BCL studies sulphuric plant viability

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Friday January 29, 2010 00:00

European Union studies indicate that the Selebi-Phikwe mine produces approximately 534,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide per year, most of this emanating from the smelter, the mine's converter and other sources.

By the end of the year, the Mine expects to have an idea of the costs involved in setting up such a plant and a refinery.

'The studies on sulphuric acid production and our own refinery have been initiated and we are busy evaluating options on the recommendation.

'These will be completed by the end of the year with order of magnitude capex indication,' David Keitshokile, Metals Support and Services Manager was quoted by Maitiso, the Mine's in-house magazine as saying.

A recent European Union-funded research entitled, the Cleaner Concentrate and Emission Control Study, indicated that the cost of developing an appropriate sulphuric acid plant for BCL Mine would be approximately US$290 million (approximately P1.9 billion).

The cost of this plant in Phikwe would be US$140 million (approximately P915 million), equivalent to catching 2,400 tonnes of sulphuric acid a day.

Infrastructural investment for the plant would be in the region of US$150 million (approximately P981 million). This would include railway tracks, a turn-in and out, ten locomotives and associated works.

However, the biggest challenges to the establishment of a sulphuric acid plant in Phikwe are development costs, storage and securing off-take.

Last year, BCL General Manager, Montwedi Mphathi acknowledged that such a plant would be the most ideal solution to the sulphur dioxide emissions, but hastened to highlight the numerous challenges of such a development.

'A sulphuric acid plant has been the best idea, but the cost of such an operation has been the problem. It would be very helpful for us if we had our market just outside the gates of such a plant because transport of sulphuric acid is another great challenge,' he said, repeating concerns raised before about the plant.

The costs of a sulphuric acid plant in Selebi-Phikwe would be gigantic; at P1.9 billion the plant's capital expenditure would rank just below the anticipated costs of the mammoth Cut 8 project, designed to expand the Jwaneng pit. For comparison, the 2009/10 development budget was P10.56 billion, while the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources received just under a billion Pula for a wide range of projects.

However, EU officials have remained optimistic about a sulphuric plant's project economics. The officials recently said based on prevailing project economics, the proposed plant's operating cost would be US$30 per tonne (P196 per tonne), while transport to the envisaged target market, South Africa, would cost US$20 per tonne (P131 per tonne).

The EU's researchers also believe markets for sulphuric acid could be found locally in mines such as African Copper, Tati Nickel and abroad in South Africa and Namibia. They also believe a sulphuric acid production plant in Phikwe could spur a fertiliser production industry in Botswana, helping economic diversification.

Worldwide, sulphuric acid is among the top products of the chemicals industry. The commodity has spawned a multi-billion dollar industry with principal uses including lead-acid batteries for cars, ore processing, fertiliser manufacturing, oil refining, wastewater processing and chemical synthesis.