October 2022 heralds a milestone for reagent specialist Axis House, which celebrates 21 years in business having grown from a four-person small business to one with 120 mavens and in-country specialists across a geographical footprint spanning Africa, Australia, South America, Europe, and the Middle East.
Coupled with its milestone celebration, the company is gearing to launch a suite of products for the platinum group metals (PGM), gold and industrial metals markets, MD Justine Stubbs-Hult and technical manager Bernard Oostendorp tell Modern Mining.
“Following our decision five years ago to expand our footprint beyond our traditional markets of copper, cobalt, nickel and zinc where we initially targeted the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, both of which host numerous copper-cobalt projects, we have since developed a suite of products specifically for the PGM, gold, and industrial metals markets. Over the past two years we undertook extensive trials and product tests and are now in the final stages of extended trials. We are gearing to launch the new suite of products to the broader market in the next few months,” says Stubbs.
Axis House cut its teeth on a product range aimed at unlocking efficiencies in the copper, cobalt, nickel and zinc sectors, which firmly placed the reagent specialist as an industry leader in its segment.
“As part of our diversification strategy we took into account South Africa’s resource richness – and looked to key minerals produced locally – taking cognizance of its role as a leading producer of platinum and a key producer of gold and chrome. The country is home to almost 80% of the world’s platinum – found predominantly along the Eastern and Western limb of the Igneous Bushveld Complex, which spans the North West and Limpopo Provinces – as well as extensive chrome and PGM tailings retreatment dumps waiting for just the right reagent to unlock the precious palladium and rhodium content, among others. Our oxide collector AM810, which has until now been used in the copper flotation process, has undergone short trial testing at PGM plants and is currently undergoing long trials at key PGM mining projects. To date, the AM810 has delivered significant results and mining houses where the product is being tested are eager to participate in more extensive trials taking up to two months to ensure that the exceptional results achieved are sufficiently ratified.”
According to Oostendorp, the North West province is home to highly oxidised PGMs and, thus far, has achieved limited success in floating its material. However, the company’s newly developed suite of PGM reagents (AM810, DPG-12 and MPG-2) is set to be a game-changer, as it is able to dramatically improve recoveries, grades and almost double output, especially on difficult to float, oxidised material.
The PGM reagent range was developed to include collectors, for both sulphide and oxidized minerals, as well as depressants and frothers suitable for PGM ores. More recently, Axis House has been putting the AM810 reagent through its paces at a PGM mine in Brits in the Northwest Province, specifically targeting the oxidised minerals. The mine, which has been on care and maintenance since 2013, recently re-engineered the operation to be more cost effective.
As part of its drive to keep costs to a minimum, the PGM and chrome miner was one of the first in line to test the AM810 reagent at its flagship operation and has since been achieving excellent results.
“Aside from having undertaken extensive lab tests on the material sourced from the miner’s tailings storage facility, Axis House also undertook plant trials, over a few weeks, and is now running extensive trial tests spanning up to two months. We are confident of being able to improve on the first set of grades, which have already delivered impressive results,” explains Stubbs.
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