70% energy cut by South African smelt technology is ‘huge achievement’ – researcher

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. The 70% reduction in electricity used by the SmeltDirect technology is a huge achievement, a giant leap forward, Phoenix Research's David Roche-Kelly remarked following the update on the local technology during question time at Friday's results presentation of African Rainbow Minerals (ARM). The Proudly South African smelting technology of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed ARM, headed by founder and nonexecutive chairperson Dr Patrice Motsepe, enables three times more product to be produced using the same amount of electricity. "We're ready for commercialisation. We've done all the testwork, and we're very confident that our technology will work and that we can smelt alloys using up to 70% less electricity," African Rainbow Metal Technologies (ARMeT) CEO Andre Joubert said in response to Mining Weekly's request for an update on SmeltDirect, which opens the way for South Africa's ores to be processed in South Africa, by South Africans for the benefit of South Africans. Unlike the 4 MW required by conventional systems, only 1.2 MW of electricity is needed to produce a ton of alloy using SmeltDirect, and some 700 jobs are created for every 200 000 t of alloy produced a year. As a result, SmeltDirect has attracted global attention. "South Africa is at a pivotal juncture. It can choose to remain a supplier of raw commodities that enrich other countries or become a global leader in mineral-based industries. Beneficiation is not just an economic strategy – it's a national imperative to turn the wealth in the ground into wealth for our population," former UK-based globally rated metals and mining analyst and portfolio manager, Shamim Mansoor, now based back in South Africa, emphasised in an interview with Mining Weekly. SmeltDirect also halves carbon emission and takes users down the cost curve in not only ferroalloy production but also the revival of lost steel opportunities. "As communicated in our previous update, the feasibility study for the commercialisation of SmeltDirect at Machadodorp for the production of 300ktpa of ferrochrome has now been completed, following the successful demonstration of the technology on the smelting of chrome ores," Joubert added in a written update on SmeltDirect to Mining Weekly. However, it should be noted that the projected financial returns are currently constrained by prevailing macroeconomic factors, most notably the exchange rate environment. In the absence of deliberate and targeted government interventions to address these structural challenges, it will remain difficult for any producer to sustainably manufacture ferroalloys in South Africa – even when deploying a breakthrough technology such as SmeltDirect, which will be the lowest cost producer in South Africa. "Our current demonstration operations at Machadodorp are, in the near term, focused on the production of manganese alloys and a range of specialised steel-grade alloys. These initiatives are being pursued in collaboration with a number of local and international partners," Joubert pointed out. There is known to be significant interest from international partners wanting to partner ARMeT to accelerate the commercialisation of SmeltDirect, which has managed to survive ARM's strict financial discipline. Those closest to SmeltDirect emphasise that strong positivity continues to surround it because of the depth of its energy reduction and promise of its better environmental friendliness. Advantageously, SmeltDirect can also be spread to a return of the local production of high-manganese rail and the introduction of greener steel. Already bankable, SmeltDirect allows for fossil fuel reductants to be replaced with biocarbon. The SmeltDirect update arises amid the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture having ...