Canadian microcap CoTec Holdings sees potential to use gravity separation technology developed in England to help it become an alternative supplier of manganese concentrate to the high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate industry in the United States.
CoTec says a new long-term “exclusivity and collaboration agreement” with Salter Cyclones will see the two companies work together on applications of Salter’s multi-gravity separators (MGS) for recovery of iron ore and manganese from primary mining and tailings material. While the Salter technology developed in the 1980s by Richard Mozley is said to have been widely used to recover metals such as tin, chromium, copper and zinc, its application to bulk commodities such as iron and manganese has been limited, according to CoTec.
It believes the technology could offer a “step change in the bulk handling of iron and manganese tailings”, including ultra fine tailings classified as waste and sent directly to tailings storage facilities.
“Our initial due diligence of the MGS has produced exciting results from our Lac Jeannine project in Quebec, Canada, achieving concentrate grades of critical mineral status from ultra fine iron tailings,” said CoTec CEO Julian Treger. “We plan to build on these results in the coming months supporting CoTec’s strategy to become a leading supplier of high-grade, low-carbon, iron concentrate through the processing of tailings material. The application of the technology to manganese also offers us the opportunity to become a supplier of high-grade manganese concentrate to the steel industry and producers of high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) industry.”
Treger said the HPMSM sector was dominated by Chinese supply and electric vehicle manufacturers would need new sources of supply to mitigate future critical material supply risks. CoTec had already identified multiple sites where the Salter technology could be applied to stored tailings and ongoing operations. Its strategy was to acquire assets or to enter into joint venture agreements with existing operators where it would look to treat existing tailings and/or install MGS machines in established recovery circuits to lift recovery rates and reduce material volumes sent to tailings.
Treger said this also supported CoTec’s aim to generate early revenue via low capital and carbon technologies and brownfield sites.
He said the market opportunity for CoTec was significant with millions of tonnes of tailings being produced from ongoing operations as well as historical iron tailings located in the traditional iron ore mining districts of the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia and South Africa. Under the agreement with Salter, CoTec can exclusively apply its MGS technology for three years to iron ore globally and manganese in the US, South Africa and Brazil.
Salter managing director Ian Daniels said the MGS technology had proven highly effective at producing commercial-grade concentrates from ultrafine tailings without chemicals.
“We believe it is a natural fit with other technologies and strengths within CoTec, which should help to develop new markets for the MGS technology,” he said.
