Jun 22 2006
Ausmelt Ltd has won an additional contract with Japan’s Dowa Mining Co. Ltd for supply of specialized equipment for the secondary metals project which was announced in July 2005.
This latest contract substantially increases the value of the project with Dowa and brings the total value of new contracts signed this financial year to more than $30 million.
The new contract is for the supply of Ausmelt lances, a process control system, instrumentation and Ausmelt’s registered design copper cooling panels for the new
Ausmelt furnace under construction at Kosaka Smelter in the Akita prefecture of Japan.
The new smelter is designed to treat electronic scrap, metal residues and other waste materials to recover gold, silver, copper, lead, bismuth, tellurium, tin, nickel, antimony, platinum, palladium, zinc, rhodium, germanium, gallium, indium; a total of 19 metals.
The equipment will be progressively supplied in the first half of the 2007 financial year. Ausmelt also advises that Jinchuan Nickel has requested a variation to its contract, also announced in July 2005. Jinchuan has chosen to focus all its attention on the nickel smelting process, which will be the first large-scale application of Ausmelt’s top submerged lance smelting technology in the nickel industry. Accordingly, Jinchuan has decided not to use at this time the Ausmelt converter technology which was proven and operates successfully at Anglo Platinum in South Africa.
Jinchuan will now use the 100-year-old Pierce Smith (PS) converter technology for the converting stage of the project. Jinchuan has confirmed Ausmelt’s analysis that the
implementation of PS batch technology will involve higher capital and operating costs, offset by a higher recovery of secondary metals, mainly cobalt, compared with the Ausmelt continuous processing alternative.
The higher level of sulphur emissions from the PS converting alternative, which was a strong driving force for Anglo Platinum, is not currently seen as a major issue by Chinese operators.
Ausmelt will meet with Jinchuan in China in July to discuss the necessary amendments to the original contract.
Ausmelt’s Managing Director, Mr Paul Abbott, said: “While we were disappointed with Jinchuan’s decision, we understand the decision to focus on the implementation of
Ausmelt technology as it is a major new development in nickel smelting.
“The details of the Jinchuan contract variation need to be sorted out over the next month or so but the Dowa contract, combined with the other contracts won in recent months, will provide a very strong foundation for our financial performance for the 2007 financial year.”