Axis House’s Bernard Oostendorp, Technical Manager says its clients can benefit from increased metal recoveries while improving the working conditions of their staff and streamlining their processes with the implementation of its environmentally sensitive products. As Cherryl Thomas, Sales Manager,Africa says: “Environmental regulations are becoming stricter and requests for alternative reagents to common, but hazardous, chemicals (xanthates, NaHS and cyanide, ect) are increasing. “Axis House takes this into consideration during reagent development work for clients. Its xanthate-alternative sulphide collectors are being used successfully at several copper mines in Zambia, as well as platinum and gold mines in South Africa, according to Oostendorp. The European and Middle East markets has shown substantial growth in the last 18 months. This has sen multiple trials conducted and completed at copper-lead-zinc mines in Europe and Turkey, were sulphide collectors were successfully trialed in full-scale applications. Thomas said: “This allows Axis House to apply the application knowledge and market products to the operations processing similar ore types. Successful application of reagents also forms a new baseline from which development can take place. ” Sulphide collectors are not all the South African-based company is working on. The company’s Revadep Depressant range, engineered to target specific gangue minerals in the flotation process, has found favor with platinum group metals producers in South Africa. Thomas said the depressants have proven highly effective in the PGM flotation process by reducing floatable gangue like talc. The company is also targeting the Zambia copper flotation market with its Revadep Cu++ depressant formula, according to Thomas. Highly floatable carbon is also a problematic mineral in some of the operations in Zambia and the Axis House carbon depressant, Cu++, was successfully trialed at full scale”, she said. In the DRC, the company’s mobile precipitation plant, built specifically for cobalt miners to analyse the effect of dosage, process conditions and reagent type on different types of ore, is starting to be appreciated by miners too, Thomas said/ And, the development of a reagent range to remove cadmium in phosphate production has allowed Axis House clients to cost-effectively sustain phosphate output without bolting on processing units like ion exchange columns she added. At teh R&D stage of its Revadep depressants, Axis House is addressing the use of one of the more controversial reagents used across the mining industry, according to Thomas. “At development level, the focus is to expand the Revadep range to include selective depressants of sulphide gangue (pyrite, pyrrhotite) to replace or reduce the use of hazardous reagent like cyanide, “Thomas said.