A legacy of the mining and resource industry is the multimillion ton stockpiles of hazardous waste, that until now have been considered a significant capital and environmental liability.
EESTech’s unique mine site and process waste management services will have significant long term implications for the world’s mining and resource industry by providing a zero-waste management solution that optimises the profitable recovery of valuable resources from waste.
The implementation of compliant, cost effective waste management solutions has become a significant challenge for the mining and resource industry as environmental regulators demand improved remediation standards for waste dumps and the treatment of waste slag contaminates.
Whilst EESTech’s process capabilities can recover valuable resources from most mine site and process slag waste, the initial market focus is ferrochrome slag waste. Cross industry knowledge and expertise has provided EESTech with a unique and cost effective process advantage whereby high yields of valuable FeCr metal can be recovered from process slag waste. The current market price of FeCr metal is $1.00+ per lb ($2000+ per ton).
After the recovery of up to 99% of all residual FeCr units, EESTech’s waste stabilization capabilities will significantly reduce the environment liability of any post process materials to produce a commercially preferred, high-grade sand product (ThermaSand), which is ideally suited for use by many downstream industries. EESTech’s ThermaSand is the first real environmentally sustainable alternative to offset controversial wetland sand mining.
A single EESTech process line has the potential to recover up to 80,000 tons of FeCr and produce over 600,000 tons of ThermaSand annually. With the European ban on silica sand, EESTech’s ThermaSand is a perfect replacement as not only does our product have a longer service life, ThermaSand ensures an environmentally friendly alternative to silica sand in an industry where global demand for industrial silica sand is forecast to grow to 291 million metric tons in 2018, with a market value of $12.5 billion.
EESTech’s ThermaSand also offers highly valued advantages as foundry sand and as a preferred replacement option to natural Olivine sand, a primary foundry sand that is in short supply around the world. More than 90% of all manufactured goods in the United States contain cast metal components, consuming over 100 million tons of foundry sand annually.