Clean-metals project development and technology company Lifezone Metals’ Hydromet Technology successfully demonstrated high recovery of platinum-group metals (PGMs) using one tonne of US-sourced automotive catalytic converter material.

The tests – conducted over 24 months and 1 179 locked-cycle continuous pilot-scale tests at the facility of complex hydrometallurgical testwork group Simulus Laboratories, in Australia – showed the recovery of up to 99% platinum and palladium, and 95% rhodium, in addition to demonstrating the technology’s ability to separate materials into first stage refined metals.

Simulus Laboratories – a wholly owned subsidiary of Lifezone Metals that operates independently as a separate entity – undertook the testwork to inform design criteria for a planned automotive catalytic converter recycling precious metals refinery, in the US, marking the first refined PGMs produced from spent automotive catalytic converters using Hydromet Technology.

Lifezone Metals announced its partnership with global diversified natural resource company Glencore in December 2023 to recycle platinum, palladium and rhodium, in the US, using Simulus Group’s capabilities to perform the pilot testwork, flowsheet and process plant design, as well as a definitive feasibility study, for the planned refinery.

Hydromet Technology is a hydrometallurgical process that uses water-based liquid solvents and chemistry to extract, separate and refine metals from ores, concentrates or recycled materials.

Scalable and capital-efficient technology serves as a potentially cleaner and more efficient alternative to traditional, high-emission heat-based smelting, adds Lifezone Metals CTO Dr Mike Adams.

Further refining optimisation is under way to target the recovery of more than 99.95% of platinum and palladium, and up to 99.9% rhodium metal purities.

“Following completion of this extensive testwork campaign, engineering design and feasibility study work, the project will advance to the financial investment decision stage,” he adds.

Bringing Nickel Back

In 2024, Simulus successfully produced nickel, copper and cobalt cathode samples through batch and continuous pilot-scale refinery testwork at the Simulus Laboratory in Perth, Australia.

The metals were produced from flotation concentrate derived from borehole core samples from Lifezone Metals’ Kabanga nickel project, in north-west Tanzania.

This outcome marks the first metal ever produced from Kabanga mineralisation since the deposit’s initial discovery in 1975 by the United Nations Development Programme, following extensive testwork and flowsheet development at Lifezone’s in-house Simulus Laboratory.

Simulus has a range of external contracts in place across engineering and laboratory service offerings. These contracts span a range of commodities, including antimony, cobalt, copper, gold, nickel, PGMs, rare-earth elements, scandium, and titanium, as well as high- purity alumina and graphite.