Operate more efficiently with innovative water management
Metals are essential raw materials that are used in nearly all of today’s consumer and industrial products. Water management is becoming an increasingly important aspect of metal-mining operations due to the steadily increasing use of hydrometallurgy to extract metals, as compared to other methods. Resins and other technologies that can be used to purify water can also be used to isolate, extract, and purify certain elements; these technologies can thus play key roles in extracting metals in hydrometallurgical processes. Those same technologies can also help treat wastewater for reuse.
With our ion exchange (IX) expertise, and through the development of metal-selective applications and technologies, we assist the mining and hydrometallurgy industry recover valuable metals in the most efficient and environmentally sustainable way possible.
Mining and hydrometallurgy subindustries and applications
Extracting base metals at a lower cost
Base metals, such as copper, cobalt, nickel, and zinc, have significant value in the myriad of applications in which they can be used — from antidandruff shampoo to the production of turbine blades and batteries for electric vehicles.
Our selective ion exchange (IX) resins make it possible to isolate and purify base metals at a lower cost than traditional methods, such as solvent extraction (SX), and in more environmentally sustainable ways.
Leveraging better technology
Gold has been valued for its beauty, malleability, and noncorrosive properties for millennia. The most commonly used process is to extract gold by cyanide leaching, which involves using substrates such as activated carbon for gold recovery.
Our gold-selective ion exchange (IX) resins, however, are more versatile substrates than activated carbon. They improve properties such as selectivity, resistance to poisoning, and loading capacity — all of which help more effectively extract precious gold from ore.
Enabling a simple, sustainable process
Platinum group metals (PGM) are rare, chemically resistant metals valued for their usefulness in applications ranging from organic reaction catalysts to fine jewelry and microelectronics.
PGMs include elements such as platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium. They are often coproduced through copper and nickel mining, but can also be reclaimed by recycling electronic and catalytic devices.
Our ion exchange (IX) technology helps recover and purify PGMs, resulting in a simple and environmentally sustainable process.
Offering preferred methods of recovery
Uranium helps fuel our world’s energy needs and is actively mined in many countries. Recovering uranium with ion exchange (IX) resins is the preferred method of recovery today.
A premier supplier of IX resin to the uranium mining industry, our IX resins recover uranium from pregnant leach solutions using either acid leach or alkaline leach processes.
Protecting the environment
Wastewater produced through mining can come from many sources, including natural precipitation, hydrometallurgical processes, or acid mine drainage (AMD). AMD is created when sulfide minerals are exposed to air and water, producing sulfuric acid. All of these wastewaters typically contain heavy metals.
Mine wastewater is often collected and left untreated in what are called tailing ponds. Regulation requires efficient treatment of these mining and hydrometallurgy wastewaters to reduce the risk of harmful effects to the environment.
Our reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) technologies can concentrate and separate hazardous elements from mine wastewater and allow for either discharge or reuse of the cleaned water.
-
Base Metals
Extracting base metals at a lower cost
Base metals, such as copper, cobalt, nickel, and zinc, have significant value in the myriad of applications in which they can be used — from antidandruff shampoo to the production of turbine blades and batteries for electric vehicles.
Our selective ion exchange (IX) resins make it possible to isolate and purify base metals at a lower cost than traditional methods, such as solvent extraction (SX), and in more environmentally sustainable ways.
-
Gold
Leveraging better technology
Gold has been valued for its beauty, malleability, and noncorrosive properties for millennia. The most commonly used process is to extract gold by cyanide leaching, which involves using substrates such as activated carbon for gold recovery.
Our gold-selective ion exchange (IX) resins, however, are more versatile substrates than activated carbon. They improve properties such as selectivity, resistance to poisoning, and loading capacity — all of which help more effectively extract precious gold from ore.
-
Platinum Group Metals
Enabling a simple, sustainable process
Platinum group metals (PGM) are rare, chemically resistant metals valued for their usefulness in applications ranging from organic reaction catalysts to fine jewelry and microelectronics.
PGMs include elements such as platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium. They are often coproduced through copper and nickel mining, but can also be reclaimed by recycling electronic and catalytic devices.Our ion exchange (IX) technology helps recover and purify PGMs, resulting in a simple and environmentally sustainable process.
-
Uranium
Offering preferred methods of recovery
Uranium helps fuel our world’s energy needs and is actively mined in many countries. Recovering uranium with ion exchange (IX) resins is the preferred method of recovery today.
A premier supplier of IX resin to the uranium mining industry, our IX resins recover uranium from pregnant leach solutions using either acid leach or alkaline leach processes. -
Mine Wastewater
Protecting the environment
Wastewater produced through mining can come from many sources, including natural precipitation, hydrometallurgical processes, or acid mine drainage (AMD). AMD is created when sulfide minerals are exposed to air and water, producing sulfuric acid. All of these wastewaters typically contain heavy metals.
Mine wastewater is often collected and left untreated in what are called tailing ponds. Regulation requires efficient treatment of these mining and hydrometallurgy wastewaters to reduce the risk of harmful effects to the environment.Our reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) technologies can concentrate and separate hazardous elements from mine wastewater and allow for either discharge or reuse of the cleaned water.
Find products for the mining and hydrometallurgy industry
View a list of products suitable for base metals, gold, platinum group metals, uranium, and mine wastewater.
Related resources
See what’s possible
Ask how we can bring value to the mining and metallurgy industry through the sustainable recovery of raw materials.