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PRODUCT News
52
MODERN MINING
July 2016
Finnish technology can counter acid mine drainage problem
What is described as a “revolutionary
patented and proven new technology”
from Finnish company, Global EcoProcess
Services Oy (EPSE), could transform the
treatment of acid and industrial waste water
and solve the serious problem of metal pol-
lution in mining and heavy industry.
The process produces purified clean
water and valuable raw materials by per-
manently converting the soluble metals
contained in hazardous waste into environ-
mentally harmless insoluble metals that can
then be used in production for several other
processes.
The one-step EPSE solution is simple,
fast, cost effective and irreversible and –
says EPSE – is set to be a game changer
in acid mine drainage (AMD), especially in
South African mining where the volume of
waste water from just one mine can be as
much as 300 000 m³/day.
According to EPSE, key advantages are
low operational costs and low investment in
infrastructure in a one-step processing solu-
tion for hazardous waste water treatment
with outstanding results, cost efficiency,
purification of polluted water and extrac-
tion of metals.
“In countries like South Africa where
there is a shortage of clean potable water,
EPSE technology brings an innovative solu-
tion to a sustainable and better future,”
says EPSE CEO and Partner Lasse Musakka.
“South Africa has been selected as the pri-
mary market for EPSE technology for mine
water treatment after extensive market
studies and our successful participation at
the London Mines and Money conference
in December 2015 and at the Mining Indaba
conference in Cape Town in February 2016.
“Our technology has been tested and
verified by independent accredited labora-
tories and industrial pilot tests and has been
estimated to be able to achieve potential
annual savings of up to €1 million by most
conservative calculations for any currently
operating mine with AMD problems.”
Unlike currently available technolo-
gies, the EPSE solution removes metals
completely and the precipitate is inert and
insoluble. Soluble precipitates of metals
are a hazardous waste that must be stored
in controlled landfill deposits creating an
increasing environmental risk globally as
well as high costs for mining and waste
treatment companies. The EPSE solution
addresses this need in a cost efficient way.
Although primarily addressing the
numerous metals in mining waste, the
system is also capable of substantially
reducing concentrations of sulphates,
alkali and partially alkaline earth metals
which are a major concern where there is
a need to recover water to a potable water
quality level.
Gregory Niekerk, Finestech, tel (+27 72) 622-3340
Pneumatic flotation technology is reported
to be delivering outstanding results in field
trials involving platinum group metals
(PGMs) and iron ore, and will soon be put
to the test in gold, rare earth and graphite
circuits in Southern Africa.
GregoryNiekerk, Business Development
Manager at MBE Minerals, says the com-
pany’s Pneuflot technology is nearing the
completion of an 18-month test at a South
African PGM operation. The pilot plant has
already delivered a 5 % gain in recovery
and yield.
This follows a trial in Brazil that was
undertaken by a prominent iron ore miner
which reported ground-breaking gains
using the Pneuflot technology.
“This customer undertook an industrial
scale trial using a 4 m diameter cell. Our
40 m
3
Pneuflot cell operated in parallel
with a 125 m
3
agitator circuit. Both cir-
cuits received 320 t/h of conditioned feed
from a splitter box, and the results were
overwhelmingly in favour of Pneuflot,
prompting the world renowned Professor
Antônio Eduardo C. Peres (PhD) of UFMG,
Brazil to declare Pneuflot the future of
iron ore flotation in his presentation at
Flotation 15
,” says Niekerk.
“The footprint of our 4 m diameter cell
is 4,5 m
2
and it can handle throughputs
between 450 m
3
and 850 m
3
of slurry per
hour.”
These trials also confirmed that MBE
Minerals’ Pneuflot technology uses more
than 35 % less electricity than competing
technologies. There are also no mechani-
cal moving parts in its cell or expensive
auxiliaries such as compressors or blow-
ers, resulting in reduced maintenance and
operating costs, while its structural foot-
print is generally 50 to 60 %, smaller than
those of agitator cells and column cells of
similar capacities.
During the next six months, the
pneumatic flotation technology will be
subjected to more trials at potential cus-
tomers’operations, including another PGM
circuit on the Western Limb as well as a
gold circuit on the East Rand and a graph-
Pneuflot technology proves itself in field trials
A 3-cell Pneuflot configuration (4 m diameter capable of
460 m
3
/h) doing potash duty for SQM.
ite operation in Zimbabwe. The Pneuflot
laboratory unit stationed at Mintek will be
equally busy on contractual work in rare
earth minerals, potash, phosphates and
graphite.
“Pneuflot is easily ‘plugged and played’
into any part of an existing circuit allowing
comparative analysis to be undertaken by
mines’ research and development (R&D)
teams from float feed to final tails. We have
completed a number of installations at the
back end of existing float circuits around
the world in the last two to three years,
where the scavenging of an additional 3 to
5 % allowed the operators to enhance their
revenue stream with project payback peri-
ods of less than six months,” says Niekerk.
MBE Minerals’ pilot plant comprises
a one cubic metre feed tank and a 0,8 m
diameter cell and is easily containerised
for transportation. The pilot plant can be
operated in batch and continuous mode
and treats up to 10 m
3
/h of slurry.
The company’s industrial plants have
diameters ranging from 0,8 m to 6 m with
slurry feed rates of between 10 m³/h and
1 400 m³/h. The bigger cells are installed
for a cost of less than 25 US cents per m³/h
slurry feed. According to Multotec, this
places the technology in the lowest capital
cost quartile.
MBE Minerals SA, tel (+27 11) 397-4660