Download - Mintek

vast resources of iron, vanadium, and titanium, but to date noprocess has been developed that can economically recoverall three of these metals. The high titania levels make the oreunsuitable for smelting in a traditional blast furnace, and theand Vanadium, which operate the Mapochs Mine, processes the ore foriron and vanadium, but discards the low-grade titanium slag.Veremo Holdings has begun an evaluation of the feasibility of utilisingpart of the titaniferous magnetite ore from the Bushveld Complex toproduce iron units that could be used as feed for foundries and steel plants.The initial feasibility study includes the potential recovery of titania andvanadium from the slag.Approximately 5 tons of concentrate was produced from 14 tons of trenchedmaterial and smelted in Mintek’s 200 kilovolt-ampere DC arc furnace.The testwork was aimed at producing slag that could be used in furtherdevelopment work, as well as evaluating the deportment of iron, titanium,and vanadium under varied reducing conditions.additions, the process could be controlled to produce good-quality iron withhigh recoveries and a wide range of titania-containing slag compositions.Further development work will investigate the feasibility of upgrading 2andrecovering the vanadium from the slag.Oriel Resources Plc (Oriel) has been engaged in developing itsShevchenko Nickel project in Kazakhstan since 2004, and conducted amajor ferronickel smelting campaign at Mintek in 2005 (Annual Report2005). Bateman was appointed in late 2004 to conduct a feasibilitystudy that was completed at the end of 2005 based on the work atMintek . The process includes an Aerofall mill and Polcal calcinerfrom Polysius, Germany, and the twin electrode DC arc furnaceis similar to the approach envisaged for the Koniambo ferronickelproject in New Caledonia, now owned by Xstrata.Oriel has continued to develop the Shevchenko project andto evaluate the selected process options so that the mostappropriate approach can be chosen for the project to proceed.Mintek has been conducting additional testwork on these processoptions for Oriel to assist with the project development.In 2005, Mintek began a major collaborative project, fundedby the Innovation Fund and supported by Anglo Platinum, theUniversity of Pretoria, and an industrial partner, to developa more cost-effective grinding ball for the minerals industry.Samples produced in laboratory-scale melts are undergoingscreening, and in parallel with this, reference balls are beingproduced so that the casting methods can be optimised. Batchtests of balls cast from the most promising materials are plannedTrials of the “smart” rockbolt, or SmartBolt TM , are continuing in“highly critical” areas on two deep-level gold mines. Mintek isworking with a team of specialists towards the commercialisation ofboth the SmartBolt and the Hercules TM low-nickel austenitic stainlesssteel, and the Innovation Fund has indicated that it will supportcommercialisation if the two projects merit it.Pics from topto bottom:Small-scalesmeltingtitaniferousmagnetite.Conductinga ferronickelsmeltingcampaign atMintek forOriel ResourcesPlc.A grinding ballsectioned formetallurgicalanalysis.Smartbolt TMausteniticstainless steel.23annual report 2007