The Intec Process for Minerals Feedstocks

The Intec Process was originally designed for the environmental and economic recovery of metals from mineral feedstocks: lead, zinc, copper, silver, gold, nickel and other metal-bearing concentrates, ores and tailings. A more detailed description of the suite of related Intec technologies may be found on the Technology page of this site.

A Business Opportunity

The Intec Process offers substantial benefits versus conventional smelting technology in the treatment of polymetallic or ‘intermediate’ mineral concentrates. It is also beneficial for those concentrates that suffer high penalties due to the presence of unwanted base metals or contaminants such as arsenic, mercury, bismuth and/or cadmium, which pose significant environmental and safety concerns at smelters but are readily and safely dealt with in an environmentally advantageous way via the Intec Process.

This is particularly the case for the business model originally envisaged for Intec’s Hellyer operations, and now shown to have much wider application: ie to include miners who can additionally produce low grade or ‘intermediate’ concentrates at minimal incremental cost. The Intec Process can unlock incremental value from mineral resources, in addition to the revenues already generated by operating miners through their standard concentrate sales. By producing the ‘intermediate’ concentrates from the material that the Australian miners would otherwise be disposing to tailings, these ‘orphan’ or ‘stranded’ concentrates offer a win-win for both Intec and the mining companies. 

For more information, we recommend the paper "Intec - Technology Solutions for the Minerals Processing Industry" (Adobe pdf, 2Mb).