Got minerals processing or industrial waste? Get Intec
As global demand for resources increases, new challenges are thrown our way. As high-grade and near-surface mineral resources are consumed, miners are forced to venture deeper and operations are turning to ever more complex metallurgy. Simultaneously, the world continues to seek out more economical and environmentally favourable options across the mining industry and opposition to landfill and general mine waste continues to mount. Intec Limited (ASX: INL) of Sydney, Australia, is the world’s leader in chloride hydrometallurgy and moving steadily along the path to bringing its patented Intec Process technology to the world. With developing projects both in Australia and worldwide, this pioneer offers sustainable, environmentally and economically friendly solutions for minerals processing and industrial waste recycling projects that benefit its clients, their operating environment and governance, and of course Intec itself.
“Our technology has demonstrated its capability to deal with more challenging metallurgical projects. As metallurgically simpler resources become scarcer, these challenges have to be addressed and that’s where we stand to do our bit,” Philip Wood, Managing Director and CEO says.
“We’re dealing with real issues—on the ground today. We feel we’re playing a very productive role and not just in Australia, but given the worldwide interest in our technology we’d like to think that we’re assisting our client industries from an environmental and economic point of view too.”
Like all great stories of technological development, Intec’s work has taken time. But the company is now in the position to offer advantageous environmental and economic solutions to a range of challenges, always with the intention of recovering valuable metal products.
Understanding Intec technology
Wood says that the origin of Intec’s processing technology dates right back to the early 1990’s. Having returned home to Australia from the world of international investment banking, he participated in successful efforts to raise capital for the technology with a consortium of mining companies. Wood joined the Intec board then later became Managing Director and CEO. The company floated on the ASX 10 years ago and has since diversified its technology to service a range of minerals processing and industrial waste recycling applications.
“The technology is based on chloride hydrometallurgy, which is simpler than it sounds in that all ocean seawater contains a lot of sodium chloride and that is one of the essential ingredients in our process,” he explains.
“We combine it with other halides such as bromide and iodide. We have a mixed halides leach which, in summary, gets all base and precious metals into solution and then we separately recover those payable metals.”
The Intec Process’s original application was for the minerals processing industry, such as copper-gold concentrates, zinc and lead feedstocks and refractory gold concentrates. The company has begun working in industrial wastes recycling over the past few years and targeted valuable metals such as zinc and lead which can be environmentally damaging, but if extractable can present value for a client. To date, the company offers a spectrum of technology applications including copper, gold, nickel and zinc/lead processes. Rather than having to dispose of product such as zinc, iron or gypsum into landfill, Intec can assist clients to recover and recycle valuable metals, typically resulting in a zero-waste technology that is favourable for all. With projects under a range of different applications and reaching various stages, the company’s core focus today is on its work for recycling galvanizing waste.
The work underway: Tasmania and Victoria
As an industry active throughout the world, galvanizing essentially consists of coating steel with a very thin lay of zinc to ward off corrosion from weather, salt or other degrading environmental factors. Every galvanizer prepares the steel in a hydrochloric acid ‘pickling’ bath to ensure its surface is clean. As this process is repeated, Wood explains, it becomes what is known as spent pickle liquor; depleted hydrochloric acid with quite significant amounts of zinc and iron compounds.
“Customarily around the world that weak hydrochloric acid is solidified and thrown into landfill. Our technology, on the other hand, takes that weak hydrochloric acid, separates out the zinc and iron and replenishes the hydrochloric acid which goes back to the galvanizer,” Wood says.
“In other words we’re a perfect adjunct for galvanizing businesses around the world in that instead of them paying to get rid of this waste, they can find value from it.”
At Intec’s Research Facility in Burnie, Tasmania, the company is in the final stage of a program which demonstrates this technology. On a small scale, Burnie is already treating various industrial wastes in the region and has been acclaimed for its work by the Tasmanian EPA and other Australian industry authorities.
“It’s important to get those awards early on because it draws attention to what we’re doing, and clearly at the technology development stage you’re not making money—it’s costing money to run the development programs so it’s great to get recognition there,” Wood says.
“Awards in themselves are no guarantee to success, of course, and we have to keep working hard, but it’s very gratifying and recognises a mix of smart technology, good economic outcomes and environmental solutions that are real.”
In 2011, Intec’s project partner, GB Galvanizing Service Pty Ltd (GBG), is expected to commence building a commercial scale plant in Melbourne, Victoria. In May 2009, the Victorian government approved a grant for conducting the technology development program as part of the EPA Victoria’s HazWaste Fund. The grant worth A$780,000 was awarded to GBG, Victoria’s largest galvanising operator with Intec responsible for providing all technology services to the project. This grant reflects the government’s interest in improving the region’s environment by preventing landfill and turning to economical and environmentally-minded recycling methods. Commencing the first phase of testing in November 2009, Intec has set up a substantial demonstration plant.
“For this new circuit we ran the plant successfully in the latter months of 2010 and it’s currently being modified prior to re-running it from Feb. 21 in its final run before we’ll make it a commercial scale plant,” Wood says.
“The plant has already successfully demonstrated that it can take in otherwise useless industrial waste and turn it into valuable products in an economic way.”
In addition to the advancements made in Australia, Intec is involved in international projects which indicate quite how vast the potential application of its technology is to minerals processing and industrial waste recycling requirements further afield.
Intec: internationally in demand
Wood says that predicting where Intec will flourish next is difficult to do. With so many project opportunities on the table and so many decisions to be made by both Intec and the other parties involved, there is a lot of potential in terms of locations, application of technology and growing its commercial footprint.
“It’s quite interesting because the wonderful thing about mining is that natural resources are not just allocated to developed countries. They are spread all over the globe, including in some fairly unlikely places. Nonetheless they’re all capable of being exploited productively,” he says.
“We’ve had interest from some countries where it is considered more difficult to do business, but are very well endowed with natural resources—in addition to established countries like China, Canada, India and South Africa.”
While in the short-term it is easier for Intec to take on projects closer to home, given where its personnel are located, the company is open to practically anywhere that proposes demand for its work. In doing so, Wood emphasises the company’s commitment to balancing shareholder interests with capital raising and the funds devoted to expansion programs. Intec is consistently mindful of our pressing needs within resource extraction to tackle more complex metallurgy in projects, as well as the global appetite for sustainable environmental and economic technologies.
The company is on the lookout for the right projects and the right project partners to fund and carry forward clean, economic and environmental projects in Australia and internationally. There are opportunities for the recycling of heavy metal-bearing industrial wastes using technology that has already been developed, or in new areas yet to be developed such as the recycling of lead from television and computer monitor e-waste, recycled automotive batteries, and other lead-bearing wastes, nickel from batteries, and zinc, silver, gold and other precious metals from various waste streams.
The bottom line in the company’s story is its proven and successful commercial application of its patented processing technology today. There is a genuine intent to step in and assist in minerals processing and industrial waste recycling on an international scale and an acute commercial awareness which guarantees that an Intec project always strives to be beneficial for all.
www.intec.com.au
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