yesterdays plant visit kooragang.

Hi All,Yesterday i had reason to be in Newcastle on business.Prior to this i had already made my mind up to arrange a plant visit with M.T.
Firstly we sat down in the induction room with a laminated plan of the whole process from roasting to leaching.
The product pertaining to each process was at every stage in a screw top jar .
M.T. had great pride in his voice when he told me that the two end products TIO2 & Iron Pellets were valued @ $700 & $400 respectively also that the Auspac technology was a world first. He said the opportunities for Auspac technology in the mining & steel making industries was huge.
Now out the door attired in yellow safety jacket,hard hat & glasses for a plant tour.
Firstly the Bemax Iluminite then on to the enclosed tower housing all the goodies that are producing this quality TIO2.
From the slurry bin where the iluminite is tipped,mixed with water & then is piped to top of tower where it begins its descent down through the roasters ,over the magnetic conveyor down to the bulka bag where the TIO2 was stored before being taken to the storage shed next door for storage awaiting the leaching.
All this really blew me away ,I am a bloke who has spent my life on the land ,but the sheer magnitude of what this team have done really impacted on me .
I saw the furnaces ,control room where two enthusiastic fella's sit watching 4 x 22-24 inch monitors with the abilty to bring up any section of plant at any time .In other words all temps.,flow rates & anything else that is recordable,right down to the percentage of the batch that ends up being stored at the end .
M.T. told me he was blessed with the opportunity to reemploy some EX-BHP workers who were made redundant when they closed a process they were working .They are extremly enthuseastic & have taken the Auspac technology right into their hearts .
This is very evident when u are there ,there is an element of excitement in the air & it infected me too!!
The next stage is well under way,storage tanks heaps of piping around & last but not least 3 brand new German pumps(large) to handle everything the pickling,leaching& heat processes can throw at them .M.T. said they are the best in the world .
Well now you may ask what were the main things that impressed this old bushie,i will try to tell you .
(1) The enormousness of the whole deal with all the possible applications.
(2) THE sheer air of excitement around the plant .
(3)The fact that M.T.said that this pilot plant when finished will be able to be reproduced in 50-250 or 1000 tonne per year models simply by ramping up the scale on exact same plan.
(4) New plants will store all gasses to produce their own power(excess to grid)& the heat will also be used for the last process of washing ,filtering & heating(calcined) to make the final saleable product.
Well what can i say ,i am in awe of the brains that thought through such technology.If i have made a technical error in my description forgive me for alot of the science was above my head.
For any newcomers log on to Austpac Rescoures N.L.& click on technologies to try to grasp a better understanding .
P.S. Sent M.T. a thank you email because i got lost & he rang looking for me & to give directions.A reply came back within 5 mins. saying how nice to meet with me & how much he enjoyed showing the plant to me as operational after all his years of endevour.
Cheers All(We have backed the right horse it will be a winner)