Name and Location
Masorini Iron Beneficiation (MIB) commercial plant, Limpopo, South Africa.

Client
Iron Mineral Beneficiation Services (IMBS), which includes Jonah Capital (40%) and OAO Severstal of Russia (33%), is in partnership with South Africa’s State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and  is receiving strong support from the Limpopo government.

Project Description
The project involves the construction of a 50 000 t/y demonstration facility in Phalaborwa to convert iron-ore fines into metallic briquettes to use as a scrap supplement in electric steelmaking.

The facility will use IMBS’s patented technology. To produce the cold-briquetted metallic iron, the technology has been licensed to the International Iron Beneficiation Group (IIBG), which will deploy it worldwide and pay royalties to IMBS, which will operate the iron-making plants with IIBG, an OAO Severstal subsidiary.

The technology enables the conversion of previously stockpiled fine and ultrafine iron-ore material into a saleable product.

The plant will produce a product called Supascrap, a low-cost metallic iron in granulate form. Supascrap has a high scrap-iron content and low direct reduced iron residuals, and is primarily used in electric steelmaking.

A major advantage of the SupaScrap technology is that it does not use any electricity for the reduction reaction process. Only the auxiliary equipment – such as the plant’s motors and instrumentation, and automation equipment – requires electricity.

Energy for processing purposes is generated through coal devolatilisation and heat recovery from the process.

The next stage of the project at Palabora Mining Company is the construction of two 500 000 t/y capacity plants.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
The demonstration project will involve an investment of R120-million and could be the precursor to a larger R800-million project to produce 500 000 t/y of the briquettes.

Duration
The plant’s first briquettes were produced during the first quarter of 2014.

Latest Developments
IDC basic metals and mining strategic business unit senior project manager Christian Carstens has indicated that MIB will soon complete the hot commissioning of the 50 000 t/y pilot plant. Cold commissioning has been completed, which included the successful testing of the mechanics, the motors and the materials handling systems.

He has said that the first commercial production of the cold-briquetted metallic iron has taken place. Steady-state production is expected to ramp up during the first quarter of this year.

The energy savings and modular design of the plant have allowed for very low operational and capital expenditure costs, thereby ensuring that it can assist companies in securing profits even in low commodity-price cycles, as is the case currently, Carstens adds.

The technology’s modularity enables companies to scale production up and down as required. The IDC also sees future opportunities for this type of technology to be used with other ferroalloy streams such as ferrochrome and ferromanganese. This could form part of an industrial metals complex at Palabora.

Further, Carstens says many local ferroalloy producers are under significant strain to remain viable, owing to cheap imports. However, commercialising similar technology will assist in reducing producers’ overhead costs and improving productivity levels. It could also possibly contribute to the development of a smart metals company and, subsequently, hundreds of downstream job opportunities in South Africa.

Carstens adds that, once the SupaScrap system is made available to the market, it is the IDC’s and IMBS’s intention to ensure that the units are manufactured locally, preferably near the Palabora mine, to increase job creation in the region.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Thermopower Furnaces and Hans Jasper.

On Budget and on Time?
Hot commissioning has been successful and rework is currently being performed for steady-state production.

Contact Details for Project Information
IMBS, tel +27 11 996 4920, fax +27 11 658 1286 or email jenny@imbsworld.com.