Tag Archives: Lewis Black

Almonty aims for ‘carbon neutrality’ at Sandong molybdenum mine

Environmental, Industrial minerals, Mineral project development, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , ,

Almonty Industries is expanding its current environmental, social and governance (ESG) program at its Panasqueira mine in Portugal and at its Sangdong project (pictured) in South Korea, with the former set to receive a solar facility in the next 12 months and the latter eying up the use of underground electric fleets.

The solar project at Panasqueira, a tungsten mine, will see a 2.52 MW installation implemented over the next 12 months to produce 4.1 million kWh/y of renewable energy, which represents 21.5% of power consumption at the mine.

At the Sangdong tungsten mine, a third-party report will be concluded over the next three months to analyse the asset’s carbon footprint and how best to minimise it. Given the energy from the grid supplied to the Sangdong project is 100% renewable, the company says it has a “unique opportunity” to push towards carbon neutrality at the Korea site. The underground mine is currently under construction.

Lewis Black, Chairman, President and CEO of Almonty, said: “As we transition into the wider financial ETF markets of Asia and Australia, and our visibility continues to increase as a significant producer of the strategic metals of tungsten and molybdenum once Sangdong and Almonty Korea Moly opens, it has become increasingly important to ensure that we are continually reviewing and developing our ESG which sits perfectly in line with the equator principles around which the Sangdong project is being built.”

He added: “The aim for carbon neutrality at Sangdong is potentially achievable once underground electric fleets can maintain a charge for an entire shift, which is estimated to be technically possible within the next 18 months, but we are extremely fortunate that 100% of our energy comes from a renewable source making the target of carbon neutrality achievable.”

Metso engineering work steers Almonty towards production at Sandong tungsten project

Base metals, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , ,

Metso, in the face of COVID-19 restrictions, has kept Almonty Industries’ Sandong tungsten project in South Korea on track, completing and delivering the basic engineering work for the crushing and grinding circuit of the process plant.

Almonty said the work was delivered on May 15 and is now under review by the technical team, with approval expected within two weeks.

The overall process flowsheet with process mass balance, equipment list, plant layout drawings, process control philosophy, control diagrams and general technical information were provided after five months of extensive work by Metso, in collaboration with Almonty’s technical team, it said.

Ore characterisation tests on drop weight, bond mill work index, abrasion and crushability were conducted at the Metso laboratories during 2019 and 2020 in order to determine the physical properties, mineral liberation and comminution indices of the ore, which were used as the basis for the design criteria of the equipment for the Sangdong processing plant, it said.

“The Metso equipment selected for the basic engineering is from the world-class product range, which provides for high availability and low operational costs,” Almonty said.

Almonty’s Chairman, President and CEO, Lewis Black, said: “We appreciate Metso and its specialised professionals for their intensive work and dedication in the past months to produce this meaningful basic engineering output, turning its second-to-none experience and expertise in the mining field to the most optimum design criteria for the equipment and process of the Sangdong plant.

“Despite the hardship set by COVID-19, the timely delivery of Metso’s basic engineering work on these critical processing units and long-lead items, such as crushers and mills, will enable Almonty to meet the critical path timeline of the Sangdong project as proposed for the KfW-IBEX Bank project financing.

“The comprehensive and thorough basic engineering work produced by Metso will surely serve as the basis of attaining the performance criteria of the plant guaranteed by Metso.”

Almonty is currently running a pilot plant at Sandong (pictured) to test out the flowsheet on a much smaller scale, but the aim is to build the beneficiation plant this year before moving into tungsten concentrate powder production in 2022.