JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and Aim-listed mineral resources exploration and development company Mkango Resources has secured a two-year exclusive option and right to acquire, on commercially standard terms, the worldwide licence for technology to produce high-strength hydrochloric acid (HCl) from calcium chloride feed streams using sulphuric acid.
The company announced on Tuesday that the technology in question was developed by Dr Thomas Feldmann and Professor George Demopoulos from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Mkango explained that the processing flowsheet for its Songwe Hill rare earths project, in Malawi, incorporates an HCl gangue leach step, which produces calcium chloride (CaCl) in solution.
The HCl will be regenerated using the CaCl feed stream, supplemented with additional CaCl, together with sulphuric acid produced from sulphur at a plant on-site.
This means that Mkango will not require the import of large quantities of liquid HCl, as it is effectively being replaced by the import of solid sulphur and CaCl, bringing significant potential cost and logistical benefits.
Mkango noted that it will also investigate production of a gypsum by-product for sale in Malawi and elsewhere.
"This technology is not only applicable for Songwe but potentially for other primary carbonatite-hosted rare earths projects,” said Mkango CEO William Dawes.
He added that the company was also interested in evaluating the technology's use in other industrial applications where high-strength HCl is required.