Norwegian firm to adopt green mining in Mindoro

MANILA, Philippines - No one can dispute the importance that mineral products play in our everyday life. Almost everything that modern man consumes and uses comes from the bowels of the earth. Mineral products are found from farm implements to transport vehicles, household appliances and communication tools, among others. Our daily life still heavily relies on the mining industry which has been rocked by strong negative criticisms in recent years borne about by unwanted fears, real or imagined. 

Some sectors in the Philippines have painted for the industry an image of an environmental despoiler; probably forgetting that the industry has been, is and will continue to be a significant contributor to global economic growth.

Expunging such a misconception has become a difficult, but ‘doable’ mission for Norwegian-based Intex Resources ASA, says CEO Jon Petersen, whose mining company is about to develop in Mindoro province what promises to be one of the world’s largest nickel mines, and possibly the greenest mine design ever.

Intex has so far sunk in $50 million developing the mine’s resources and reserves and bringing a definitive feasibility study to completion. Based on a mine life of 20 years, the intention is to produce 53,000 tons of nickel a year. “This would make Mindoro one of the four largest nickel laterite projects in the world,” Petersen says. “Moreover, current exploration indicates that we could have a potential mine life of 40 years at this production rate while discoveries in the surrounding areas could extend this by a further 20 years.”

Petersen reveals how Intex has developed a unique project plan to deliver a minimal environmental footprint and maximum benefit to the local community. Allaying the fears of local communities, he says, involves two phases. One is working to improve the lives of the townsfolk. “We have to date set up a water supply system from natural wells and provided fresh water to some 10,000 people in the adjacent stakeholder communities. Women and children no longer have to spend half their day walking to get water. The women are starting to cultivate the land around their houses and the children go to school. And we’re supporting their schooling systems with grants, books and reading programs.”

The company has also created skilled job opportunities for the community along with vocational training and providing advice on handling money to the indigenous people. “We believe that mining today is much more a social development issue than a technical one. And as an exploration company, we’re the first to be exposed to this, particularly in areas like Mindoro which has no history of mining.”

The second phase of Intex’s approach is to design the mine to create the smallest environmental impact and ensure its operations will bring significant benefit to the local community. Every aspect of mine design has come under intense scrutiny, and this has led to a number of innovations. On Mindoro, nickel is present in two ore types – limonite ore which appears at the surface as a brown clay; and saprolite, which occurs beneath it. Many companies only extract the saprolite and then ship it abroad for smelting. Intex’s plan is to mine both ore types and to process them locally, creating wealth generating opportunities for the islanders.

The mineral processing has therefore been redesigned along new lines. “Traditionally saprolite is processed by pyro metallurgy or smelting, and limonite by hydrometallurgy, a process that requires acid. What we’ve done is combining the two into a single, hydrometallurgical flow sheet utilizing, additional ore for the neutralization of final solutions, and we’ve managed to protect this process concept through a world patent.” The new process has undergone rigorous bench testing, followed by a period of industrial production overseen by SGS Laboratories of Canada at a specially commissioned pilot plant. “And interestingly, the results from the pilot tests were even better than the bench tests, and this has created a lot more excitement than we had anticipated.”

The philosophy behind the mine plan is that everything that can be done on the island will be. Therefore, the acid required for this process will be manufactured on site, and the heat liberated by the chemical reaction will be turned into steam to drive the turbines on a 110 MW power generation plant to be constructed alongside it. The output from the plant will be sufficient to supply all the power requirements of the mine and large parts of the island.

The final part of the production cycle which neutralizes the acid used in the process has also been the subject of innovation. “Traditionally limestone is used for this, but limestone is a carbonate and liberates carbon dioxide. So we’ve designed a process that uses saprolite instead, and this has almost eradicated CO2 emissions from the process.”

The mine plan has also included steps to reduce the physical impact of mining on the island’s landscape and to keep the mine’s footprint as small as possible. Although the Mindoro mine will be spread over 30 square kilometers, just 100 hectares of land will be mined each year. “This means we will have a small active footprint for a mine of this size – similar mines often disturb areas five times as large.”