In Johannesburg, South Africa, where a gold rush once fuelled the establishment of this major city, mineral processing technology company Maelgwyn South Africa (MSA) is keeping the legacy alive by optimising how gold is processed across Africa.

Over the past decade, MSA has established itself as a provider of metallurgical testwork products and services, delivering solutions that enhance gold recovery, efficiency and environmental performance for gold projects spanning Africa.

“MSA’s dedicated testwork facility in Johannesburg has become a hub of innovation and expertise, while the company’s agile teams have been equally active on client sites from South Africa to Egypt,” says MSA process engineer Wiehan Botes and laboratory manager Sonestie Janse van Rensburg.

Together, they say, these efforts demonstrate the company’s “comprehensive capabilities and unwavering commitment to metallurgical excellence”.

MSA’s portfolio of recent projects, note Botes and Janse van Rensburg, is as “diverse as the continent’s geology”, with recent highlights including MSA carrying out leach optimisation work to help a local calcine dump and tailings storage facility operator to enhance gold extraction from tailings, turning legacy waste into profitable assets.

MSA has also conducted demonstrations of its proprietary Aachen reactor for domestic and Tanzanian clients, where the Aachen technology was trialled at three separate sites, one in South Africa and two in Tanzania.

“On-site campaigns showcased the reactor’s ability to enhance leach kinetics and gold recovery under real operational conditions,” note Botes and Janse van Rensburg.

Further, MSA also provided critical gold heap leach testwork for a Tanzanian gold mining company’s heap leach project, supporting the design of a cost-effective and efficient leaching strategy suited to local ore characteristics.

In Côte d’Ivoire, MSA brought its flotation and recovery expertise to a major West African mine, improving process efficiency and fine-tuning gold liberation strategies for higher returns; while in Egypt, MSA delivered a full suite of services including comminution, gravity separation, leach optimisation and cyanide detox testing to support a gold project from bench scale trials to plant design considerations.

Closer to home, MSA supported multiple Namibian gold projects, over five years, through all study phases, from scoping to bankable feasibility, ensuring technical and economic viability.

As for work on specific minerals, MSA has also, over the years, identified viable gold recovery pathways from copper processing streams, adding revenue potential to existing operations; while also helping clients recover gold from high-arsenic- and silver-containing deposits in Zimbabwe.

Partner of Choice

“MSA’s capabilities cover the full spectrum of gold processing, from bench scale to pilot scale, encompassing gravity and flotation, as well as cyanidation, detoxification and advanced process optimisation via the Aachen reactor,” state Botes and Janse van Rensburg.

With an “ethos rooted in innovation and client collaboration”, they say the company has become a trusted technical partner for juniors and majors alike.

Looking ahead, Botes and Janse van Rensburg point out that as gold exploration and production continue to expand across Africa, the need for efficient, sustainable metallurgical solutions is becoming more critical than ever.

“With a proven track record and deep continental experience, MSA is well-positioned to play a pivotal role in shaping the next chapter of African gold mining.”