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APICM3 Jig (in Brazil).

Apic M5 Jig.

Apic M9 Jig.

History

A need to recover the metal from slags was first identified by the South African metallurgical research institute, Mintek, in the 1970s, due to the rapid growth of the ferroalloy industry in South Africa.

Attempts by the mining industry at this time to use physical separation techniques such as dense media separation (DMS), spirals, tables, magnetic rolls and diaphragm jigs proved inefficient and it was not until the late 1980s that Mintek identified pneumatic jigging as the technology most suitable for metal recovery from ferralloy slags.

Initially a Batac jig was modified to achieve higher recoveries and grades of metal. At about the same time Titaco (now part of Bateman Engineering) identified a need in the market for better metal-from-slag recovery technology and approached Mintek with a view to developing a complete product / process package for the market. The Titaco / Mintek joint venture (JV), formed in 1992, grew out of this interaction.

Since its formation, it has built 11 major metal-from-slag recovery plants in Southern Africa capable of processing between 120 and 200 t/h of slag. It has also constructed a 100 t/h plant for Sweden, a 60 t/h plant for France, a 50 t/h plant for Romania and has supplied 10 to 35 t/h mobile jigging plants to clients throughout the world. In line with the JV’s commitment to the ongoing improvement of its technology, continual development has taken place.

Initially, pneumatic jigs were only used to recover metal from coarse (+6 – 25 mm) slag fractions while diaphragm jigs were used for fine (+1 –6 mm) fractions. In the mid 1990s, however, the Batac jig was abandoned in favour of the Apic jig, the technology for which was sold to Titaco by FCB of France and which was a development of the original Apic pneumatic jigs. Building on the advantages of the Apic jigs, Titaco / Mintek developed a fines (+1 –6 mm) Apic jig to complement the coarse (+6 –25 mm) jigs. Since 1998, the Apic fines jig is now standard on all Titaco / Mintek Metal Recovery Plants (MRPs) and two of the major plants were retrofitted with these circuits. In a further development, the Apic classifier was developed for ultrafines and was commercialised at Middelburg Ferrochrome in November 2000 and Transalloys Silicomanganese in April 2002.

The success of the technology was recognized by the Associated Scientific and Technical Societies who awarded Mintek and Titaco their national trophy for ‘outstanding contributions to science or the application of science in 1999. As the MRP business developed, the need of many clients for a build, own, operate (BOO) service emerged and Titaco / Mintek therefore formed the Apic Toll Treatment (Pty) Ltd joint venture company (Atoll) to provide BOO services.

Today Atoll operates a 170 t/h plant at Transalloys, a 250 t/h plant at Middelburg Ferrochrome, a 150 t/h plant at Hernic Ferrochrome, a 30 t/h plant at Metalloys , a 60 t/h plant at SA Ferrochrome, an 80 t/h plant at International Ferrometals and an 80 t/h plant at ASA Metals in South Africa,  a100 t/h plant at Vargön Alloys in Sweden and a 40 t/h plant at Zestafoni in Georgia.  Plants are in commission or under construction in the USA and Poland.

Atoll has been able to use Mintek’s patented DC arc furnace technology to remelt and refine ulltrafine baghouse dusts and other ultrafine wastes from the ferroalloy industry (which otherwise present environmental and health threats) into valuable ferroalloys. Atoll is using this technology at Mogale Alloys where a 40 MVA DC furnace produces a Fe, Ni, Cr alloy from stainless steel EAF dust and chromite fines.

Titaco merged with Bateman Engineering in 2000 and in 2006 the AIM listed Bateman Engineering N.V. (BENV) bought Mintek’s share in the South African part of the Atoll group and consolidated the Atoll companies under the BENV mantle.  In 2008 Atoll was rebranded as Bateman Mineral Recovery.

In a further diversification, Atoll has started operating plants with the sale of the products for its own account with the client sharing in the profits. The Riders project in the USA, Siechnice in Poland and an FeCr slag dump in South Africa will be operated on this basis.