Tag Archives: Herbert Weissenbaeck

SMS group assigned to FEED work at Cinovec lithium project

Comminution of minerals, Energy minerals, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

European Metals Holdings (EMH) has appointed SMS group Process Technologies as the lead engineer for minerals processing and lithium battery-grade chemicals production at the Cinovec project in the Czech Republic.

Cinovec, a joint venture between European Metals (49%) and ČEZ Group (51%, through its subsidiary Severočeské doly), is operated by Geomet. The project has recently received investment of around €29 million ($34 million) of funding from EIT InnoEnergy, the principal facilitator and organiser of the European Battery Alliance, for the project, seeing it through to a construction decision.

Under the agreement, SMS group, a leader in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the technology metals and materials sector, will provide a complete front-end engineering design (FEED) study as the major component of the ongoing definitive feasibility study (DFS) work at Cinovec.

Under the agreement, SMS will provide the following to the Cinovec project:

  • Full process integration from the point of delivery of ore to the underground crusher through to the delivery of finished battery-grade lithium chemicals for battery and cathode manufacturers;
  • The FEED will include all of the process steps – comminution, beneficiation, roasting, leaching and purification;
  • The FEED will encompass both the lithium process flowsheet and the tin/tungsten recovery circuit delivering metal concentrates to refineries; and
  • The FEED is intended to deliver a binding fixed price lump sum turnkey engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract with associated process guarantee and product specification guarantees for battery-grade lithium chemicals. The combination of these will greatly assist to underwrite project financing from leading European and global financial institutions lending into this new energy electric vehicle-led industrial revolution, European Metals Holdings says.

The FEED study will commence immediately and SMS group is expected to deliver the EPC contract, as the final component part of the Cinovec DFS, by the end of 2021.

Herbert Weissenbaeck, Senior Vice President for Strategic Project Development at SMS group, said: “Having successfully completed thorough technical due diligence, we believe in the compelling value proposition of Geomet’s Cinovec lithium/tin/tungsten project, which is set to become a cornerstone of the e-mobility driven European battery metals landscape. SMS group is delighted to deploy its second-to-none technology metals and materials production know-how and EPC capabilities into this exciting project.”

EMH Executive Chairman, Keith Coughlan, added: “SMS is the ideal engineering partner for the Cinovec project as it is based in neighbouring Germany with a globally-respected process design capability. The appointment of SMS is the culmination of a negotiation and due diligence process that has lasted over a year.

“EMH, Geomet and ČEZ have all been consistently impressed by SMS group’s capabilities and insights into the development of efficient high recovery plants capable of producing very high quality end-products. Successful delivery of the FEED study will provide a gateway to financing institutions and offtakers of the highest quality. We believe that the intended product and process guarantees will greatly enhance the project finance either directly through commercial lenders or through the recently announced collaborative agreement with EIT InnoEnergy.”

A 2019 prefeasibility study on Cinovec outlined a 1.68 Mt/y operation producing 25,267 t of battery-grade lithium hydroxide over a mine life of 21 years. This came with a capital cost of $482.6 million.

TNG and SMS to investigate hydrogen use for Mount Peake project

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TNG Ltd is participating in a ground-breaking project with its German-based strategic engineering partner, SMS group, which could lead to the production of a carbon-neutral product from its Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Under the agreement, TNG will partner with SMS to develop technology to produce green hydrogen from various renewable, secondary or fossil hydrocarbon sources by means of plasma pyrolysis.

SMS, TNG says, is already advanced in its understanding of such technology and will manage all development activities and, specifically, apply the technology to TNG’s TIVAN® Process (plant layout above).

The TIVAN process, developed by the two companies and Perth, Australia-based metallurgical consultants METS and the CSIRO, has been primarily designed for hydro-metallurgical extraction of vanadium, preferably as vanadium pentoxide, from a titanomagnetite orebody and also for separating the titanium and iron, preferably as ferric oxide and titanium dioxide.

SMS is to provide a fully detailed development program in support of the specific resourcing required from both parties under the agreement, TNG says.

The plasma pyrolysis technology, which consumes roughly one-third of the electricity required to produce the same amount of hydrogen by electrolysis of water, could be the preferred reduction agent for TNG’s TIVAN Process, marking an important step in the company’s roadmap towards achieving a net zero carbon footprint for TIVAN, TNG said.

“The technology also has the potential to be applied for the production of hydrogen and syngas from various fossil, biogenic and waste materials, opening up additional potential business opportunities for TNG and SMS in the fast-growing space of the hydrogen and e-fuels economy, and outside the company’s proposed core titanium-vanadium-iron business,” it added.

A by-product of this process is anticipated to be highly-pure carbon black powder, which currently sells at approximately $1,000/t. Possibilities to produce graphene and/or carbon nanotubes from this powder will also be investigated in parallel by SMS.

Mount Peake is currently expected to process ore through a 2 Mt/y plant to produce 700,000 t/y of magnetite concentrate, which could then be turned into 100,000 t/y of titanium dioxide, 6,000 t/y of vanadium pentoxide and 500,000 t/y of iron oxide fines.

The agreement is not expected to impact the front-end engineering and design (FEED) study completion and delivery of the turnkey engineering, procurement and construction proposal from SMS.

TNG said: “The company’s primary focus remains on progression and completion of the remaining engineering and design work streams for the Mount Peake project, including the current FEED study. The hydrogen technology development program will be progressed in parallel, and, subject to confirmation of technical and commercial feasibility and integration with project development planning, has potential application for further optimisation of the Mount Peake project.”

TNG’s Managing Director & CEO, Paul Burton, said: “There is a huge amount of momentum globally moving towards a hydrogen-based economy, and this is an exciting opportunity for TNG while at the same time has the potential to move our TIVAN Process towards carbon-neutral which is important as we continue on our pathway to secure TNG’s position as a sustainable metals producer.

“We believe that being able to use a carbon-neutral product in our patented TIVAN process will be a further significant advantage to TNG in relation to other competing technologies used for the extraction of high-quality titanium, vanadium and iron products from titanomagnetite ores, sands and slags.”

SMS’ Senior Vice President of Strategic Project Development, Herbert Weissenbaeck, said: “From SMS’ perspective, the future of the metallurgical industry will rely on low-cost renewable electrical energy, as well as carbon-neutral means of energy transport and storage. Hydrogen, being a very efficient and carbon-free reduction agent, is thus obviously in the focus of many of our ongoing R&D efforts.

“Co-developing our plasma pyrolysis technology with TNG, which could reap immediate benefits in the form of effectively decarbonising TIVAN, is an exciting next step towards green, H2-based metallurgy, and we are looking forward to jointly turning it into industrial reality at TNG’s Darwin processing plant, soon.”