EcoMag’s magnesium precipitation process is ideal for harvesting waste streams of sea-salt and potash producers and other brine sources. Engineering services contractor, Lycopodium, has completed a feasibility study, confirming 80,000 tonne per annum scale-up and facilitating tight costing parameters.
Multiple waste bitterns sources in Western Australia are currently under evaluation:
1. Kalium Lakes – ASX listed exploration and development company focused on developing the Beyondie Sulphate Of Potash Project with the aim of commencing production at 90ktpa of Sulphate Of Potash (SOP) before ramping up to 180ktpa of SOP for domestic and international sale.
- Joint venture to add magnesium extraction
- Low impurity, high grade waste brine, with high magnesium content (~9%)
- Stage 1 available magnesium: ~30ktpa / Hydrated Magnesium Carbonate: ~120 ktpa
2. Rio Tinto subsidiary – Dampier Salt – the world’s largest exporter of seaborne salt, with capacity to produce approximately 10.3 million tonnes every year.
- 21-year, 16-hectare mining lease, includes 8 ha of land to build EcoMag’s commercial scale plant
- Access to bitterns channel, subject to successful negotiations with Dampier Salt
- Close to the world’s second-largest bulk export port, Karratha Airport, City of Karratha, electricity, gas and water (seawater and desalination)
3. Mitsui & Co subsidiary – Shark Bay Salt – Australia’s second largest salt producer with two salt fields in northern Western Australia.
- Concept Study for Salt Brine Loop Recycling, under evaluation
- EcoMag proposes building a specialist pharmaceutical magnesium plant capable of switching between high purity pharmaceutical products on demand, giving EcoMag a commercially attractive stand-alone production facility and providing Mitsui with a large-scale pilot plant to trial loop brine recycling.
