Orion commences field trials at the Prieska Copper-Zinc Mine
Orion has commenced a series of field trials for the treatment of mine water at the Prieska Copper-Zinc Mine (PCZM) in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province, using a proprietary electrolytic technology to produce saleable products.
The process has the potential to extract valuable products such as calcium and magnesium for agri-nutrient use from water pumped out of the underground mine at Prieska. In addition, other products with potential for by-product sales in the chemicals industry will also be extracted by the process.
Key points:
Innovative Electrosoftner/Rotowinner electrochemical water treatment and mineral extraction field trials commence at the Prieska Copper-Zinc Mine (PCZM) in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province.
The trials are a collaborative research and development initiative between Free Radicals Process Design and Orion Minerals Limited.
The trials will confirm the capacity for the upcoming PCZM mine dewatering campaign to recover valuable ‘green’ agricultural nutrients and other products for use in chemical and other industries and discharge agricultural quality water.
The Rotowinner water treatment technology will yield valuable mineral products such as sodium hydroxide and iron oxide, both of which are used in the chemical industry, as well as minerals such as calcium and magnesium as agricultural nutrients.
Field trials of the Rotowinner technology, using their mobile pilot plant, will test the capacity to substitute and replace the higher cost reverse osmosis for water purification.
