1. Overview
October 2013

2. Mintek - situated in Randburg, on the northern outskirts of Johannesburg

3. Mintek ……
is one of the largest and oldest mineral and metal technology institutes in the world (80 years old in 2014)
is a state-owned Science Council, governed by an Act of Parliament, with a board appointed by the Minister of Mineral Resources
focuses on all aspects of minerals processing and beneficiation, with the exception of iron- and steel making and coal processing
has a permanent staff of about 750, including 250 engineers and scientists
undertakes R&D and furnishes commercial testwork and consultancy services to clients worldwide
Has an annual budget of about €50 million:
50% funding from state sources, focused on research
50% commercial income, derived from various services to industry (Over 700 commercial projects last year) 3 3 3

4. Mintek operates in the latter stages of the Mining Value Chain
Hydrometallurgy
& Biotechnology
Value Addition
Exploration
Mining
Concentration
Refining
Pyrometallurgy
CGS
CSIR
MINTEK

5. Fields Outputs Clients Mintek’s activities Specialised Services State
Products
Routine Services
IP / Know-How
Clients
State
Mining and metallurgical companies
Engineering companies
SMMEs
Gold & uranium
Platinum metals
Ferrous metals
Non-Ferrous
Industrial minerals

6. International projects account for half Mintek’s revenue

7. Mintek’s extensive R&D underpins its commercial services
Mintek spends €25m annually on applied R&D (~50% of its budget)
These R&D outputs are transferred to industry either in the form of commercial service work or, on occasion, technology licences
Mintek undertakes over 700 commercial projects annually, evidence of the high regard industry has for our technology

8. Mineral Processing Division
Competitive strengths – PGM processing, HPGR, ore sorting

9. Pyrometallurgy Division
Competitive strengths – DC smelting, laterite, ferroalloys, beach sands, magnesium

10. Hydrometallurgy Division
Competitive strengths – uranium, PGM and gold processing, IX, Resin in pulp

11. Biotechnology Division
Competitive strengths – Tank and heap bioleaching, biosynthesis of metal nano-particles and surfactants

12. Advanced Materials Division
Competitive strengths - metal-based value added products in the following areas:
Biomedical : metal-based drugs for HIV, malaria & cancer (commercial HIV-1 integrase assay kit developed)
Catalysis: precious metals (gold & platinum-group metals) based catalysts & pilot plants (AUROLite™ catalyst range)
Nanotechnology: devices in health and water
Metallurgy: products and services

13. Often the site work is conducted in very difficult conditions!
Copper heap bioleach test facility in Iran

14. These test facilities are operated at industrial scale
Tapping of Mintek’s test DC furnace

15. Extensive re-configuration is required to demonstrate specific technologies
Mintek test facility for magnesium production

16. Mintek sometimes supplies technology on a turnkey basis
Turnkey gold refinery using Mintek Minotaur® technology

17. 79-year track record of technology transfer
Historically ….
Uranium recovery in the 1940’s
Pebble- and run-of-mine milling in the 1950’s
Carbon-in-pulp in the 1970’s
More recent developments ....
DC smelting for Koniambo FeNi , and SA beach sands
METRIX® resin-in-pulp for uranium recovery
ConRoast® smelting technology for high-Cr platinum
Cyanoprobe® on-line cyanide monitoring equipment
Minstral® furnace electrode and FloatStar® flotation control
Heap leaching design data for a very large Chilean copper project
Milling/flotation process for UG2 platinum ores

18. Thank you