One of South Africa’s foremost research institutes is still going strong after 76 years—and has plenty of innovations on the horizon too, as Alan Swaby learns.
For an organisation dedicated to scientific and industrial change, Mintek has seen its fair share of structural, political and commercial changes over the years.
When it was set up by a South African act of parliament in 1934, just about every one of the 25 people working there was able to paper their office walls with qualification certificates, so concentrated was the assemblage of doctorates and PhDs. Completely funded by the state and free to pursue original research in any way pursuant to its mandate of helping develop the minerals industry, advances were made available as published scientific papers, free to anyone who wanted to utilise the technology.
Mintek operated in this way for half a century until the winds of change started blowing through its corridors in the 1980s. But although he considers the pendulum might have swung a little too far, Dr Roger Paul, general manager of business development, is pleased that the organisation is still partly funded by the public purse. “The 30 per cent of funding we receive,” he says, “enables us to do long term, blue sky research, not immediately linked to a specific need. Without it, technologies such as bio-leaching probably wouldn’t exist—but a little more freedom would be welcome.”
Compared to the CSIRO in Australia, which receives 70 per cent funding, Mintek’s contribution is relatively modest. As such, although it is ring-fenced and can’t be used in any way to subsidise unsuccessful commercial ventures, its application is still subject to strict rules on how it can be used and internal applications for funding are rigorously scrutinised. “Having this kind of control is useful,” admits Paul. “Without it, there’s a tendency for research to drift. We still have at the back of our minds the question—‘how can this technology be used?’”
But with one foot in pure research, the other is very definitely in the commercial world. Last year, Mintek made R39.6 million in profit through the licensing or sale of technological solutions—all of which is ploughed back into the business as the flow of money from the government is one way only, and Mintek has no dividends to pay.
When asked what had been the greatest change he’d observed in his 34 years at Mintek, Paul immediately cited the decline in the numbers of scientists with post-graduate degrees. “There’s been a sea change,” he says. “Students don’t want to spend another four years getting a second or third degree. Instead they are immediately assessing what career path is best for them.”
Nevertheless, the 750 strong workforce still has a commendable record in producing improvements for the mineral industry. One of the most recent projects to make the transition from laboratory to workplace is a more energy efficient way of recovering uranium. “There are 45 new nuclear power stations in varying degrees of construction worldwide,” explains Paul, “and already demand for uranium exceeds production, pushing up the price from $8 per lb to $60. To complicate matters further, the grade of uranium ore being mined is falling. Where once you could get 5,000 grams per ton, 150 grams is now more the norm.”
The only thing keeping demand and supply in balance is the availability of weapons grade uranium being salvaged as part of the disarmament agreement between the US and Russia. The 80 per cent enriched uranium goes a long way when diluted to around 10 per cent as needed by power stations. But unless the super powers agree to more weapons dismantling, this supply will eventually dry up.
Mintek developed an ion exchange recovery process 15 years ago; but the general antipathy towards nuclear power deterred any further development. These days, the mood is much different and a large scale pilot plant has been installed at Harmony Gold, to be commissioned in the next couple of months. “The new version,” says Paul, “is not only continuous in operation but does not require the dissolved uranium to be filtered from the ore. We expect it to deliver higher recovery rates for less energy input.”
These days, with its commercial hat on, the business has to be alert to every opportunity and interestingly, the world’s emphasis on green issues (in their widest sense) has thrown up a couple.
Although the Kimberly Process raised awareness and a ban on conflict diamonds, no-one has yet found a foolproof method of fingerprinting diamonds so that their origin can be verified beyond dispute. Plenty of efforts have been made by looking at colour or trace element impurities but no single analytical process has been shown to work. However, Mintek suggests that applying a basket of technology might just fit the bill. Working in close collaboration with scientists in Canada and Australia, a new lab has been commissioned at Mintek, and work has begun on compiling a database of diamond characteristics that eventually will form the basis of verifying a diamond’s place of origin.
It will probably take a decade before enough diamonds have been analysed and sufficient reference data is accumulated; but at that time, a process of random sample checks on diamonds moving through the supply chain or specific checks on any diamonds under suspicion will give a definitive verdict on its precedence.
In a somewhat similar vein, there are many in the gold business concerned about the ‘dirty gold’ tag. Not only are ore grades so low that even more rock per ounce is being processed—soaking up ever greater amounts of energy—but cyanide, and all the connotations it raises, is an inevitable part of the process. The industry itself has drawn up codes of practice on every aspect of creating, transporting, using and disposing of cyanide, for which Mintek is acting in the role of auditor.
“Mintek has maintained a position of importance,” says Paul, “by embracing change and evolving. Today, sustainability is at the top of the agenda and we are pleased to be playing a role in this, as well as in developing new technology.” www.mintek.co.za
