BHP is committed to investing $5.7 billion to complete the first stage of the Jansen project and bring it into operation by the end of 2026. This under-construction Saskatchewan mine will then ramp up to produce more than four million tonnes of potash annually before the end of the decade.
Metso is launching an advanced sustainable battery black mass recycling process as part of its battery minerals technology offering, which covers concentration and hydrometallurgical processing as well as related services. Demand for battery minerals is increasing sharply with the ongoing transition to clean energy sources. An electric car battery weighs approximately 200 kg. Recycling of black mass from batteries with Metso’s process can reduce up to 60% of embedded carbon compared to use of virgin materials and enables the treatment of mechanically separated and shredded batteries for recovering battery raw materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium, as well as manganese and copper.
Potash production improvements are being made in areas such as ore extraction, cooling and froth flotation. We review technological developments from Sandvik, Eriez, Nouryon and Solex Thermal Science.
Last year attention was drawn to the potential for large scale decarbonisation to leave the world short of the key resources of sulphur, and hence sulphuric acid. But is there a global sulphur shortage on the distant horizon?
Global demand for rare earth metals is increasing, particularly for electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy devices, potentially leading to increased use of sulphuric acid in their extraction.
Saudi Arabia’s Ras Al-Khair Industrial City has signed an industrial land agreement with local firm Gulf Copper to develop a copper smelting and casting plant at an investment $319.30 million. The project would be developed on a plot spanning more than 250,000 square metres in the industrial city. No construction timelines were given. The Saudi government has previously signed agreements with Trafigura and Saudi-based Modern Mineral Holding to develop a 400,000 t/a copper smelter at Ras Al Khair which would also include 200,000 t/a of zinc and 55,000 t/a of lead smelter capacity at a projected cost of $2.8 billion.
Efficient size preparation and ore transport are key prerequisites for successful potash and phosphate production. We highlight the range of equipment options.
Belarus sanctions, freight costs and strong demand are pushing MOP pricing to new heights, says Andy Hemphill, senior editor for potash and sulphuric acid at ICIS Fertilizers.
DuPont has agreed to sell its Clean Technologies business for $510 million to an international private equity consortium, comprising BroadPeak Global, Asia Green Fund and The Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company (Dussur). The new, independent company has been named Elessent Clean Technologies and will be a global leader in process technologies to drive sustainability and carbon neutrality in the metal, fertilizer, chemical and oil refining industries. Elessent retains exclusive rights to the technologies, expertise, products, and services including: MECS® sulphuric acid and environmental technologies, BELCO® scrubbing technologies, STRATCO® alkylation technology and IsoTherming® hydroprocessing technology. Derived from the words “element” and “essential,” Elessent says that it will help customers produce, optimise or separate essential elements every day, creating clean alternatives to traditional industrial processes to minimise the impact on the environment while enabling our customers to produce essential elements critical to everyday life.
Fertilizer International presents a global round-up of current potash projects.