Mintek To Showcase Mining Waste Treatment Process Technology

Following years of research and development in intelligent process solutions for solid and liquid mine effluent, Mintek will, on 14, 15 and 16 March 2018, host a technology demonstration to showcase technologies at the Mintek Technology Demonstration site in Randfontein.

The demonstration site provides a platform for the intelligent integration of Mintek technologies developed to treat highly polluted waste water sites with high uranium concentrates such as Robinson Lake in Randfontein.

The technology demonstration will highlight Mintek’s revolutionary processes for solid and waste water treatment, namely: SAVMIN, MetRIX, NICMembrane, Biological Oxidation, and Biological Sulfate Reduction.

Made possible by the unique partnership with Sibanye-Stillwater, where collectively, the technologies have been refined to treat the mine-impacted waste water, acid mine drainage and the removal of toxic and radioactive elements such as uranium from the lake sediments to minimize the environmental impact of mining and mining legacies.

Bonginkosi Nkosi, Engineer at Mintek said, “These technologies are targeting the treatment of mine-impacted water, including acid mine drainage, and the removal of toxic and radioactive elements such as uranium from the lake sediments.”

Nkosi added, “This technology integration platform provides applicable processes for the remediation and potential restoration of heavy polluted natural sources such as lakes and rivers. By providing technologies for the prevention and treatment of pollution caused by mining activities, the sustainability of the mining industry is ensured, whilst also protecting the inhabitants of the impacted environments, as well as the national heritage sites and other natural resources in the proximity of mining activities”.

About Mintek
Mintek is South Africa’s national mineral research organisation established in 1934. It is one of the world’s leading technology organisations specialising in minerals processing, extractive metallurgy and related areas. Our commitment to innovation and our world-class research and development expertise is supported by a physical infrastructure of modern laboratories, pilot plants and workshops. We believe it is our extensive intellectual capital – engineers, scientists and technologists, all of the highest calibre – that forms the most valuable part of our proposition to our customers. For more information, visit http://www.mintek.co.za/.

Mintek Process Technologies to be showcased

SAVMIN
SAVMIN is Mintek’s cost-effective technology for the treatment of mine-impacted water, including acid mine drainage. SAVMIN is a precipitation-based process, operating at atmospheric temperature and pressure, and removes heavy metals and sulfates from mine-impacted water.

Biological Sulfate Reduction:
Biological Sulfate Reduction is a process to remove metal sulfates from waste waters using sulfate-reducing, naturally-occurring bacteria that are immobilised on a suitable substrate, such as woodchips. The process can be used for the treatment of acid mine drainage to remove the sulfates from solution and stabilise the toxic metal ions present as metal sulfides.

NICMembrane:
The NICMembrane is a low-fouling ultrafiltration membrane that can be used for the treatment of acid mine drainage and mine-impacted water for the removal of turbidity.

MetRIX:
Metal Recovery through Ion-eXchange is a continuous resin-in-pulp ion exchange process for the removal of uranium or base metals from dense slurries. The process can operate with slurries containing up to 50% solids and therefore does not require any upfront filtration.

Biological Oxidation
Bilogical oxidation is a process for extraction of precious and base metals from sulfide-containing ore with the aid of naturally-occurring microorganisms. The microorganisms act as a catalyst and oxidize the solid metal sulfides into soluble sulfates. The metals can be subsequently recovered from solution using hydrometallurgical standard techniques.