SPECIALIST EQUIPMENT MOLTEN STATE
New molten salt technology is being developed for use in mineral processing in the mining industry to reduce energy and water costs
Metals in a bid to use cutting-edge technology to considerably reduce energy and water usage, and therefore the cost of mineral processing using molten salts. T e research, based around the
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Oxley Potassium Project in Western Australia and undertaken by UniSA’s School of Engineering and Future Industries Institute, will expand current molten salt research for solar energy applications into minerals processing with a view to maximising successful technology development and commercialisation. T e research programme, led by associate research professor Frank Bruno, will develop a minerals processing circuit to leach, extract and purify metals from silicate minerals in a solely molten salt environment, without the need for subsequent aqueous processing. If the research successfully provides the ability for all processing steps to be undertaken in a molten salt environment it will considerably lower energy and water use and the associated costs. South Australian company Centrex
Metals will use the technology at its Oxley Potash Project to become the fi rst commercial and cost competitive manufacturer of bulk potassium chloride fertiliser from potassium feldspar ore. T e Oxley project is located in the Midwest of Western Australia about 125km southeast of the port of Geraldton. T e project is a very
he University of South Australia (UniSA) has formed a collaborative research funding partnership with Centrex
Professor Frank Bruno from University of South Australia
rare 32km long shallow dipping and outcropping potash feldspar rich lava fl ow.
Centrex Minerals CEO Ben
Hammond says the technology would take advantage of the unique liquid properties of molten salt to not only convert metals within silicate ore to an extractable form, but also separate and purify them, saving energy, water and reducing the overall project footprint. “It will allow us to look at competing in the bulk fertiliser space for our globally unique large scale potassium feldspar deposit at Oxley, creating more long-term jobs in Australia’s currently struggling mining industry,” Hammond states. Molten salt technology has
previously been used in the solar and nuclear energy industries at temperatures up to 600°C, including the 110MW Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada. T e University of South Australia project
will use salts at temperatures from 850°C and above for the fi rst time.
Implications for mining Bruno says the research could have broader implications for mineral refi nement in the mining industry and provide insights for its development in the solar and nuclear industries. “Salts at the higher temperatures are generally more corrosive and also because you’re at higher temperatures that in itself creates greater reactions.” T e UniSA team is a world leader in molten salt technology and has focused on its applications for thermal energy storage for the past four years. “At that point in time we would never have thought we would be able to use it for this application,” says Bruno. “Now that people know that we are
working with a higher temperature molten salt they are coming to us with all sorts of applications they want us to look at.”
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