MINTEK: Mintek Continues Drive to Transform Waste and Industry
Experts in extraction and process methodology, Mintek has been supporting South Africa’s mining and metals industry for the best part of a century. Now, as sweeping changes are impacting the way the industry works, Mintek is using its vast knowledge base to provide the very best knowledge for partners and clients. Dr Jones Papo explains more about staying ahead of the curve.
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South Africa’s mineral processing powerhouse, Mintek, continues to push the boundaries of possibility. With 90 years of data, heritage, and expertise behind it, this state-owned implementing agency is evolving fast – identifying waste as a valuable resource, exploring rare earths, and moving towards financial independence. But the true value of Mintek lies not just in what it has done, but in what it is about to do.
DECADES OF DATA
For almost a century, Mintek has sat at the core of South Africa’s globally important mining sector, providing insight, support, and solutions to both private industry and government.
Its work has revolutionised platinum recovery. Its research helped define global standards in metallurgical processing. And its talent pool is rich with scientific and engineering minds delivering real-world innovation.
In 2024, Professor Indresan Govender told Enterprise Africa about the changing nature of the industries Mintek serves. Now, amid industry transition and global economic volatility, Mintek is focusing on leveraging its legacy while developing its commercial capacity to continue supporting clients across South Africa and around the world, explains Dr Jones Papo, Group Executive: Mining, Materials and Automation.
“Our measurement and control division has the largest presence globally in terms of what they do, designing process control equipment and instruments to control mining processes and maximising value for money,” he tells Enterprise Africa.
“They are aggressively inputting AI and related technologies to a point where they are able to monitor operations from anywhere in the world, and the minute they realise that the data is not making sense, they can quickly make changes.”
It’s this ability to blend applied science, high-tech innovation, and tangible industrial knowledge that makes Mintek unique. The company is actively transferring AI knowledge across its divisions, including minerals processing, and deploying sophisticated modelling techniques to optimise recovery.
“There has been work on a new version of computational modelling that can be fed into mineral processing operations to see what is required to optimise recovery,” says Papo. “The challenge with that is looking at our technologies and applying that to Waste as a Resource.”
When Mintek attended China Mining, it was exposed to new global thinking around waste extraction. “We were at China Mining last year and we saw presentations from scientists and metallurgists, and they shared more about Chinese policy that forces extraction of value from waste,” says Papo. “We are looking at a point further down the line where we can use slag or waste material to pave roads, as an example. We have latched on this philosophy.”
WASTE AS WEALTH
One of the most exciting areas of development at Mintek is its drive to prove the concept of Waste as a Resource. Tailings dumps, legacy mine sites, and industrial by-products are now seen not as problems to be remediated but as value streams waiting to be unlocked.
Papo recalls an experience that confirmed this approach. “We visited a mine site in Namaqualand, where the owners had been told the tailings dump was waste when they bought the mine. Upon their further analysis of the tailings dumps samples, the results came back, with the entire dump value estimated at R3 billion.”
From reclaiming platinum from tailings to identifying rare earths in fly ash, Mintek is building value around what was previously discarded. In some areas, mine dumps that once blighted the landscape are now seen as assets.
“If you look around Gauteng, there were many mine dumps along the N1. Over time, those dumps are gradually disappearing as we have developed more sensitive extraction methods, designed by Mintek and others, such that the dumps have become a resource,” says Papo.
This strategy stretches far beyond local borders. In Japan, for instance, where there are limited natural resources, authorities have taken to extracting metals from discarded circuit boards.
“This is again using waste which is solving an environmental problem while at the same time driving value,” Papo notes.
In Namaqualand, a titanium oxide operation highlighted the depth of opportunity. “Using the philosophy of Waste as a Resource, they were able to show that the very last product they could extract as part of the process was pig iron. That can be used as a charge in the foundry industry where they make castings.”
Even the ash produced by power generation is not off-limits. “Fly ash is a residue from Eskom processing coal for power. Studies have indicated that within fly ash there are other rare earth elements, albeit in very small amounts. But if you have the right methodologies, you can extract rare earth elements,” explains Papo.
“We are looking at how we can use waste to find value at the same time as solving environmental problems. That philosophy is being adopted across many commodities where the situation is furthered and the land is being looked at to further economic activity, even as simple as turning former dumping land into parking lots.”
INDUSTRY STIMULATION
Mintek is not simply identifying and extracting new value streams – it is stimulating industry growth and opportunity. Working with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, Mintek has a mandate to support the development of the Artisanal Small-Scale Mining (ASM) sector.
“We have a problem with derelict and ownerless mines, and we are looking at rehabilitation. The whole idea around rehabilitation is about finding economic value rather than just making mines safe but closed,” says Papo. “Creating economic activity around these sites, which are often in rural areas, will bring major opportunities for communities.
“To support that, in 2021, the Minister of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy came up with the Artisanal Small-Scale Mining (ASM) Policy which was designed to catalyse this sector. If properly constituted and formalised, this could add to the country’s revenue as well as providing opportunity for small scale miners.”
As the Department’s implementing agency, Mintek is partly responsible for rolling out innovation in this space, but only receives around 30% of its funding from government. This opens the door to private partnership, global collaboration, and applied commercialisation.
“We are very much aware of others out there that offer value. We are always looking for partnerships and we often go to the market with a value proposition and ask for collaboration to deliver a much more holistic solution,” Papo confirms.
Universities are a key partner. “One of our core value propositions is our relationships with the country’s universities – we partner with the majority. Academia does first principal research, but we do applied research. We solve problems that have been identified in partnership with industry.
“We have pilot facilities and labs, and when we design a process to extract a certain mineral, we then try to test at scale. We have found that when you can optimise at pilot scale, the process or technology will very likely be relevant industry. Obviously, you have to tweak, but when we see success at pilot scale that is often enough for investment to begin flowing.”
EYES ON THE FUTURE
Mintek is now pursuing a long-term strategy of financial self-reliance. With just under a third of its budget coming from the state, the focus is on commercialising intellectual property and expanding industrial partnerships.
“The rest of our revenue is from commercial activities, and we have a dedicated office for technology transfer which is tasked with looking at the IP portfolio of Mintek and coming up with strategies to commercialise,” Papo outlines.
“They speak with companies all over the world who can take ideas forward. This is essential because the fiscus is strained and we are very aware that a third of the funding we receive from government, may not remain at this level in five years’ time.
“When we make plans and develop projections, we see the reality of the future is that we must increasingly be less dependent on government. Our department has a very wide mandate and, at some point, the pot will not be enough to help sustain us. That is why we must ensure relevance and strength of partnerships so that we can always be sure of our value.”
This is a strategic shift designed to ensure resilience and relevance for decades to come. Papo believes long-term transition is realistic.
“With some of the technologies we are working on, we hope to be comfortable with revenue so that we can assist our department in satisfying their requirements.
“Our core focus, even when we are going out looking for new business, is to increasingly shrink our dependence on state funding, morphing into a commercially viable entity. We will still be an implementing agency for the government but less reliant on them for survival.
“Between now and 2040, we believe we can make this a reality. Over the past three or four years, we have been profitable. That has taught us that if we can continue, we can certainly be sustainable, but we will require an intentional strategy. Anything we put forward now will be very visibly about total independence.”
Even with this evolution, Mintek’s mission remains rooted in impact. Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) is one example, where Mintek has used its knowledge of platinum to support the research and development of fuel cell technologies. It’s another illustration of how the company is reaching beyond extraction to influence manufacturing, energy, and circular economy sectors.
“It’s all about exploiting the value of the platinum through the HySA program,” says Papo. “It’s proof that we can support companies across various industries including foundry, manufacturing, mining etc.”
Backed by legacy, data, and a deep understanding of industrial complexity, Mintek is no longer just a minerals research council – it’s a forward-facing, industry-building, value-creating partner with global relevance. And there is so much more that is yet to come.