ARM’s new smelting process shows promise in S. Africa
Hlengiwe Motaung
African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) has developed a smelting technology that uses 70% less energy with the aim to offset high electricity tariffs, increase production and resuscitate South Africa’s ferroalloys industry.
ARM has a 50/50 joint venture with Assore and together own iron ore, manganese and smelting operations in South Africa and Malaysia.
The technology will be used to produce ferro-manganese, ferro-chrome and pig iron at its Cato Ridge Alloys in KwaZulu-Natal, which is the only remaining manganese smelter in the country.
“While conventional smelting technology focuses on lumpy ore and expensive coke and high energy usage, Smelt Direct uses composite conglomerates such as fine anthracite ore and slimes, ” Henk Bouwer, ARM’s Technology Executive said at Project Blue’s Ferroalloys conference in Johannesburg last week.
Bouwer explained that the use of fine material allows smelting at lower temperatures compared to lumpy ores, which will ultimately use lower energy and produce 35% less carbon.
“Lower grade material can also be crushed and upgraded, and this enables the exploitation of marginal ore bodies.”
The increasing cost of production, mainly caused by high energy tariffs, and unreliable supply of electricity, led many local ferroalloys smelters to shut down, forcing South Africa to export steel materials in raw form.
However, Mintek, South Africa’s mineral research organisation specialising in mineral processing technology, believes that local beneficiation can resume as some of these technologies can be retrofitted at mothballed smelters.
“Most of these technologies are not so different from the new ones. It is just a matter of retrofitting new units,” said Sello Tsebe, head of technology demonstration at Mintek.
Tsebe added that they are being approached by more South African producers to come up with greener carbon free technologies that will enable them to meet stricter decarbonization regulations, such as Europe’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
“Converting existing furnaces is substantially more cost efficient as one makes use of existing infrastructure,” Bouwer said. “We have seen that this will be at the bottom of the cost curve and will be able to yield margins.”
ARM says that they will be collaborating with other local producers to stimulate South Africa’s beneficiation industry.
Menar’s Managing Director Vuslat Bayoglu confirmed to McCloskey that it is in talks with ARM to use its smelting technology when production begins at Menar’s recently acquired Metalloys Smelter in Meyerton, Gauteng.
Menar and partner Ntiso Investment Holdings plan to close the deal by the end of the year to resuscitate the mothballed smelter, previously owned by South32.