Commencing in the late 1980s, Austpac’s technologies have been developed at the Company’s facilities in Newcastle through a lengthy program of research and development. The ERMS SR process to produce high grade synthetic rutile from ilmenite was successfully proven in late 2008. The EARS section however was not sufficiently robust to withstand long term continuous operation and in 2009 it was decided to replace this section so that the EARS and Iron Reduction sections of the Plant could be used on a commercial scale to treat waste from the steel industry. Construction of the Newcastle Iron Recovery Plant is now 85% complete and it will commence commercial operations in 2015.

Austpac’s technologies and their inter-relationship are shown in the diagram below and they are described elsewhere in this section.

Refer to the Glossary to obtain information on technical terminology used in this section.

Click on the diagram below to view to a detailed description of each process: