Pyrometallurgy
CGS
CSIR
MINTEK
Value
Addition
Mintek’s activities
Clients
State
Mining and metallurgical
Fields
Gold & uranium
Platinum
metals
Outputs
Specialised Services
Products
companies
Ferrous
metals
Routine Services
Engineering companies
Non-Ferrous
SMMEs
Industrial
minerals
IP / Know-How
International projects account for half Mintek’s revenue
Africa, 49%
South
America, 6%
Asia, 8%
Australia, 4%
North
America, 21%
Europe, 12%
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
Thank you
www.mintek.co.za
peterc@mintek.co.za