Austpac’s Newcastle Iron Recovery Plant

Austpac Resources N.L. is a minerals technology company which has developed new commercial processes for the titanium and iron and steel industries. Austpac is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX Code: APG).

Austpac won the 2008 Mining Industry Award for “Applied Technology of the Year”.

Austpac’s key technology transforms ilmenite into high grade synthetic rutile (synrutile), an important feedstock for titanium dioxide pigment production and a preferred feedstock for titanium sponge, an intermediate step in the production of titanium metal.

The technology also has important commercial applications in the iron and steel industry, where it can be used to recycle waste chloride solutions (e.g. spent pickle liquor) and iron oxides (e.g. mill scale, furnace dusts) produced by steelmaking and recover hydrochloric acid and saleable iron metal pellets. The recycling of contaminated steel furnace dusts and the separate recovery of iron and contaminants such as zinc is a significant environmental step for the industry.

Austpac is showcasing the recycling processes in a commercial plant; the Newcastle Iron Recovery Plant. This plant is expected to commence operations in 2016 and will demonstrate the technology to the world steel industry