Honeywell and Cobalt Blue Holdings Limited have announced Honeywell will provide control, automation and energy optimisation solutions to help Cobalt Blue “streamline” its Broken Hill cobalt project (BHCP) and help to reduce the risk levels involved.

BHCP, which covers an area of 63 sq.km in New South Wales, Australia, intends to develop a new, reliable, global source of ethically-sourced cobalt.

Honeywell will deliver a wide range of solutions and services to enable Cobalt Blue to move BHCP seamlessly from pilot to production, including LEAP™ lean project execution; reusable engineering standards and templates; process control, enterprise performance management, energy optimisation solutions; and consulting and engineering services.

The collaboration also includes assistance in the development of a modular cobalt concentrator unit for BHCP, which can be applied for other mining and industrial waste streams project. This will improve cobalt recovery rates on running operations and reduce the environmental impact of old mine tailings, Honeywell said.

Joe Kaderavek, CEO of Cobalt Blue, said: “Our work with Honeywell will help us to de-risk and cost-optimise the process control, automation, and energy savings components of the BHCP project and reduce our time to market. Moreover, it will help us to meet our objective to produce 3,500 t of cobalt per year and meet rapidly increasing market demand.”

Andrew Hird, Director of APAC Growth and Sales Director, Pacific, Honeywell Process Solutions, said: “We’re committed to working with rare earth and green energy mineral partners such as Cobalt Blue to deliver sustainable products that help organisations around the globe achieve their carbon neutrality goals.

“Our technologies are ideally suited for this purpose, from automating operations to ensure a rapid response to evolving energy needs, to giving customers the capability to interpret data to make real-time decisions related to energy management and renewable energy systems.”

Honeywell recently committed to achieving carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035, building on the company’s record of reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of its operations and facilities, as well as its history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals, the company said. About half of Honeywell’s new product introduction research and development investment is directed toward products that improve environmental and social outcomes for customers.