FLOTATION
Close up of Jameson Cell at Valterra Platinum’ s Mogalakwena North
and more sustainable operations.
Glencore Technology’ s Jameson Cell also continues to deliver against its performance objectives at Valterra Platinum’ s Mogalakwena North Concentrator, with the operation reporting further mass pull improvements alongside higher concentrator recoveries.
The latest results build on the successful commissioning of four Jameson Cells at the concentrator, replacing 40 conventional flotation units. The installation supports Valterra Platinum’ s low mass pull strategy. It produces a higher-grade concentrate at lower volumes, reducing downstream processing, materials handling and logistics requirements.
In its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026, Valterra Platinum reported that the technology delivered the full mass pull benefits anticipated in the original investment case while also providing a measurable recovery improvement.
Valterra Platinum CEO Craig Miller said the company’ s focus on operational optimisation had led to:“ a 15 % yearon-year improvement in mass pull and improved concentrator recoveries at the Mogalakwena North Concentrator following the implementation of Jameson cells.” Since commissioning, the project has reduced concentrate production by approximately 90,900 tonnes. The lower concentrate volume has delivered reported cost savings of ZAR203 million, reduced smelter electricity use by 70.5 million kWh
and avoided approximately 73,000 t of emissions. It has also removed the need for around 2,600 concentrate truck movements.
These results demonstrate how the Jameson Cell can improve overall processing performance beyond the flotation circuit. By increasing selectivity and reducing the volume of material sent downstream, the technology lowers the processing, energy and transport burden associated with each tonne of valuable concentrate.
Valterra Platinum also highlighted the broader sustainability benefits of the technology in their interim results report:“ The deployment of Jameson cell flotation technology enhances processing efficiency by improving mineral recovery while reducing energy consumption and reagent use. Its compact design enables lower water usage per tonne processed and reduces the overall environmental footprint of concentrator operations, supporting both cost efficiency and more sustainable resource use.”
The results at Mogalakwena North continue to demonstrate the value of Jameson Cell technology. Across PGM and other mineral processing applications, it can improve recovery, reduce downstream volumes and lower environmental impacts without increasing circuit size or complexity.
Smart reagent formulations
Mineral processing intelligence is growing in capability and influence, and the flotation reagent sector is part of this. Syensqo has been one of the companies leading this charge with solutions like its Syensqo Cube, a state-of-the-art dosing equipment system that enables more precise blending and dosing control of reagent buildingblock chemicals during mineral processing trials; and SmartFloat ®, a digital platform that empowers mine operators to boost flotation performance through real-time recommendations for reagent optimisation. IM had the chance to catch up with Keith Cramer, Syensqo Mining Solutions Technical Service Director to discuss this and other smart mining chemistry solutions already available and in the planning.
Cramer:“ There’ s increasing interest in what can we do with data and digital tools and that is across the different market areas that we’ re in as well as the different customer bases. But the level of engagement varies – SmartFloat ®, which represents the full ambition, being flexible chemistry control at a flotation plant in real time- relies on a lot of different things to work properly and in some ways is ahead of its time. While the different components exist, and we have learned a lot from trials and pilots, we have never implemented a full system. Full online control requires the right data on up to the minute mineralogical conditions on what’ s getting fed into the circuit to be able to do the modelling and reagent composition adjustment in real time – we don’ t have the mineralogy data to the level we need today. Plus ensuring data security is also an important aspect of success. But it is coming and it is already on the radar for customers that are already advancing with digitalisation plans and AI in the plant.”
Cramer said one of the things Syensqo is doing is breaking that journey up into some more concrete steps in the right direction. It has developed a solution called Flotation InSYght which takes some of the process data that is already available such as incoming ore chemistry, throughput, grind size, recovery rates and other variables., and provides analysis to be able to get some recommendations out to the operation – not in real time but fast enough to still be able to make important changes where they will have significant benefit. It builds on what has and is already being achieved with SolvExtract ®, which was launched in 2019 and was a first-of-its-kind digital platform that connects chemistry and operational insight to make solvent extraction more efficient. InSYght will apply similar technology to the flotation circuit.
Noting SolvExtract ® successes, a copper SX operation in the US that was experiencing an intermittent loss in Cu recovery from the operation in North America. When looking into performance variation at the plant through SolvExtract ®, the team noticed the stage efficiency drop. Investigating more, they then noticed the mixing condition changes, and then worked with the customer to optimise the conditions and improve Cu recovery. By having a stronger connection to the data from the customer operation the team could more quickly recognise the issue, identify the root cause and come up with solutions – issues that Syensqo says would normally get lost in the day-to-day issues at the plant.
Cramer:“ It’ s helping improve that connection to the customer and the data that
International Mining | OCTOBER 2026