Brazilian company patents innovative dry iron ore processing method in Brazil and in the US

The Brazilian company New Steel S/A has developed an innovative technology that promises to transform mining into an environmentally sustainable activity. Owned by the Lorentzen group, New Steel has just patented, in Brazil and in the United States, the creation of the first iron ore tailing processing in the world that is fully dry. In times of water crisis and declining iron ore prices, the technique does not use a single drop of water, while traditional methods spend at least one thousand liters per ton of iron ore.

The technology has been proven to be excellent for the environment and economically sustainable as well. The method is designed to transform mining tailings — with low iron content and no commercial value — into an economically feasible product, with high iron content and low contaminants.

“Before the invention, the only technology available to raise the content of very fine iron ore particles was flotation, but flotation is water-intensive and is not economically sustainable in the current scenario of pricing, making any new project unfeasible, as it demands high spending. In this scenario of retraction, new technologies find space and earn a well-established position. We are partners of mining companies, as we ensure economic return while guaranteeing that they are operating in the most conscious and clean way possible,” says Gustavo Emina, CEO of New Steel.

The Brazilian Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) immediately recognized the sustainability of the technology, ranking its patent application as a Green Patent and, in record time, it granted the definitive Letters Patent due to its unique inventiveness. Overseas, the patent has also been granted in the United States and is being processed in 26 other countries. International recognition came in other ways as well. In 2015, New Steel won the international award Platts Global Metals Awards, considered the “Oscar” of mining, in the innovation category.

The new technology has been tested in Brazil since 2010, with New Steel’s operation of the first experimental dry-processing plant in Minas Gerais. The test results confirmed the competitiveness of the method in terms of product quality and operating costs, which led the company to sign long-term contracts with the largest mining companies in the world. New plants are in the process of getting environmental licenses in Brazil. In the USA, negotiations to implement the new technology are underway.

Dry iron ore processing

The mining activity produces lots of materials with no commercial value. That is because the iron ore traded in the market must be composed of at least 58% of ore. With this in mind, mining companies remove the most valuable parts, stacking the rest on dumps, and dispose of the waste resulting from the production process in dams. This material with low iron content is then processed, that is, iron is physically separated from the other minerals — primarily silica (sand) — from these stacks. By doing this, desired levels of commercialization are achieved and New Steel can produce a highly pure iron ore concentrate in an industrial scale by obtaining a premium product of up to 68% iron and is able to make use of millimeter particles as small as 10 μm = 0.01 mm, which generates high recovery rates compared to existing technologies.

The adoption of water-free mineral processing goes in the opposite direction to the traditional iron ore processing methods, which use millions of liters of water and generate large amounts of mineral waste. These tailings are stored, thus producing a huge environmental liability around the world — which makes it even more difficult for the companies to be granted licenses for new projects.

The clean technology developed by New Steel is breaking paradigms, as it does not use water to process iron ore, in addition to using natural gas or biomass as an energy source. Besides, the waste generated once the iron extracted is pretty much only sand (silica), which can be used in the construction of houses, schools, health facilities, and others. Therefore, this technology is 100% sustainable.

Center for Sustainable Technologies (CTSS)

In the wake of this innovation, New Steel set up, in 2013, a Center for Sustainable Technologies (CTSS) to foster the scientific and technological development of sustainable products and services for the mining, metallurgy, mechanic and solid waste industries.

The CTSS is based in the industrial center of Xerém, in the city of Duque de Caxias (state of Rio de Janeiro). The center is equipped with a modern laboratory, a team of highly qualified researchers and technicians and a state-of-the-art industrial plant. The whole structure has been designed to shelter sustainable mining and steel projects for processing different types of ore.

In the past, the same team developed New Steel’s innovative iron ore dry processing method.

The Lorentzen Group

New Steel’s controlling interest is held by Fundo de Investimento em Participações Hankoe, a member of the Lorentzen Group, which has operated in Brazil for over 50 years. The group invests in many different industries, such as shipping, through Norsul, a leader in the segment of coastal dry bulk trading, with 30 ships; in the forestry industry, it owns Aflopar; and invests in the mining business through New Steel and its subsidiary CTSS.

One of the group’s great success case was the foundation of Aracruz Celulose, the first Brazilian company to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange in 1992 and the only forestry company in the world to appear in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The group’s interest was sold to the Votorantim Group in 2009.