Pretoria-based environmental management company I-Cat Environmental Solutions has received positive feedback from mining companies that have applied its 100% environment-friendly dust-suppression technology, RDC 20 – especially those companies that contracted I-Cat to manage the dust control on surrounding roads.

“The overall ambient dust at our largest South African operation in South Africa, a major iron-ore mine located in Kathu, in the Northern Cape, has improved by more than 40%, compared with the dust levels prior to I-Cat’s management of the secondary roads at the mine,” notes nonexecutive director Professor Jan du Plessis.

RDC 20 is being applied at several mining operations across South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and, more recently, Australia, highlights Du Plessis, adding that the company plans to stabilise its operations in Zambia, Botswana and Australia within the next 18 months.

Du Plessis points out that I-Cat has appointed agents in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe and is monitoring developments in these countries.

“Locally, we aim to continue strengthening our brand to create awareness about our offerings, as we still recognise significant potential in South Africa. However, we would like to grow this market in a sustainable manner,” he adds.

The solution has been implemented at mining projects across Africa where it assists significantly in reducing maintenance costs.

“RDC 20 is a water-soluble anionic polyelectrolyte polymer, developed in South Africa by I-Cat. It is a formulation of blended emulsified co-polymers and ionic modifiers that, when sprayed onto the road surface, forms a durable cross-linked matrix. The matrix binds fine soil particles into larger heavier particles, which are less prone to becoming airborne,” explains Du Plessis.

RDC 20 is used on temporary roads, as it is a cost-efficient method of significantly improving road and dust conditions, he adds.

Dust plays a big part in the frequency of maintenance required on vehicles and other capital equipment; therefore, dust reduction plays a significant role in reducing maintenance costs, as well as in health and safety issues pertaining to dust, he says.

“Dust is a pervasive problem that undermines the health of mineworkers, impacts negatively on the surrounding environment and significantly reduces the life span of machinery. It can damage even the most sophisticated equipment. It is, therefore, imperative for mining companies to effectively control dust on a continuous basis with objectives that extend far beyond legislative compliance.”

Du Plessis adds that, while water is most commonly used as a dust suppressant, it is severely limited in terms of its effectiveness.

“Using only water to control dust is a perpetually costly, time-consuming and environmentally wasteful exercise that offers limited dust suppression, as water evaporates quickly, and dust is released into the environment again,” he adds.

DustMonster

Du Plessis further highlights I-Cat’s DustMonster range of machinery, which suppresses dust by creating an ultrafine mist that attracts dust and encapsulates the airborne particles before driving them to the ground.

“With its robust 44 kW motor and user-definable 359º oscillation, the DustMonster boasts a throw of more than 100 m, thereby ensuring that its dust-trapping atomised mist has a coverage area of 2.6 ha,” he notes, adding that the units are fully automatic, easily adaptable and portable.

I-Cat is also the exclusive local distributor of the Scrub Mist System – a mist nozzle system supplied by Telesto Mist Systems.

Du Plessis points out that the most notable advantage of the Scrub Mist System is its ecologically neutral technology. “This technology breaks down water drops to below 50 and 200 µm, thereby neutralising and controlling dust at the source of emission through the grouping of dust elements into larger agglomerations,” he concludes.