In December 2019, IPEX Solutions (IPEX), a division of Australian-based X GROUP Technologies, hosted a team of researchers from the pyrometallurgy division of Mintek. The Mintek team consisted of Dr Xolisa Goso, a principal scientist; Mr Buhle Xakalashe, chief engineer and PhD candidate at RWTH Aachen University in Germany as well as three metallurgy and chemical engineering student trainees namely Sharon Ngoepe, Timothy Nemauluma and Gosego Mphafi.
The Mintek team had an interest in seeing the research and process development facilities of IPEX with a view of exploring possible synergies and shared objectives between the two companies. Both IPEX and Mintek are working on projects targeted at unlocking value from both the primary and secondary vanadium resources and acid mine drainage (AMD), which present a huge potential for sustainability in the mining and metallurgical industries in South Africa and abroad. Hence, the two research themes have been identified as possible areas for collaboration between the two companies. X GROUP is looking forward to further collaboration with Mintek in these areas.
From left to right: Sharon Ngoepe, Timothy Nemauluma, Chris Grobler (CEO of X GROUP), Dr Xolisa Goso, Gosego Mphafi and Buhle Xakalashe