Curtin University Associate Professor Bogale Tadesse has built a reputation for finding innovative approaches to unlock value from challenging ore deposits. His research has demonstrated improved recovery of rare earth minerals through simplified flowsheets that are capable of handling recycled water sources. He is also involved in developing alternative methods for gold extraction from complex ores while recovering other critical metals as by-products.
One of his current projects is evaluating how rock breakage occurs during crushing and grinding of lithium ores to find ways to save energy and reduce cost. Leveraging this experience and working with a strong team of researchers from the WA School of Mines and the John de Laeter Centre for mineral characterisation, Associate Professor Tadesse has recently engaged with Venture Minerals to target the tin borate minerals at their Mt Lindsay project in Tasmania.
With the demand for green energy solutions rising, it is more important than ever that we find new sources of the critical minerals and technology metals that will enable a sustainable future. The borate mineralogy at Mt Lindsay has previously been overlooked, but with the novel process that Associate Professor Tadesse believes he can develop and optimise, this deposit could become a globally significant producer of several important metals used in advanced materials, renewable energy generation and energy storage.
This project is possible thanks to a committed industry partner and accelerated through funding from the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer. According to Stuart Owen, Exploration Manager at Venture Minerals: “The recovery of tin iron borates from the Mt Lindsay tin-tungsten-magnetite deposits in western Tasmanian currently being investigated… will not only significantly enhance project economics through the recovery of metal values from conventionally discarded material, but may also result in the production of ‘low carbon’ tin, iron, and boron, all significant industrial and currently high carbon footprint metals important to a global energy transition.”
Trailblazer was happy to support this project as proving this novel mineral extraction process with Venture Minerals could lead to commercialisation of the process to extract important metals from overlooked borate deposits and conventional mineral process routes. A total of AUD$1 million will be invested to advance the process to a continuous-flow, lab-scale demonstration stage which will significantly de-risk the decision to build a pilot plant, on which Curtin researchers would continue to engage in a future stage 2 of the project. Associate Professor Tadesse says: “It is a privilege to partner with Venture Minerals on this project via the Trailblazer program to develop practical technologies that help us secure essential commodities of the future. I am particularly excited about the prospect of transitioning bench top research to a process that has commercial scalability.”
Associate Professor Tadesse hopes the partnership with Venture and Trailblazer will help him hone his skills and approach towards the commercialisation of his other research ideas in REE and lithium ores processing.
