JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Iron Mineral Beneficiation Services (IMBS) expects production from the first Masonini Iron Beneficiation (MIB) commercial plant, in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, in the first half of this year, IMBS CEO John Beachy Head said at the Iron Ore Beneficiation Africa Conference in Johannesburg on Monday.

In February 2011, IMBS created MIB, a joint venture company with State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) – in which it has a 67% stake and the IDC has 33% –  to construct, own and operate the first plants in Phalaborwa.

Construction of the first 50 000 t/y plant started in October 2012, with commissioning starting in July 2013.

Beachy Head stated at the conference that while the company was currently briquetting on site, it was in the melting-to-granulate development phase.

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.

“With a targeted cash production cost of $200/t or below, Supascrap will sell at a premium to the ruling scrap prices, which are currently $400/t,” Beachy Head noted.

He highlighted that vast untapped superfine iron-oxide resources existed globally and that they were the waste by-products of iron-ore beneficiation, steel production and other mineral processing using iron-ore reserves.

“Every year, between 5% and 12% of iron-ore production is added to the existing superfine waste reserves. [However,] current iron-making technology does not allow the processing of superfine iron oxide without major capital and operational expense to agglomerate,” Beachy Head said.

He explained that the primary energy sources of traditional integrated applications were electricity, gas and coking coal; therefore, an operation’s location tended to be close to electricity or gas supply, increasing raw material and logistical costs. 

“IMBS technology requires relatively cheap and abundant thermal coal and process energy is provided by recovered reaction energy,” he stated, adding that, as a result, IMBS’s plant location was not dependent on electricity or gas availability. Beachy Head explained that supplementary electricity was only required for auxiliary equipment. 

He stated that the company intended to become the leading least-cost producer of metallic iron units, as a result.

“Our product converts low-cost iron-ore into high-quality metallic products using low-cost thermal coal without the expense of agglomeration,” Beachy Head said.

He further pointed out that, currently, iron-ore represented more than one-quarter of seaborne cargo in terms of tonnage, with the cost of iron-ore based principally on its content and the price of shipping.

“However, IMBS produces an iron product that has a significantly higher value as it has higher iron content than iron-ore. The transport of these higher value goods lead to reduced logistical costs,” Beachy Head noted.