Mining and metals are required to create materials that cannot be grown or created in a laboratory. The future of managing a mining and metals operation is highly reliant on pillars we define as sustainable consumables, sound technical expertise, innovation and client-centric approach towards minimizing our carbon footprint. At Ennero, our Mining & Metals Division seeks to deliver end-to-end solutions that power our mines and offer quantifiable value to our clients for their raw materials and consumables. Through innovation and technology-driven mining solutions, Ennero has created a natural synergy with our mining clients which has spawned the group’s ability to package, ship and supply the products we help extract, and bring to life.
Sodium cyanide has been used in the extraction of gold from ore for over a century. Today it is still considered the most efficient extraction method – with sodium cyanide used in the leaching process in most gold mining operations. Ammonia and caustic soda are the key raw materials used in the production of this chemical.
Solid sodium cyanide is produced to form a white crystalline briquette or ‘cyanoid’. These briquettes are highly soluble and Ennero delivers to customers using flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBCs). Liquid sodium cyanide is delivered to mine sites via purpose-built iso-tanks that are suitable for road or rail transport.
Lime is a calcium-containing inorganic mineral composed primarily of oxides and hydroxide. It is used to neutralize and cleanse our drinking water. But it’s also used as an additive in asphalt for the roads we drive on, helping improve its cohesion, reduce stripping, and slow down the aging process. And a primary use remains in purifying steel and creating other building products like mortar and plaster. Chances are, the office you are sitting in was built using at least one type of lime product. Quicklime is a key component in your basic oxygen furnace (BOF), electric arc furnace (EAF), and in stainless steelmaking processes as a fluxing agent to achieve proper slag chemistry and physical properties. It is used to refine, deoxidize, desulfurize and control inclusions in the steel bath and in the argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) to maintain chrome chemistry. Quality high calcium lime is critical to producing quality steel and control of steelmaking cost.
From the copper mines of Africa to mining sites across the world, Ennero supplies the right fluid to effectively extract valuable metals. Mining solvents are used as diluents for the solvent extraction of minerals including copper, nickel, cobalt, uranium and zinc. Formulators are able to take advantage of a product slate to create tailored extraction solutions. Ennero distributes Engen’s Fluiden HF 1926 which is a metal recovery by solvent extraction of ores with low metal content that can be effectively mined and recovered economically. It has low viscosity and a high flash point with low evaporation rate.
Calcium carbide is manufactured by the introduction of lime and anthracite in an arc furnace at 2300˚C. The product is tapped from furnaces as a hot liquid, cooled and crushed. Calcium carbide is a powerful and effective chemical reducing agent, and can also be used as a source of energy. Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of metallurgy, where it is used in several ways to reduce costs. In modern steelmaking operations, the need for lower sulphur steels demanded by modern continuous casting operations and specialty applications has increased calcium carbide's appeal as a hot metal desulfurizer or as a modifier to the slag to increase desulfurization efficiency.
Additional applications include Chemical Acetylene, Cutting Welding and Environmental Engineering. Ennero primarily blends and supplies calcium carbide of different grades and sizes tailor made for the steel industry.
Silicon carbide (SiC) is used for the de-oxidation and re-carburation of cast iron and steel in foundries. Metallurgical grade Silicon Carbide grain is a unique material for use in the production of iron and steel. It is used in the foundry industry for electric furnace production of gray, ductile, and malleable iron. Silicon carbide is an effective slag deoxidizer, as well as an excellent source of silicon and carbon. It’s low aluminium, sulphur and nitrogen content make it a very cost-effective material to replace Ferrosilicon or Silicomanganese. Available in various sizes and shapes Ennero can supply to meet your material handling requirements.