MINING CHEMICALS
AGR reaches major milestone with new sodium cyanide plant
In April, Australian Gold Reagents( AGR) – a joint venture between WesCEF’ s CSBP business and Coogee Chemicals – reached a major milestone in the Sodium Cyanide Plant Expansion Project, with construction and commissioning for Sodium Cyanide Plant 1( SCP1) now complete.
The milestone represents the end of the project’ s most complex construction and commissioning phase, with SCP1 now back in operation following a successful restart. This marks the completion of half the planned expansion. The SCP1 upgrade is the first time such sophisticated modifications have been implemented on one of the site’ s solution plants, making it a significant technical step forward for AGR.
At its busiest, more than 220 contractors worked onsite alongside around 40 engineers and project personnel, delivering this phase safely within a constrained footprint and alongside major shutdown activities.
Once complete, the expansion will materially increase sodium cyanide production at Kwinana, strengthening AGR’ s ability to meet growing global demand and reinforcing its position as the largest sodium cyanide production site outside China.
The expansion will increase AGR’ s annual sodium cyanide
production capacity by over 30 %, bringing its total sodium cyanide solution capacity to approximately 130,000 t per annum. It also includes an increase in its solids production capacity to facilitate increased exports to international customers.
“ In many cases, recovery performance is limited not by equipment, but by how well the reagent suite matches the mineralogy. With the right test work and reagent strategy, it is possible to improve recovery, stabilise performance, and get more from existing circuits without major changes to infrastructure. Axis House continues to partner with operations to bridge the gap between metallurgical potential and realised performance through tailored chemical solutions.”
Orica adds Danafloat™
In April 2026, Orica announced it had expanded into copper processing chemistry with the acquisition of the Danafloat™ product range from FMC Corporation. Danafloat is a specialist range of highperformance collectors used in flotation of copper and other future facing commodities to maximise ore recovery, enhance concentrate quality and minimise environmental impacts. The acquisition included proprietary formulation intellectual property, inventory, branding, and existing customer relationships.
The acquisition expands Orica’ s Specialty Mining Chemicals portfolio beyond its world leading position in sodium cyanide for the gold industry, to the processing of sulphide ores, including copper and other future facing commodities, which are exposed to growth from electrification, urbanisation and artificial intelligence. With Orica’ s strong exposure to copper in Blasting and
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In April 2026, Orica announced it had expanded into copper processing chemistry with the acquisition of the Danafloat™ product range from FMC Corporation
Digital Solutions, it says Danafloat provides significant cross selling synergies.
Danafloat has an established mining industry customer base across Europe, Middle East and Africa( EMEA) and Latin America( LATAM). Orica’ s global footprint creates further opportunity to scale beyond these regions.
President, Orica Specialty Mining Chemicals, Andrew Stewart said:“ Danafloat is a strategic acquisition that strengthens Orica’ s Specialty Mining Chemicals portfolio and advances our customer offering to the mining sector. It expands our presence in copper processing, an increasingly important market driven by electrification, artificial intelligence and the energy transition.”
He added:“ Customers want increasingly specialist chemistry that is ore body specific for maximum recovery, enhanced concentrate quality and circuit stability. By combining Danafloat’ s specialty reagents
with Orica’ s deep domain expertise, our expanded OptiOre range helps customers optimise their processing circuits and deliver more consistent outcomes and greater value.”
Draslovka on the cyanide squeeze
For more than a century, sodium cyanide has served as the primary leaching reagent for gold and silver extraction. And although it plays a crucial role in ensuring continued operations, Draslovka argues that it is an often-overlooked supply chain risk. Without it, many mines could not operate in the short term.
The company told IM:“ Unfortunately, the mining-cyanide market is currently facing a perfect storm, ranging from geopolitical disruptions to growing competition from new cyanide-consuming industries, culminating in mounting pressure on supply chains at a time when cyanide is needed most. Recordhigh gold prices, driven largely by broader economic and geopolitical uncertainty, have prompted increased production to capitalise on favorable market conditions. Simultaneously, mine expansion projects and new mines coming into operation have further necessitated higher reagent consumption.”
It adds that declining ore grades and increasingly complex mineralogy are further driving up cyanide consumption.“ While many operators are turning to more
International Mining | JUNE 2026