Newcrest/Newmont OreSand Project
Newmont Corporation (former Newcrest Mining Limited) is a member of the Julius Kruttschnitt Minerals Research Centre’s Collaborative Consortium for Coarse Particle Processing Research. As part of this, Newcrest pioneered work on installing and testing the HydroFloat technology for coarse particle flotation in their copper-gold operation.
This technology has proven beneficial in reducing energy consumption during comminution and improving recovery of gold and copper in coarser size fractions compared to conventional flotation technologies. Simultaneously, the HydroFloat cell allows obtaining a side stream consisting of a coarser, silica-rich material that can potentially become a sand substitute.
Newmont engaged with us in 2022 to evaluate the potential for co-producing OreSand at Cadia East operation (copper-gold ore) in New South Wales, Australia. In the initial phase of this project, we performed a comprehensive characterisation of the sandy material from the HydroFloat equipment, involving a suite of physical, chemical, mineralogical, environmental and geotechnical tests. We found that the HydroFloat reject may be a suitable substitute of fine aggregates in construction applications.
AEA Seed Grant
Our partnership with Newmont has grown since then, thanks to a competitive AEA Seed grant awarded by the Australian Government's Department of Education. Through this project, we were able to initiate R&D collaboration with The University of Queensland's School of Civil Engineering and another industry partner from the construction sector, Aurecon. We successfully demonstrated at the laboratory scale that Cadia OreSand is suitable for concrete and shotcrete applications. We also progressed on market insights for Cadia OreSand, identifying the leading construction players and most promising markets.
Newmont’s OreSand wase study was profiled in ICMM’s Tools for Circularity report as an outstanding and tangible example of circular economy based on a waste prevention strategy.