MINING CHEMICALS
brings with it an unsurpassed expertise in this revolutionary nanoscience, plus existing infrastructure, operational and production expertise, and an extensive existing customer base. Conversely, Ucore and its personnel bring a wide-ranging background in the financial markets, IP licensing regimes, and the scaling of proven technology platforms for accelerated growth. All of this comes at a time when disruptive materials technologies are transforming prior business models in the fields of transportation, energy storage and supercomputing. The opportunity to guide this change is significant.”
“ The IBC intellectual property and know-how comprises dozens of customised molecules in the existing SuperLig ® product catalogue,” said Peter Manuel, Vice President & CFO of Ucore.“ SuperLig is an advanced nanotechnology. It represents best-of-breed American materials science and innovation, capable of appropriating metals in polymetallic environs with high precision, selectivity, speed and recovery. IBC and Ucore benefit from the advisory expertise of Dr Reed M. Izatt, molecular recognition pioneer and Professor Emeritus of Brigham Young University, USA, as well as Dr Jean Marie Lehn, Nobel Laureate and a Director of the Institut de Science et d’ Ingénierie Supramoléculaires of the Université de Strasbourg, France. We’ re honoured to be in the company of these giants in the field of macrocyclic science.”
The Japanese Government( Mitsubishi Research, Inc.) recently awarded to IBC a highly competitive subsidy grant, Demonstration Project for Seawater Purification Technologies, concerning the selective separation of the radionuclides strontium and caesium from contaminated seawater at Fukushima, Japan.
IBC’ s expertise is illustrated by its extensive development and commercialisation of separations systems for PGMs at a world level. PGMs are analogous to the rare earth elements, in that they are considered difficult to selectively separate due to their constituent chemical similarities.
The Ucore-IBC alliance builds on IBC’ s proven capabilities to develop, scale-up and commercialise selective separations systems for a number of diverse and complex applications.
Ucore is focused on rare metals resources, extraction and beneficiation technologies with near term potential for production, growth and scalability. In March 2015, Ucore announced the right to acquire a controlling ownership interest in a joint venture with IBC to deploy the exclusive rights to SuperLig technology for rare earths, multi-metallic tailings processing applications, and select PGM recycling applications in North America and associated world markets. Ucore has a 100 % ownership
stake in Bokan-Dotson Ridge. In March Ucore announced the unanimous support of the Alaska State Legislature for the investment of up to $ 145 million in the Bokan project at the discretion of the Alaska Import Development and Export Agency.
Phosphate optimisation
Todd Parker, Global Marketing Manager Mining, ArrMaz explains that“ mining chemicals are essential to creating such value throughout the phosphate fertiliser supply chain.
“ At the beneficiation plant, optimising phosphate grade and recovery is critical to phosphoric acid and fertiliser production processes, as it influences not only end product cost, but also quality. Since 1967, ArrMaz has been serving the process and functional chemical needs of the phosphate industry to improve ore grade and recovery.
“ While there is no universal reagent scheme and flowsheet design, each directly influences the other. Therefore operations designed with a marriage of flowsheet, equipment selection and reagent formulation creates the best value for the miner.
“ ArrMaz develops custom reagent schemes and flowsheet designs for customer-specific phosphate ores to recover more, higher grade phosphate while consuming less energy and resources, and extending mine life. We provide a complete technical service package that includes laboratory evaluations of flowsheets and reagents as well as process consultations on existing operations, and custom formulated reagents to improve recovery and grade for phosphate processing operations around the globe.
“ The ability to recover fine fractions can also
ArrMaz process consultation- examining froth characteristics for maximum recovery and grade
significantly improve operational economies, extend mine life, and reduce the demand for clay and tailings impoundments. However, handling and recovering finer phosphate fractions can create a balancing act between overall recovery and conditioning / flotation efficiency. Oftentimes clays interfere with the flotation process, driving costs up and challenging the recovery of other size fractions. In this case, reagent selection is key. Unique to ArrMaz are our CustoFloat ® and CustAmine ® reagents formulated to handle clays and multiple sized feed fractions. These reagents have recently found success for carbonate and silica rejection in clay-laden feeds while maximising grade and recovery.”
ArrMaz’ s custom formulated PEG and DF series of defoamers can reduce operational inefficiencies caused by foam and entrained gases, improve evaporator efficiency, and increase throughput. Better rock combined with ArrMaz filtration aids lead to improved filtration rates. The combination of the right defoamer and the right filtration aid creates gypsum crystals that are easier to filter, increasing filter capacity and reducing filtration losses. This in turn translates into higher grade phosphoric acid for phosphate fertiliser production.
“ Our granulation and colouring aids improve hardness, roundness, colour and appearance,” Parker continues,“ leading to improved quality recognition by the fertiliser market.” ArrMaz’ s DUSTROL ® coating agents significantly lower dust generation and caking( pile set) during storage and handling, reducing environmental concerns and improving worker safety. IM
14 International Mining | JUNE 2017