Mintek, South Africa’s minerals and metallurgy research institution, has invested about R100 million in developing cost-effective technologies to process and refine rare earth minerals in the country. Recently Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi helped launch Mintek’s rare earth pilot plant in Randburg.

It is said that the technology could be used to extract rare earths from dumps at Foskor. Also, there are rare earth projects at Steenkampskraal and Namakwa Sands in the Western Cape, at Richards Bay and Phalaborwa. There are other substantial deposits in Namibia, Malawi and Tanzania, Mintek Senior Technical Specialist in hydrometallurgy Christoph Pawlik, said.

Frontier Rare Earths recently released a positive prefeasibility study showing its Zandkopsdrift project near Saldanha (IM, April 2012) was technically feasible and economically robust. It could produce 8,000 t/y of high purity, separated total rare earth oxides in the first phase of operation.

Mintek’s Hydrometallurgy Division is involved in a number of rare earth element processing projects as well as developing a sustainable flowsheet for a centralised processing facility. According to Dr Leon Kruger, Manager at the Hydrometallurgy division, Mintek holds a unique position within the rare earths sphere, providing services across the entire R&D spectrum, from mineralogy through to metal. “As far as I am aware, no other research institute can offer the full range of services for this niche sector. We also have strong modelling capabilities across the entire process and are registered to acquire, possess, use, transport, import and export radio-active material which is critical when dealing with rare earths, which in many instances contain thorium and uranium.

“No other R&D facility can offer the same capabilities as our recently commissioned REE Extraction pilot plant. Mintek’s REE solvent extraction plant, built for the fractionation of the REE groups and the isolation of individual REE clearly demonstrates Mintek’s ability to process rare earths from beginning to end, with minimal operational expenditure.

“It is evident that rare earth element capabilities at Mintek are becoming increasingly recognised, locally and internationally. Since the 1970s, Mintek has been involved in almost every REE project in Africa, providing a variety of testing and verification services to multiple juniors in South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and Malawi.”