Yesterday International Mining attended the opening of Xstrata Technology’s newest base, in London, as it expands its technology development and marketing offering for the global mining, mineral processing and metals extraction industries further into Europe. Rakan Rahbani will be based in the UK’s capital from where he will focus on the European, Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)  markets. This complements Xstrata’s current global network of offices in Chile, South Africa, Canada and Australia.General Manager, Mineral Processing, Lindsay Clark, said: “There is huge potential for our technologies in the European and CIS region over the next few years, and London is an ideal base for Xstrata Technology to expand its exposure to new countries due to its proximity to target markets and the fact it is home to some of our most important clients.

“Xstrata Technology’s grinding and flotation technologies, IsaMills^TM and Jameson Cells, which are now standard equipment in new concentrators and coal preparation plants in many countries, are quickly being adopted in Europe and the CIS, so we are seeing an increase in demand for our suite of technologys as evidenced by our recent IsaMill^TM installation in Portugal. This builds on the success of our ISASMELT^TM  technology which has been successfully adopted for metals recycling in Belgium, Germany and England, and our Albion Process atmospheric leaching technology which has also recently been adopted by Xstrata Zinc in Spain and Germany, and has been selected for refractory gold applications in Romania and Armenia.”

Joe Pease, Chief Executive for Xstrata Technology, who was in London for the opening of the new base, said: “The mining industry in Europe is undergoing a renaissance to meet the demands of both commodity markets and the environment. Our products have been specifically developed for energy efficiency and robustness, and our model is based on support and technology transfer to “build plants that work”. Xstrata Technology’s new London base aims to develop this new market, and support its new and existing customers.”

Rakan has been involved in the European region for several years, including full scale IsaMill^TM installations and commissioning in Portugal, and testwork and flowsheet development in Russia and Turkey, in addition to his experience on a range of projects in other countries.