WA trio receives funding to pilot ‘transformational’ approach to critical mineral production

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Impact Minerals in collaboration with Edith Cowan University and CPC Engineering has secured a $2.87 million (USD  1.91 million) grant from the federal government’s Cooperative Research Centres Projects program.

The Western Australian-based trio claim to have developed a high purity alumina production process which addresses both the environmental and operational cost challenges associated with standard methods. 

High purity alumina tops Australia’s critical minerals list, but historically its production is both expensive and complex, with current processes requiring caustic soda leaching and resulting in a toxic by-product known as ‘red mud,’ according to Edith Cowan University (ECU).

Impact Minerals, however, says it has an innovative approach that uses a hydrometallurgical process with salts from lake-based deposits, eliminating crushing and grinding processes and significantly reducing the overall energy footprint.

The company is teaming up with CPC Engineering to build a pilot plant, which will be partially financed by the recent government grant, and is set to be located on the ECU campus. The pilot will seek to validate and optimise Impact Mineral’s flowsheet, and will also integrate membrane selective technology developed at ECU to maximise reagent and water recovery and minimise waste. 

According to the federal government’s announcement, this combination of novel techniques would enable a “zero liquid discharge” closed loop process.

“By demonstrating the use of membrane technologies for separating iron, aluminium and other metals, the project is potentially transformational across Australia’s critical minerals industry,” ECU’s Executive Dean for the School of Engineering, Professor Paulo de Souza said.

“This project has the potential to lead a step change in how critical minerals like HPA [high purity alumina] are produced, offering a low-carbon and more sustainable alternative to existing methods,” said Dr Mike Jones, Managing Director of Impact Minerals. 

“Our process could produce HPA at a much lower cost than current industry practices, while also generating valuable by-products like Sulphate of Potash an important fertiliser which Australia currently mostly imports,” Jones added.

“Impact [Minerals]’s process to produce HPA is a novel approach, as is the use of membrane technology. Commercialisation of this process requires proving its technical and economic feasibility through a pilot plant,” Associate Professor Amir Razmjou, ECU’s lead investigator and head of the Mineral Recovery Research Centre, said.

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