Race for an independent platinum smelter is on

Tag : sulphur 99
The three platinum heavyweights  Anglo Platinum, Impala Platinumand Lonmin  have played major roles in opening up South Africasplatinum sector to newcomers through agreements to toll treat theconcentrate they produce. But marketing control of the refined metal still remainsoverwhelmingly with the big three. The only junior that fallsoutside the net is Northam Platinum, now controlled by MvelaphandaResources. Northam has its own smelter and base metals refinery and has itsPGMs refined by European firm Heraeus. The process of smelting and refining PGMs is a technologicallycomplex business, because six PGMs plus gold must be recoveredalong with copper and nickel. Each of the three platinum majors uses a different process and,unlike the gold sector, they dont cooperate on technical matters. The key technical challenge in smelting is controlling the level ofchrome in the mix  and thats becoming more critical. The minesare treating greater volumes of UG2 ore, which has higher chromevalues than the Merensky Reef they have typically mined. Excess chrome can cause smelters to burst and Lonmin, inparticular, has experienced serious problems over the past threeyears in operating its smelter. Braemores ConRoast process has been focused on treating ores withhigher chromium content, as well as reducing the smelters sulphurdioxide emissions. ConRoast uses a DC-arc furnace for alloy smelting instead of mattesmelting, which is traditionally done in a conventional six-in-linesubmerged arc furnace. Braemore has run a DC-arc furnace at Mintek from October 2007,since when its treated high-chromium material at rates of morethan 1,000 tonnes/month, from which a total of 600 tonnes of alloycontaining PGMs has been produced. Braemore says its PGM recoveries have consistently exceeded 99%.The plant is to be upgraded to three megawatts, which will increaseits capacity to 2,000 tonnes/month in the third quarter of 2008. Braemore is also carrying out a feasibility sutyd for a 10 MWConRoast smelter to be built near Rustenburg to treat concentratesfrom emerging and established PGM producers. Commissioning is planned for 2010, and that could be followed by alarger facility of around 40 MW, which would incorporate a basemetal refinery. Ridge Minings Shebas Ridge project will produce 24,000tonnes/year of nickel, in addition to 390,000 oz of PGMs if itsgets the go-ahead. That volume of nickel output means Ridge will have to build its ownsmelter/refinery as it wont be able to get the material tollrefined elsewhere. Managements approach, given that reality, has been to look atdeveloping a full-scale base metal and precious metalssmelter/refinery complex that would treat production from ShebasRidge as well as from other junior platinum companies. Such a plant would compete for toll smelting/refining business withthe big three, whose installed smelting/refining capacity may notbe able to cater anyway for their own expansions plus those of thejuniors, assuming they all come on stream. Strategic motivation driving both Braemore and Ridge is thatownership of an independent smelter/refinery would give them apowerful advantage in any future consolidation of South Africasjunior platinum sector.